The central government has introduced measures to benefit farmers, 10 billion yuan of direct subsidy will stimulate grain production

Introduction: in the context of five consecutive years of grain production reduction, the state has taken a series of measures to benefit farmers, such as 10 billion yuan of direct subsidies for grain farmers What role will this play in China's grain production? On April 4, Premier Wen Jiabao came to sanjiatuan village, Dingxing County, Hebei Province In the wheat field, "Wen was very happy when the farmers reflected that the government now supports grain production and the price of grain has risen and they are willing to grow grain." Xinhua said 40 days ago, on February 25, Premier Wen Jiabao chaired the executive meeting of the State Council to study and deploy the reform of the grain circulation system The meeting passed the implementation opinions on the direct subsidies for grain farmers In principle, the central government will provide direct subsidies for grain farmers in major grain producing areas, and provinces and cities will provide direct subsidies for local grain farmers These opinions were then written into Wen's report on the work of the government Jin Renqing, the finance minister, said that the state changed the indirect subsidy through the circulation link into the direct subsidy to the grain farmers in the main grain producing areas In 2004, 13 major grain producing provinces allocated 10 billion yuan from the grain risk fund to arrange the direct subsidy to the grain farmers On March 31, the Ministry of Finance issued an urgent notice, asking all localities to cash part of the direct subsidy funds before the spring sowing as much as possible, and in the first half of the year, all the subsidy funds were basically cashed in to farmers Subsequently, local governments also responded to the direct subsidy policy A grain direct subsidy campaign was launched to warm farmers' enthusiasm for grain production It is reported that the current situation of spring ploughing production is generally good, and the upsurge of grain production is rising all over the country Ma Kai, director of the national development and Reform Commission, said at the two sessions that this year's grain output will strive to reach 455 million tons Grain direct subsidy is one of a series of measures taken by China this year to increase farmers' income and stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for grain production In addition, the government has come up with a series of measures, such as gradually reducing the agricultural tax burden, implementing the system of minimum purchase price of grain, and giving subsidies to improved varieties Measures such as rectifying land order and strictly protecting cultivated land, which began last year, are also believed to be related to China's food security Concerning food security, on March 7, the second plenary session of the second session of the 10th CPPCC National Committee is being held in the Great Hall of the people Yuan Longping, a famous agricultural expert of CPPCC member, made a speech entitled "attach great importance to food security in China" According to Yuan Longping, one of the direct reasons for the rise in domestic prices in the second half of last year was the growing tension between the supply and demand of grain In 1998, China's total grain output reached a record high of 512 million tons After that, it dropped for five consecutive years, and in 2003 it dropped to 431 million tons According to statistics, in 2002, the national grain sown area decreased by 9.9 million hectares compared with 1998, a decrease of nearly 9 percentage points, equivalent to a reduction of more than two grain sown areas in Hunan Province, Yuan disclosed in his speech In the report on the work of the government, Wen also pointed out that one of the current problems is "more grain production reduction" Some experts have calculated that in 2030, there will be 1.6 billion people in China If the per capita consumption of grain is 400 kg, the country will need 640 million tons of grain at that time, and there will be greater pressure on grain production "Food is the most important thing for the people If food security is not guaranteed, social stability will not be guaranteed." Yuan Longping said so Du Qinglin, Minister of agriculture, told reporters on March 29 that every effort should be made to restore and develop food production At present, the Ministry of agriculture has formulated a specific implementation plan for the promotion of improved varieties of major food crops and the subsidy policy for the purchase of agricultural machinery However, Zhang Xiaoshan, director of the Institute of rural development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that it is difficult to have a definitive conclusion on the issue of food security so far, because it is difficult to have exact data on food reserves For example, the book number is not consistent with the actual number In addition, there is no exact data on how much grain is actually needed For example, it is difficult to have exact statistics on the specific needs of rations and industrial grains Although there are concerns that direct subsidies and the reform of the grain circulation system will raise grain prices, thus raising overall prices, Zhang Xiaoshan believes that direct subsidies for grain are needed In terms of the current price level, there is still a reasonable space for the price of agricultural products to rise Some experts worry that until some