Yicai:
In recent years, China's annual import volume of soybeans amounts to about 100 million metric tons. Although the figure in 2021 declined, the total amount was still huge. What measures does the No. 1 Central Document propose to enhance the production capacity of soybeans and oil plants? Thank you.
Tang Renjian:
Currently, despite of the status of tight balance between supply and demand of grain in China, people don't have to worry about not having enough food. There is a structural problem that China still experiences low self-sufficiency in soybeans and oil plants. Due to the improvement of living conditions and the growth of animal husbandry, China's demand for soybeans has increased remarkably, and its imports have seen rapid growth. As you mentioned, China's import volume of soybeans amounted to 100 million metric tons in 2020 and over 90 million metric tons in 2021. Currently, China's domestic soybeans can meet the need of food consumption. That is to say that our consumption of tofu and other soybean products is well guaranteed. Imported soybeans are mainly used to make edible vegetable oil and plant proteins for animal feed of husbandry. Looking forward, we will make full use of domestic and international markets and their resources to increase the supply of soybeans and oil plants. But more importantly, we need to focus on self-improvement and make more efforts on structural optimization. We need to be more determined in enhancing the production capacity of soybeans and oil plants and plant oil crops as much as we can in a bid to have more control over the edible oil security of Chinese people. We need to make efforts mainly in the following three aspects:
First, we need to proactively restore soybean planting areas in northeast China. As we know, the northeastern region is traditionally a major soybean-producing area. We will improve the policy on subsidizing corn and soybean production, support the region to carry out reasonable crop rotation of corn and soybeans and encourage farmers to plant soybeans this spring. In the meantime, some areas in northeast China, mainly those with the problem of groundwater overexploitation, can plant more soybeans by turning paddy fields into dry land. The northeastern region used to grow rice many years ago, but the conditions in some areas were not suitable. Thus, we can resume soybean planting in these areas.
Second, we need to proactively promote corn-soybean strip cropping. Instead of planting alternate rows of corn and soybeans, people often plant two rows of corn, alternating with four rows of soybeans in pilot zones. Thus, it is called strip cropping, and both plants can receive adequate natural sunlight to grow. The corn-soybean strip cropping has been piloted for many years, especially in southwestern regions like Sichuan province. Currently, there are over seven million mu (about 466,667 hectares) of strip cropping areas in China, and the planting model and techniques have grown mature basically. The biggest advantage of strip cropping is that it can solve the problem of exclusiveness between corn and soybeans because in the past, people could only plant one of them in the same area, but not the both. With strip cropping, we can make sure that corn yield does not decline on the whole and realize its stable production. Meanwhile, an additional 100 to 150 kilograms of soybeans can be harvested per mu every harvest season. This is pretty good news for farmers. This year, we plan to further promote this method and carry out corn-soybean strip cropping in suitable areas such as those along the Yellow River, Huai River, and Hai River, as well as southwest and northwest China. Still, because this method was only experimented in pilot areas and many regions are not familiar with it, we need to provide relevant assistance such as grain varieties, equipment, and techniques. With this in mind, the central government has allocated special subsidies to support . Additional funds will be taken from the commercial services sector and allocated to large-scale business entities that undertake relevant tasks so as to increase their willingness to promote corn-soybean strip cropping. Besides, we are also working to include strip cropping in the scope of agricultural insurance in some areas.
Third, we need to proactively enhance the production capacity of oil plants. There are many oil plants besides soybeans, such as rapeseed along the Yangtze River, peanuts in the northern and northwestern regions and North China, and camellia in the southern regions. All these need further development. In terms of rapeseed, the winter fallow in south China has huge potential. In 2021, more than five million mu of such fields were added, and we plan to expand more this year. As for peanuts, the key planting regions include areas along the Yellow River, Huai River, and Hai River and the agro-pastoral zone in the north, also known as regions along the 400 mm precipitation line. We need to promote crop rotation of corn and peanuts here and stabilize and expand the areas of land under peanuts cultivation. Regarding camellia, we need to focus on expanding its farming areas. Despite the substantial production potential, the output volume of camellia is very little nowadays, and we need to improve farmlands with a middle or low output. In addition, there are also other special oil plants such as sunflowers, flax, and sesame, and we need to promote their growth based on the actual local conditions.
In conclusion, with a variety of oil plans and diversified measures, we hope that China's self-sufficiency of soybeans and oil plants could see a comparatively huge improvement in five to 10 years. Thank you.
Chen Wenjun:
Since there are no further questions, today's press conference is hereby concluded. Thank you to all the speakers and friends from the media. Goodbye.
Translated and edited by Zhang Lulu, Ma Yujia, Zhou Jing, Huang Shan, Zhang Liying, Wang Yanfang, Zhang Rui, Wang Yiming, Li Xiao, Zhu Bochen, Wang Qian, Yuan Fang, Cui Can, Yang Xi, Gong Yingchun, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Tom Arnstein. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.
