Economic Daily:

Last year, large areas of winter wheat were not planted on time due to the autumn floods. What impact will it have on this year's summer harvest? What measures will be taken to ensure stable and high yields? Thank you.

Tang Renjian:

This journalist has a keen insight. The questions involve the biggest challenge in our present work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. It is also our chief concern now.

Due to abnormal autumn floods, more than 7.3 million hectares of autumn and winter wheat across Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces were not planted on time. How long was the sowing date delayed? For around half a month. The delay affected one-third of the total acreage, which is a large scale never seen before. Thanks to careful cultivation, the acreage of winter wheat is as large as that of last year. However, the seedling growth becomes complicated and we still face grave challenges in reaping a bumper summer harvest. Summer harvest is the first of China's annual grain production, which accounts for more than a fifth of the annual grain output and 40% of its annual staple food production. Summer grain production is of great significance for ensuring supply, stabilizing expectations, and increasing confidence. Confronted by the complicated situation, we will make every effort with a strong determination to ensure a bumper summer harvest and get a good start for high grain yields for the whole year.

First, we will strengthen wheat field management. This is a fundamental task. Now it's around 100 days before the summer wheat harvest. Our first priority is to maximize yield recovery by adopting technologies and measures at the three key stages of wheat growth, namely green-up, stem elongation, and grain-fill. At the green-up stage, the critical measure is applying fertilizers to boost the growth of weak seedlings and increase the number of panicles; at the stem elongation stage, the critical measure is resisting drought and freezing to boost the growth and increase the number of grains; at the grain-fill stage, the critical measure is applying a variety of pesticides, germicides, and fertilizers to increase the weight of grains. We have provided relevant local governments with detailed information about the distribution of late-planted wheat based on the types of seedling growth, which will serve as a basis for targeted guidance. Recently, authorities of agriculture and rural affairs have mobilized large groups of personnel to concentrate on the frontline of wheat production and offer targeted services for designated regions. They are working hard to maximize the yields of wheat sown at the right time and prevent and minimize the reduction in the yields of late-planted wheat.

Second, we need to do a good job in disaster prevention and mitigation. For one, we need to prevent natural disasters. Due to the influence of the La Nina phenomenon, extreme weather is more likely to occur this year. We will focus on preventing disasters such as spring cold, late spring cold, summer drought, and floods that have a great impact on food production. We will further detail and materialize the plan for disaster prevention and mitigation to achieve a bumper harvest, and make material reserves and technical preparations as soon as possible. We will make full and good use of the disaster relief funds for agricultural production to help farmers take the initiative to avoid disasters, scientifically prevent disasters, and minimize disaster losses. For the other, we will make disease and insect pest control. Because there was a lot of rain last year and the soil moisture was good, there are advantages, but there are also disadvantages, including that the risk of pests and diseases is relatively high. Therefore, this year, crop diseases and insect pests are expected to appear more and more frequently. Wheat will mainly suffer from stripe rust, scab, etc. This year, there will also be stem rot, all because of the large amount of water. We will focus on prevention and control of these major pests and diseases, implement "integrated monitoring, general coordination, one-map command," (command the battle against pests and disease based on a smart map that integrates and shows all the visual information) and vigorously promote unified prevention and treatment, joint prevention and control, and emergency prevention and control so as to achieve the goal of rescuing food from insects.

Third, we need to do a good job in preparing for spring farming. Not long ago, the national work conference on spring agricultural production was held to fully deploy the spring plowing and preparation work. The central government is also currently studying the distribution of agricultural subsidies to support spring farming. We will take the implementation of grain sown acreage as the top priority of spring plowing and preparation work, consolidate the production of early rice and stabilize the acreage of autumn grain, ensure that the acreage of grain can be allocated to households and fields, and consolidate the acreage coverage foundation for a bumper grain harvest throughout the year. At the same time, we will work with relevant departments to ensure the supply of agricultural materials, and to schedule the demand for seeds, fertilizers, and medicines during spring plowing as soon as possible. We will speed up the efforts to introduce agricultural materials into stores and villages, stabilize the price of agricultural materials as much as possible, and strengthen quality supervision in order to meet the needs of spring plowing work. Thank you.