Xi emphasizes food security

Special: 2022 Two Sessions

General secretary calls for bolstering capacity in agricultural production

President Xi Jinping reiterated on Sunday the need to ensure the nation's supply of key agricultural products, saying that China must give greater priority to bolstering its capacity in agricultural production and make unrelenting efforts to ensure grain security.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when he joined national political advisers from the sectors of agriculture and welfare and social security for a joint group meeting.

The president highlighted food security as a major issue, calling it one that the nation cannot afford to be complacent about.

He repudiated the notions that food security is no longer an important matter in the age of industrialization or that China could rely on the international market as a solution.

China must stabilize the production of its staple food and corn, expand the acreage of soybeans and other oil crop cultivation, keep its annual grain output at more than 650 million metric tons and ensure its food self-sufficiency, he said.

Xi called for measures to protect the enthusiasm of farmers for grain production, encourage their operations at an appropriate scale and obtain more profits, saying that curbing food waste requires long-term commitments and persistent efforts.

He underlined that farmland is a crucial prerequisite for grain production and the foundation of the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.

Farmland can only be used for crop farming, especially grain production, and the nation must enforce the strictest system in protecting its farmland, including making efforts to strengthen control over its usage and prevent farmland from being used for nonagricultural purposes, he said.

The nation must carry out a project to protect its fertile black earth and strive to develop 66.7 million hectares of high-quality farmland, he said.

Xi pointed to science and technology as a fundamental solution to food security, saying the security of China's seed sources is a matter of national security and that the nation must remain steadfast in bolstering its seed sector.

He highlighted the need to strengthen front-line research and enhance the collection, protection and development of seed resources, adding that the nation must refine its mechanism in varietal approval and protection of intellectual property rights.

The president also stressed the necessity of guaranteeing an effective supply of meat, vegetables, fruit and aquatic products, and he called for the expansion of farmland to the whole homeland and for expanding the food supply from the nation's forests, rivers, lakes, coastal waters and facility agriculture.

He urged proactive steps to further supply-side reform in the agricultural sector to enable the development of food resources from all sources and multiple pathways, and to ensure the balanced supply of different food groups.

The nation's rural vitalization drive must give equal priority to economic growth and the strengthening of grassroots Party cells, he said.

He highlighted the significance of refining the rural governance system, deepening the practice of self-governance by villagers, cracking down on organized crime in rural areas and protecting the rights of women and children from law violators.

With China having already developed the world's largest social security system, Xi said the nation must include more people in the system, including workers on flexible payrolls, and expand the coverage of insurance for unemployment, work-related injuries and childbirth.

He pledged heightened measures to fight wrongdoings that defraud or embezzle pension funds, saying that every penny of the people's pension funds must be placed under sound protection.

The government must pay extra attention to disadvantaged groups and help them get through their difficulties, he said, adding that the reform of social aid programs must be pushed forward to make them more wide-ranging and effective.

Xi also extended festive greetings and best wishes to the country's women of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life ahead of International Women's Day, which falls on Tuesday.