China wants people's rice bowls filled with locally grown grain

Beijing

CHINA stressed the importance of keeping the people's "rice bowl" filled with domestically grown grain at a time when available farmland is shrinking, the weather is turning more extreme, and imports are becoming cheaper.

"If you have enough grain, you don't need to panic," Agriculture Minister Han Changfu wrote in an opinion piece in the People's Dailylast Friday. "Chinese people's rice bowls must always be held firmly in our own hands, and should be full mainly of Chinese grain."

The country buys hefty amounts of soya beans, corn, cotton and pork from the US. Mr Han's comments come as tensions escalate with Washington over everything from cyber security to Hong Kong.

US President Donald Trump signed executive orders prohibiting American residents from doing business with Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat starting on Sept 20.

China, the biggest consumer of agricultural commodities, should always be self-sufficient in rice and wheat, as well as other cereals, while maintaining an "appropriate volume" of imports, Mr Han said. The country bought a record volume of meat last month, and increased soya bean imports to the second-highest in a bid to secure supplies.

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The minister's opinion piece appears about a week before a review of the Phase One trade deal with the US. While China has committed to honouring the agreement, purchases of farm products during the first half of the year were only about 20 per cent of the 2020 target.

Beijing has pledged to take the most stringent measures to prevent farmland from declining and improve efficiency as it faces challenges from growing shortages of water and labour.

Young farmers are increasingly moving to the cities from rural areas. The changing climate has also brought extreme weather, such as flooding, putting years of bumper harvests at risk.

The government plans to enhance seed varieties for better yields, and expand the use of machines in grain production, Mr Han said. Among various measures, China has already given safety approval for domestically developed genetically modified corn for the first time in 10 years, in a bid to boost food security. BLOOMBERG