institutional problems are solved, the stimulation of direct subsidies on food production will be reduced Zhang Zhaoxin, deputy researcher of the rural economic research center of the Ministry of agriculture, said in an interview with the journal that under the original grain purchase and sale system, the state-owned grain purchase and sale enterprises open up to purchase the surplus grain of farmers to ensure the National Grain Reserve; however, with the reform of grain subsidies, the original grain purchase and sale enterprises have been marketized and become independent business entities, and the stocks they hold will also be Gradually digested Today, the central government explicitly requires all regions to maintain a reasonable grain reserve to ensure local food security However, due to the hierarchical burden system of grain reserve cost, local governments are not willing to bear the responsibility of Grain Reserve, especially in the main grain selling areas, and strongly demand to reduce the amount of Grain Reserve (according to the requirements of the central government, provinces and cities should have stocks that can meet the six-month grain consumption of the province, but the provinces in the selling areas think that three months is enough), so as to reduce their financial burden In this way, how to establish a reliable food security assurance system with the central government as the main body and ensure the national food security has become an important issue after the reform In China, the agricultural problem has always been directly related to the problem of farmers The decrease of grain production is related to the lack of income increase and the low enthusiasm of farmers "The 10 billion yuan direct subsidy is a strong signal that the central government wants to send to the farmers Hurry to grow food If you are willing to grow food, the state will provide benefits." Zhang Xiaoshan said However, he believes that the mobilization of farmers' enthusiasm for grain production can not be achieved only by direct subsidy, but also by combining the subsidies of seeds, fertilizers, agricultural machinery, etc., providing services in place and truly implementing them in the hands of farmers In addition to direct subsidies, the central government is also formulating subsidies for agricultural machinery and seeds On March 30, a message came from the Ministry of agriculture that the state had officially started subsidies for farmers to buy agricultural machinery This year, the central government allocated 40 million yuan Before that, the Ministry of Finance had allocated 940 million yuan of rice seed subsidies to the food and agriculture of seven provinces But to what extent can these measures convey signals to farmers? What kind of feedback will they give? Zhang Xiaoshan believes that it will take at least next year to have a response, and it is difficult to see the effect in the short term Although there are still disputes on the way and effect of direct subsidy, Wen Tiejun, the editor in chief and researcher of China reform magazine, said in an interview with this magazine that the agricultural problems in the world cannot be simply market-oriented, and it is necessary for China to implement direct subsidy for food According to him, developed countries usually use direct subsidies to protect the interests of farmers In general, the smaller the farm, the more subsidies it receives, and the higher the price of agricultural products Wen Tiejun, who has been doing research at the grass-roots level in rural areas for a long time, pointed out that the current problem is that the burden of Chinese farmers is too heavy, and direct subsidies are not enough to offset their heavy taxes Few people are against giving more benefits to farmers to make them more comfortable in agricultural production, but there are different opinions on how to give these benefits Moreover, at present, there are great differences in the specific ways of subsidies in different regions Not only are they not unified, but there are also many problems that need to be solved urgently Although direct food subsidies reduce the payment link, and the income of pure farmers, mainly agriculture, is expected to increase, Zhang Zhaoxin, a deputy researcher of the rural economic research center of the Ministry of agriculture, believes that the effect of direct subsidies on food security and encouraging farmers to grow food needs to be observed He pointed out to the journal that, after the reform of subsidy mode, at present, Anhui and other places subsidize according to the tax land area, which is easy to distribute, but farmers can get subsidies no matter whether they grow grain or not, and direct subsidy has little impact on Farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain Because, in the object of subsidy, it directly subsidizes all the farmers who contract the land, not just the grain farmers Zhang Zhaoxin pointed out that in addition to being unable to stimulate the enthusiasm of some of the food producers, the role in increasing farmers' income is also limited The direct subsidy of Anhui Province is the highest among the pilot provinces, but the average subsidy per mu is only 10-20 yuan "This kind of subsidy is impossible to increase year by year It is of little significance to take this measure as an important policy for farmers to increase their income." Zhang Zhaoxin said Therefore, he suggested that the direct subsidy policy could be incorporated into the tax reform to speed up the reduction of land tax.