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China will boost productivity to ensure grain
By HENRY SANDERSON,Associated Press Writer AP - 1 hour 7 minutes ago
BEIJING - China announced plans Thursday to ensure it keeps producing virtually all the grain it needs for at least the next decade despite a growing population and declining farmland due to urbanization, climate change and other factors.
The goal is for China to continue producing more than 95 percent of its grain needs until 2020, Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's powerful economic planning body, told a news conference.
"We must basically rely on ourselves to ensure grain supply," he said in introducing a policy plan for grain self-sufficiency and security.
China says basic self-sufficiency in staple grains for its 1.3 billion population is a national strategic priority, but its steadily growing population, urbanization and pressures on arable land are making that more difficult.
"The decrease of farmland and shortage of water supply and climate change have had an increasing negative impact on grain production," he said. "The grain supply and demand of China will be in a tight balance for a long period of time," Zhang said.
While increased urbanization has improved people's lives, it has also increased grain consumption.
China's population is projected to reach 1.4 billion people by 2020 and 1.5 billion in 2033, putting more pressure on food security.
China will strictly control the use of arable land to make sure it is not being used for non-farm buildings, Zhang said. As China's cities have expanded, rural land has been increasingly sold by local governments for industrial and housing projects.
The policy paper said that farming efficiency had to increase, and the transportation and storage of grains improve. China should also access international markets to import grain and oil when needed, it said.
To improve productivity, exchanges of land rights by rural dwellers should be promoted to enable development of bigger and more intensive farming businesses, the paper said.
China's communist leaders last month approved a rural reform that for the first time allows farmers to lease or transfer their land to try to raise rural incomes and halt speeding migration from the farm to the cities. The hope is to improve investment in farming production.
Rural families now rent land from the local government on 30-year leases, with the village and local officials holding sway over its use or transfer. Land is often expropriated by village officials with little compensation.
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