China Drought, Heavy Rains Spark Concern Over Grain Supply

source: South China Morning Post

“Grain security” has become a buzzword in Chinese media, even though official data does not show an immediate danger of a shortage, reports theSouth China Morning Post.

China’s summer harvest hit “an all-time high”, rising 0.9 per cent from a year earlier, including a 0.6 per cent increase in wheat output, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. That follows 16 consecutive years -– between 2004 and 2019 -– of “good harvests”, with grain output last year 54 per cent higher than it was 2004.

Yet, Beijing has simultaneously stepped up efforts to remind the country about the importance of maintaining self-sufficiency in strategic grains, including rice, wheat and corn.

President Xi Jinping emphasised grain supply security when he made an unusual instruction for people not to waste food.

The message on food thrift immediately turned into a national campaign, with lawmakers flirting with the idea of creating a legal framework to punish food waste.

Read the full reporthere.