China News Agency, Beijing, October 20th (Reporter Chen Su) This year, extreme weather has occurred frequently in China, especially in the northern part of the country recently encountered extreme rainfall, which has a greater impact on the ongoing autumn harvest.
In response to the severe autumn floods, on the 20th, the State Council executive meeting made emergency arrangements for autumn harvest and autumn and winter planting, and required active responses to ensure stable food supply and stable prices.
Since September, the rainfall in Shanxi and Shaanxi has been unusually high, especially during the long holiday of "October", with a wide range and heavy rainfall, which is the "strongest autumn flood" since the meteorological record.
According to media reports, the farmland in Shanxi and Shaanxi was flooded, and the corn and sorghum that were too late to be harvested were soaked in the water. This year, China's autumn harvest faced severe challenges.
Pan Wenbo, director of the Planting Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, said that due to the impact of this rainfall, the Weihe River, especially part of the Fenhe River, overflowed, causing farmland to be flooded.
The affected area of crops was about 5.5 million mu, and more than 3 million mu of farmland had accumulated water, which brought unprecedented difficulties to the local autumn harvesting and planting.
“The continuous autumn rain caused the slowdown of the autumn harvest. According to the agricultural situation, the country’s autumn grain harvest is 75% so far, 4% slower than normal.” Pan Wenbo said that the continuous autumn rain also caused the increase in autumn harvest costs, in order to cope with the problem of wet land. In order to harvest the high-yield grains, some farmers need to change the wheel harvester into a crawler type, and some need manual harvesting, which obviously increases the harvesting cost.
Autumn grain accounts for three-quarters of China's annual grain. The key to achieving a bumper annual grain harvest depends on autumn grain.
In order to cope with the impact of the autumn flood on the autumn harvest, the State Council executive meeting held on the 20th proposed that it is necessary to actively respond to the negative impact of the recent continuous rain in the north on the autumn harvest and planting, and to ensure that the autumn grain should be collected. Do a good job in the drying and storage of grain to ensure the quality of the grain in the warehouse.
Increase policy support to ensure the supply of electricity and diesel for farmland pumping and drainage, and grain drying.
On the 20th, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs stated to the outside world that China’s grain output will hit a record high this year, staying above 1.3 trillion catties for seven consecutive years.
The analysis pointed out that despite the heavy autumn rains in the north this year, which has adversely affected the autumn harvest, except for the decline in autumn crop production due to severe floods in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, the overall output of autumn crops across the country has increased. The recent continuous rains have generally limited impact on the output.
At present, China's autumn and winter planting is also entering the most critical period. The smooth development of the current autumn and winter planting is directly related to the situation of grain production next year.
“The continuous rainfall since September has not only affected the autumn harvest, but more importantly, the planting of winter wheat.” Pan Wenbo said that despite some measures, the current progress of the autumn harvest in Shanxi is still 18% slower than normal, and the planting progress of autumn and winter wheat planting is slow. 60%; Shaanxi's autumn harvest progress was about 2% slower, and the autumn and winter wheat planting progress was 25% slower.
The executive meeting of the State Council put forward that it is necessary to do a good job in autumn and winter planting, and strive to basically stabilize the area under autumn and winter.
In addition, affected by the increase in raw material prices, China's agricultural material prices have risen significantly since spring plowing this year, especially the price of chemical fertilizers.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the average ex-factory prices of domestic urea, diammonium phosphate, potassium chloride and compound fertilizers from January to September increased by 25.2%, 30.1%, 23.7% and 21.3% year-on-year, respectively. The cost of food production this year has an adverse impact on food production and the maintenance of supply and price stability.
The executive meeting of the State Council pointed out that food prices are the basis of one hundred prices, and that food prices account for a high proportion of the consumer price index. A bumper harvest of food can lay a solid foundation for stabilizing prices and preventing inflation.
We must actively respond to the high prices of agricultural materials, take multiple measures to ensure the supply of agricultural materials, and stabilize the prices of agricultural materials.
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