Rice Production Security In China:Challenges And Countermeasures

As the old saying goes, “with sufficient food and full granary, comes stable world”. Grain production is the foundation of agriculture. The improvement of grain production plays significant role in stabilizing agriculture and ensuring national food security. Rice is the main food of rations in China and it is important to ensure the safety of rice production. In 2015, the total output of grain in China is 621.44 million tons which reflects a year-on-year increase of 2.4 per cent and is the twelfth year of“continuous growth of grain production”. The rice production increased from 179.09 million tons in 2004 to 206.43 million tons in 2014. Nevertheless, we need to notice that there are still many challenges to maintain the long-term growth of rice production in China.Based on the review of previous research and theories, this paper start to describe the evolution of rice production in China.Secondly, to summarize the problems and reasons in rice production from the aspects of resource endowment, factor fluxion,and production enthusiasm.Finally, to propose corresponding countermeasures.As to the evolution of rice production, it is found that: 1) the rice production in China has shown a trend of increasing total production, increasing per unit area yield,and decreasing production area. The distribution of rice production shows that the north and middle China have experienced an increase while the south and west China have turned out just the opposite. The production and planting area of middle-season rice have been increasing continuously, while that of early-season rice and late-season rice are shrinking. Under the background of the shortage of cultivated land resources,the reduction of rice planting area is detrimental to the safety of rice production.Furthermore, the distribution of water resources does not support the rice production well. The development of middle-season rice production and the downturn ofearly-season and late-season rice production shows a common trend of transforming from double-season rice to single-season rice. The cropping index is decreasing,which means that the rice production in China is facing a serious threat.This paper addresses the problems and reasons in rice production in China from two perspectives. First, from the perspective of resource endowment and factor fluxion, the rice production in China has been limited by the lack of both land and water resources. With the increase of population, the area of farmland per capita has declined. As to the water resource, the rice production is facing not only the problem of total shortage but also that of uneven regional distribution. Besides, labor and land of rural are shifting to non-agricultural industries. These problems, together, have seriously affected the development of rice production in China. Second, from the perspective of production enthusiasm, the production cost of rice has been rising rapidly in recent years but the net profit has been decreasing significantly. Although the plain area can realize the scale economy by enlarging the rice planting area, this is not ease for mountainous area. Since Due to the price protection policy on rice, the domestic rice price has been higher than that in international market. If the state canceled price protection policy, the rice price would fall sharply. This could hit the enthusiasm of farmers and lead to a decrease in rice acreage and a decrease in yield.This poses another threat to the safety of rice production.Finally, as to the problems discussed above, this paper proposes the following suggestions. First, land resources and water resources must be protected. Second, we need to promote rural land transfer and make efforts to achieve the appropriate scale of rice production. Third, the regional coordinated development of agricultural mechanization should be based on the local conditions. Last but not least, we need to optimize the agricultural subsidy policy and protect the farmers' benefits.