The Chinese government on October 14, released a white paper on food security, which stressed it produces enough grain to feed its 1.4 billion people, but projected a rise in medium- to long-term grain demand. It said“Per capita grain consumption and demand will drop slightly, but the consumption… as feed for livestock and… industrial purposes will continue to rise” and overall“Total grain consumption will increase.” It listed the challenges facing grain production as: Continuously rising costs; Poor infrastructure; Limited resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC); and Insufficient capabilities to prevent disaster. Zhang Wufeng, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said“We must hold the rice bowl firmly in our hands and fill it with even more Chinese grains.” He added “The Chinese government has established a national strategy on food security featuring self-sufficiency based on domestic grain production, guaranteed food production capacity, moderate imports, and technological support.”
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