1、Food Security Underpinned as Primary ConcernA ghost is lingering in China. Its name is the Food Security. In the central economic working conference of China held in December 2013， the Chinese government rarely listed the food security as the most important jobs of the central government in 2014. No
2、tably， the latest data of the State Bureau of Statistics of China showed that the grain output in China for the first time surpassed 600 million tons in 2013 and has seen the growth for ten straight years. Then， why did the central government of China attach so much importance to the food security i
3、n spite of the glorious figures. The Low Self-Sufficiency Ratio People with different eyesight and mindset can see things differently. Optimists are glad to find the cup still has half a cup of water while pessimists are saddened by the fact that there is only half a cup of water in the cup. Chen Xi
4、wen， director of the Central Rural Work Leading Office， is a pessimist when it comes to the food security of China. He showed his concerns about the issue of food security of China in different occasions and continuously warned Chinese leaders of this problem. When he made a presentation in Tsinghua
5、 University， Chen listed the facts and data as follows： In 2011 China imported over 60 billion kilograms of foodstuff. This means that the current self-sufficiency ratio of grains in China is less than 90%. From this， Chen concluded that the food security of China cannot allow people to be optimisti
6、c. In 2011， China imported a large amount of corns， wheat， vegetable oil， cotton， sugar and pork. Among them， the imported corns， wheat and soy beans weighed 62.5 billion kilograms， much higher than the total output of grains of Heilongjiang（57.2 billion kilograms） ， the largest food producing provi
7、nce in China. The data from the General Administration of Customs said that China imported 13.98 million tons of grains in 2012 and 58.38 million tons of soy beans. In 2012， the most populated country imported the foodstuffs totaling 72.36 million tons， accounting for 12.2% of the whole years food o
8、utput in China. It is also equal to 11% of the total volume of food in China in 2012 （self produced plus imported）. Zhang Hongyu， director of the Juristic Department at the Ministry of Agriculture， is known for his opinion that “the tight balance between supply and demand of food will exist in China
9、 for a long time”. In his opinion， mens catering structure is changing along with the development of society and economy. The consumption of grains for men is reduced while the grains for animals are increasing in proportion. In addition， the urbanization has turned some farmers into citizens in cit
10、ies， making them change from food producers to pure food consumers. Though the self-sufficiency ratio of food in China is lowered year by year， many people still hold optimistic opinions. Xu Lin， director of the Planning Department at the National Development and Reform Commission， wrote a report， s
11、tating that the China needs to change the concept about the self-sufficiency ratio of food. The bottom line of food security should be the 10% ratio （or lower） of the imported food （soybean excluded） against the total food output in China. Set the Defense Line for Urbanization Nevertheless， the conc
12、ept about food security mentioned in the central economic working conference is a bit outward extended compared with the previous ones. Li Guoxiang， a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， pointed out that the document of the central government did not simply focus on the food securi
13、ty in the output， but also the quality and ecological safety. The original text read like this： highlighting the quantity and quality simultaneously； paying more attention to the quality of agricultural products and food safety； attaching importance to the management of production source and the mon
14、itoring of entire process of production and distribution. The document gives priority to the sustainable development， the shift of agricultural development pattern and the development of water-saving and recycling agriculture. Zhang Xiaoshan， commissioner of the Agricultural Commission at the Nation
15、al Peoples Congress of China， said that the central governments highlighting the food security is partly due to the lower self-sufficiency ratio of food in China， but it is also related to the land reform and the urbanization， which are set as important goals for China in the future， According to Zh
16、ang Xiaoshan， the central government put forward the idea of new urbanization pattern and stressed that the urbanization should target people in lieu of land. This required reducing the gap between the rural and urban areas. Local governments should make more investment into the equalization of publ
17、ic services and cannot put too much into the urbanization of land. The land resource， the financial resource for local governments， will be greatly shrunken. This would intensify the contradictions between the central government and local governments. Zhang Xiaoshan thus worried that local governmen
18、ts might“misinterprete” the central governments will or do as their own will， twisting the central governments goodwill and turning the urbanization into a process of massive destruction and construction. This would reduce the area of farmland and lower the efficiency of land utilization. Therefore，
19、 the Chinese central government has to keep stressing the importance of food security and the bottom line of the farmland area in China. As for how to protect the food security， each department is actively studying into the detailed rules. On December 15， Xu Shaoshi， president of the National Develo
20、pment and Reform Commission， said that it is necessary to enhance the infrastructural construction in rural areas with the primary goals concerning the farmland， water facili- ties and rural environment， to promote the construction of gas supply， water supply， electric power supply， road and houses
21、in the rural area. The new agricultural business pattern should be established as quickly as possible and the policies for the matters of agriculture， countryside and farmers should be implemented and enhanced as well. Han Changfu， Minister of Agriculture of China， put forward five measures to prote
22、ct the food security. Firstly， the minimum area of farmland in China should not be lower than 1.8 billion mu （about 296.5 million acres） and at least 1.6 billion mu （about 263.5 million acres） of farmland should have crops planted on them every year. Secondly， the policy support and tech- nological
23、investment into the agriculture should be enhanced and consolidated； the local governments should be motivated to attach importance to grains， farmers and talents with agricultural technologies. Thirdly， the technology should be counted. Since there is a lot of room for the technological development
24、， especially in the categories of crops and mechanization of agriculture， this sector still owns unlimited potential. Fourthly， the system needs innovation. The new agricultural operative body should be developed based on the improvement of household contracting business pattern to develop the large-scale farming with a proper size. Fifthly， harvest deserves contention no matter how bad the climate is.
