China's food security can be ensured: report

BEIJING -- China can achieve the bottom line requirement of "basic self-sufficiency of cereal grains and absolute food security," said a senior agricultural expert Monday.

Food supply can ensure the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by 2020 and the basic realization of socialist modernization by 2035 in China, said Mei Xurong, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, at the 2019 China and Global Agricultural Policy Forum held in Beijing.

According to the "China Agricultural Sector Development Report 2019" released by Mei, the agriculture-food system contributes to about 23.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product and 36.07 percent of employment in China, playing a stabilizing role as a "ballast stone" in the Chinese economy.

The report analyzes the new situation and problems facing China's agricultural development and assesses the possible impact of agricultural policy adjustments and the outside world on the development of China's agricultural industry.

The year 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of rural reform in China and saw the implementation of a rural revitalization strategy. The agricultural sector has seen a positive overall trend in development, with total grain output reaching 658 million tonnes, says the report.

The gross cropped area and total yield of rice, wheat and maize decreased in 2018. As corn industry consumption showed rapid growth, corn imports grew significantly in the past year, with a year-on-year increase of 25.2 percent.

The soybean imports declined for the first time in seven years, and the annual import volume was 88.03 million tonnes, down 7.9 percent, according to the report.