China says grain security top priority

BEIJING?- Ensuring grain security and the supply of major farm products will always be a top priority in China's development of modern agriculture, Chinese authorities said on Thursday in its first policy document for 2013.

China should never slacken agricultural production, said the document, adding that works should be done to accelerate the development of modern agricultural industry and strengthen both material and technical support for agricultural development.

The first policy document, issued by the central committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council every year, is dubbed the No.1 central document. This is the 10th consecutive year in which the document focused on rural issues.

The country will continue to stabilize and increase grain output by keeping the area of land sown to grain crops stable, improving farm production structure and raising per-unit yields, said the document.

Efforts will be made to strengthen agricultural infrastructures and increase production efficiencies, and the government should implement while further improving "the most strict rules" on farmland protection, it said.

More work should be done to improve irrigation and water conservancy projects, encourage scientific innovation in the agricultural field and enhance intellectual property protection, according to the document.

The government also aims to boost agriculture product circulation by building a modern distribution system and better agricultural retail markets.

It will also accelerate the construction of the market of farm produce futures. It will also introduce new types of farm produce futures at appropriate times.

To encourage farm production, China will continue to increase the minimum purchase price for wheat and rice and timely launch temporary purchase and storage of corn, soybeans, rape seed, cotton and sugar, it said.

Improvements are required in agricultural market supervision and early-warning systems to better regulate the domestic market, as well as the import and export of agricultural products, said the document.

China will also focus on building a better supervision system on food-safety while preventing pollution in agricultural production and livestock and poultry farming, it added.