As China’s fertile farmland reaches 295 million acres, which is below the minimum size of arable land, Beijing has declared a state of emergency and launched a “grain strategy” aimed at cracking down on farmers for ensure security of grain supply.
The measures came after the world’s biggest agricultural importer came under increasing pressure to improve its self-sufficiency amid growing geopolitical tensions with the United States, according to statements made at a press conference by the Board of state.
Lu Jingbo, deputy director of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, said the grain strategy is the first of its kind applied to provincial governors and party secretaries, and was a response to President Xi Jinping’s “repeated appeals to local governments and party committees to assume political responsibility for food security”.
China’s concernsBeijing has expressed growing concerns over food security in recent years, with the Chinese president describing agriculture as a “national security issue of paramount importance”, amid deteriorating relations with the United States. United and its allies, as China’s main agricultural supplier, and in the face of dwindling arable land and climatic shocks. .
Low ratings expose farms to penalties and can even lead to land confiscations.
Right now, food might be the second biggest concern after potato chips in China due to the dominance of the US in those markets.
China has a grain self-sufficiency rate of over 95% and an annual food supply allocation of 480 kg (1,058 lb) per person, well above the international standard of 400 kg.
Decreased minimum land size The big pressure on farmers came with the decrease in the minimum size of arable land, which Beijing set at 296.5 million acres, and has been increasingly challenged in recent years in a context of building more profitable landscapes and growing plants.
According to official sources, the acreage of cereal crops has decreased in the western regions and some southern regions as farmers replaced them with more profitable crops to achieve the goal of poverty eradication over the past few years. last years.
Agricultural imports from America China says it is working to improve the stability and flexibility of soybean supply to shed its dependence on the United States, and on soybeans that China needs to produce enough edible oil and animal feed.
China is also looking for new suppliers of corn, which previously depended on the United States and Ukraine for its needs.
Since last year, China has been importing maize from Myanmar, South Africa and Brazil, and the government said grain diplomacy “will expand China’s circle of friends and improve its ability to manage the chain. global food supply”.
A Chinese business expert, Mazen Hassan, told Sky News Arabia that in the last period, China has achieved a boom in grain self-production and announced that it owns 95% of its food and n only 5% mattered.
He added that Beijing has expanded agricultural investment inside and outside its land and is able to own farmland in the United States, North America and Africa.
He explained that China’s foreign agricultural investment is fraught with risk, especially as the United States is now exploiting the China food issue in disputes between them, after the US Congress passed a law. aimed at limiting China’s possession of agricultural land inside America.
He pointed out that China had sensed the danger, especially after the Corona crisis, and had decided to improve its internal agricultural capacities through a sound agricultural strategy aimed at producing staple grains on its land and limiting cultivation. flowers and plants that provide funds for the cultivation of necessary cereals. For alimentation.
He pointed out that China is afraid that America will persecute it on this issue and incite its allies not to cooperate in agriculture with China to cause a crisis at home.
But China has woken up and started taking serious steps to address these issues, although China’s grain strategy may be too strict, according to Mazen Hassan.
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