Beijing Youth Daily:

At the beginning of the briefing, Mr. Han announced the good news that this year's summer grain yield has reached a historic high. How was such a bumper harvest achieved in the face of frequent meteorological disasters? Also, since the onset of summer this year, many areas have experienced droughts and flooding to varying degrees. Will these affect the autumn grain yield? What safeguards and measures are in place to help achieve abundant grain harvests year-round? Thank you.

Han Jun:

Thank you for your questions. Among the issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural residents, food is of the utmost concern. As a large nation with over 1.4 billion people, we must ensure that China's food supply remains firmly in our own hands and cannot afford any lapses in ensuring national food security. As I mentioned earlier, this year's summer grain production increased by 7.25 billion jin, which is the largest increase in the past nine years. This has had a significant effect on stabilizing prices and people's expectations. This year's bumper summer grain harvest can be attributed to two main factors. First, the cultivation area was stable, which is the foundation for increased production. If the area were not stable, there would be no foundation for a good harvest. Last year, various regions actively responded to the unfavorable conditions for autumn sowing and achieved as full planting as possible. The area of summer-harvested wheat reached 346 million mu, an increase of 475,000 mu from the historical high, which was not easy. The second major reason for the bumper summer grain harvest is the increase in yield per unit. Nowadays, agricultural yield increases mainly depend on increasing the yield per unit. To improve yield per unit, good seeds are necessary, but just having good seeds is not enough. Good seeds, good fields, good opportunities and good practices must be closely integrated, and good policies are also necessary. This year, the minimum purchase price for summer grain wheat was raised, which stabilized farmers' expectations. Comprehensive policies and coordinated efforts are ultimately reflected in the increase in yield per unit. This year, the yield per mu of summer-harvested wheat increased by 10 kilograms, a 2.6% increase, which is the largest yield increase in the last five years. We calculated that the improvement in yield per unit contributed over 90% to the increase in summer grain production. In the past two years, the MARA implemented large-scale actions to increase yield per unit, with a focus on major grain and oil crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans. Take wheat as an example. We integrated and promoted key technologies such as deep plowing and soil preparation, post-sowing compaction, and integrated water and fertilizer management. During critical farming periods, we fully implemented the "one spray, three protections" method (that features a spray mix of insecticides, fungicides, foliar fertilizers, and plant growth regulators), focusing on the unified prevention and control of diseases and pests, and emergency treatments. During the summer harvest period, we organized over 600,000 combine harvesters for cross-regional operations, which was quite spectacular. It is through coordinated efforts in increasing production and reducing losses that we achieved this bumper summer harvest. Working in the provincial government, I have a deep understanding of this. To ensure that our food supply remains firmly in our own hands, the main leaders in the provincial government must attach much importance to these technical measures. When these measures are in place, they will yield good results.

This year's summer grain output was a bumper harvest. This is good news. However, autumn harvests, accounting for three-quarters of the yearly output, are more important and attract more public attention. Since the beginning of this summer, floods have been wreaking havoc in the south while droughts are making trouble in the north. Heavy precipitation even changed some regions from being in drought to flooding within a few days. Before returning to Beijing, I worked in Anhui province, where there is both northern and southern climatic features. Northern Anhui first experienced extreme droughts, and then floods. Similar situation has also occurred in Henan province, where droughts changed into floods within a day or two. It is estimated that the current national crop damage area is larger than last year's, but the disaster area decreased by more than 6 million mu (400,000 hectares) year-on-year. According to our real-time monitoring, the country's area of autumn grain increased steadily over the previous year, and crop growth was generally normal. I went to Hebei province on Sunday to find out more about the droughts and then went to Heilongjiang province to check the crops. Since Henan recently has been severely impacted by the disaster, my colleagues went there as soon as possible to work with local governments on disaster mitigation and grain production.

We know that from late July to early August is a critical period not only for fighting against floods and droughts, but also for increasing autumn grain output. We will make all efforts to work on related sectors. I told my colleagues to fully estimate the difficulties and focus on flooding and drought prevention as well as disaster relief, especially in major grain-producing areas and hard-hit areas. Differential measures will be carried out in disaster-stricken areas. For waterlogged farmland, work will be focused on the management of ditches to speed up drainage. In some places, drainage ditches alongside roads and fields were blocked. Currently, we are working on dredging some channels to ensure the water be discharged. Corn cannot survive if it is drowned for three consecutive days. We will try every way possible to expand water sources so that drought-stricken farmland will be irrigated in time. For farmland with total crop failure, work will be focused on replanting and reseeding in accordance with local conditions. If a place is currently not suitable for growing grain that needs a longer growth cycle, it can be used to plant vegetables. In this way, we will not leave the farmland uncultivated. Recovery of agricultural production after disasters will be accelerated. We are now organizing agricultural technicians and employees of the agricultural and rural affairs departments at all levels to work at the grassroots level in person, providing precise guidance and fine services to villages and rural residents to guarantee autumn and full-year harvests. Thank you.