Heavy rains began in late May and flooded wheat crops in central China. With the wheat grains blackened by the rain and unsuitable for human consumption, the government decided to mobilize an emergency team to collect as much of the harvest as possible.go viral videoA 79-year-old farmer in Henan Province wiped away tears while investigating the damage.
According to local officials, the unusually heavy rain was worst mess A decade-long decline in wheat yields underscores the risk that climate change shocks pose to President Xi Jinping’s push for China to become more independent in its food supply.
Ensuring China’s capacity to feed 1.4 billion people is a key part of Mr. Xi’s goal to bring the country to superpower status. In recent years, tensions with the United States, the coronavirus pandemic, and Russia’s war with Ukraine have caused global food price volatility to increase, increasing the urgency for China to grow more of its own crops.
The country has not experienced the level of food price inflation seen in other major economies, but officials are concerned about the vulnerability of the food supply to global shocks. Last summer, prices of pork, fruits and vegetables soared in China, prompting the government to take the following actions: release the pork Take out strategic stocks to stabilize prices. Later, Chinese leaders reiterated their call to prioritize food security.
Over the past few weeks, heatwaves have killed fish in rice paddies in southern China’s Guangxi province, and thousands of pigs have died on farms in the eastern city of Nantong, according to local news reports. Fire departments in the northeastern city of Tianjin were mobilized to spray water on pigs suffering from heatstroke while riding in trucks. Authorities have warned that extreme heat and flooding in northwestern Xinjiang are hurting wheat crops.
In a country where hunger has destabilized dynasties throughout history, the ruling Communist Party also recognizes that meeting basic needs is a prerequisite for political stability.
Food shortages became a leading cause of anxiety last year after the government imposed a severe lockdown in Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Online videos showed residents fighting for food on the streets and in grocery stores. “We want food, not coronavirus tests,” demonstrators shouted at a nationwide protest against China’s “zero-corona” policy.
China’s agricultural land is already shrinking as rapid urbanization pollutes large swaths of the country and the government sells rural land to developers. The distribution of water between northern and southern China is uneven, with some crop-growing areas vulnerable to drought and others vulnerable to flooding. The war in Ukraine threatens China’s access to wheat and fertilizer. And with the trade war with the United States that began in 2018, higher For China to buy soybeans and other food products from America.
Xi has positioned food self-sufficiency as a national security issue, and has often said, “Chinese people should hold their rice bowls firmly in their hands.” He has set a “red line” that the country must preserve 120 million hectares of farmland and has declared war on food waste, especially in restaurants. The Chinese government has frequently pointed out that less than 10 percent of the world’s arable land must feed one-fifth of the world’s population.
To create a more stable food supply, China is stockpiling crops and buying more farmland abroad.is developing heat resistant ricegenetically modified soybeans and new seed technology, the effort has sparked charges of intellectual property theft from the United States.
A front-page story in the People’s Daily on Monday said Mr. Xi had a “special affection” for farmers and prioritized increasing their income. Last month, he visited wheat fields in northern China’s Hebei province. There farmers sought to increase grain production by growing drought-tolerant wheat varieties.
In a state-produced video of Mr. Xi’s visit, local officials showed off breads and noodles made from new varieties of wheat. “President Xi wants us to live a happier life,” said a local farmer. Said In the video, “And we will work even harder towards that goal.”
But weather-related shocks to food supplies are a far more unpredictable challenge.
“We can impose further regulations to discourage local governments from selling their farmland. We can also subsidize farmers,” said the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based research institute of international politics. Economic researcher Zhongyuan Zoe Liu said. “But when extreme weather conditions occur, not only do they cause damage, they are also very expensive to repair.”
Record rainfall flooded the city this month North Sea located in southern China. And parts of China, including major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, have already experienced unusually early heatwaves this year, with temperatures surpassing 106 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas this month.
But recent concerns about food security stem from flooding in and around central China’s Henan province, which produces more than three-quarters of the country’s wheat.
“Long rain is the biggest fear for wheat farmers during the harvest season,” said Zhang Hongzhou, a researcher on China’s food strategy at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. “This is happening at the worst possible time.”
As the farmers were preparing to start this year’s harvest, it rained and sprouted some of the wheat. This low-quality wheat is unsuitable for processing into flour and is usually sold at a low price as animal feed.
The extent of damage to crops this year is not yet known. Analysts said declining wheat yields could force China to import more wheat this year, pushing global grain prices higher.
China is the world’s largest wheat producer and consumer. More and more people are buying Western-style breads and desserts in urban areas, and demand is rising along with income. The surge in meat consumption in China has also necessitated an increase in wheat used as animal feed.
Following heavy rains in Henan, the Chinese government Licensed 200 million yuan (about $28 million) will be invested in disaster relief to dry wet grain and drain flooded fields.country official Set up a 24-hour hotline for farmers, Request to local government Finding a buyer for the spoiled wheat that is still edible in the enterprise.
State media reported that government efforts had minimized farmers’ losses, and a recent front-page article in the People’s Daily touted the progress of the harvest. State broadcaster CCTV aired a 15-minute video segment showing government officials warning farmers to harvest early.
China’s obsession with food security has global implications. The main reason is that China maintains huge food reserves, including about half of the world’s wheat reserves estimated by the US Department of Agriculture. U.S. officials last year accused China of hoarding food inventories, causing higher global food prices, especially in poorer countries. China, on the other hand, blamed the United States He said US sanctions against Russia were hurting wheat exports to African countries and accused him of fomenting a global food crisis.
The stability of China’s food supply is difficult to gauge. This is because information on the exact quantity and quality of agricultural reserves is treated like a state secret. For example, while official data for the country regularly show record wheat production, analysts say: questioned Data reliability.
But in January 2022, the government showed an unusual side.
In response to Western accusations that China is hoarding food, commentary has been posted State-run newspaper Economic Daily revealed that China has enough wheat and rice stockpiles to feed its people for at least 18 months, and the article suggested it was a reasonable stockpile.
“Preparing for the unexpected is a principle of national governance,” the commentary said.
Prince Oku Contributed to research.
