Miller Magazine Issue: 132 December 2020

20 NEWS MILLER / december 2020 Chinese government has issued a new guideline restricting the planting of non-grain crops to ensure food security. Concerns about China’s grain supply have grown this year, despite government assurances there is no problem. Beijing tells farmers to stick to grain amid global uncertainty The Chinese government has issued an unusual guideli- ne telling the country’s farmers not to scale back planting of wheat, rice and corn, in the latest sign that Beijing is taking no chances to ensure security of grain supply. The use of arable land for non-grain crops had to be scrutinised and restricted because China must “stabilise domestic grain output to cope with uncertainties stem- ming from the global situation”, according to the notice published by the State Council, China’s cabinet. The guideline marked a noticeable departure from Chi- na’s long-standing policy of encouraging diversification in arable land use, especially a push to sow “economic crops” such as cotton and tobacco, or grow vegetables and dig fish ponds to boost growth. But in the face of what it perceives to be an increasingly hostile world, the government has in recent months been emphasising the importance of grain security. Grain imports have surged this year and President Xi Jinping has promoted a campaign to cut food waste, alt- hough China’s agriculture ministry said domestic grain output was expected to hit another record high in 2020. Fears over grain supply can stir bitter memories in China. China’s former helmsman Mao Zedong rolled out an agriculture policy called “taking grain as the key line” in 1958 that sought absolute grain supply security amid international isolation, but the policy exacerbated famine and poverty in the countryside. A key reform un- der Deng Xiaoping, who came into power in 1978, was granting arable land to rural households and allowing farmers to decide what to grow. The issue, however, has regained prominence and Be- ijing has elevated grain security to become a strategic goal for the next 15 years. According to guideline, far- mers should prioritise growing grain and edible produ- cts, rather than focusing solely on economic return. Chi- na must “complete the great job of feeding 1.4 billion people,” it said. It also ordered local governments to set “minimum grain planting acreages”. The government has shied away from directly orde- ring farmers what to plant. Instead it is rolling out eco- nomic incentives to grow grain crops, including subsidies and minimum purchase prices. During the trade war with the United States, China in 2018 encouraged farmers to grow soybeans by inc- reasing subsidies, thereby cutting American reliance on imports.