Good governance means ensuring food security

The State Council, China's Cabinet, recently published a revised ordinance which elaborates on the management of State-subsidized grain, the regulation of the food circulation market, food quality and safety management and the reduction of food losses and waste. It represents an important legal guarantee for implementing regulatory responsibilities, maintaining market order and safeguarding national food security.

China has always given priority to food security, a prerequisite for the economic and social development of a country with a 1.4 billion population. It has devised a national food security strategy that relies mainly on domestic production, with only moderate imports.

The novel coronavirus outbreak and the increasingly complex international situation have underlined the importance of food security. The promulgation of the ordinance on grain management and its implementation will help improve China's grain circulation management capacity; safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of grain producers, traders and consumers; maintaining the stability of grain markets and prices, and ensuring national food security.

The ordinance stipulates the shared responsibilities for food security and specifies the responsibilities for grain production, purchase, storage and marketing, strengthening the foundation of the country's food security system.

Also, it will better handle the relationship between market regulation and government control at the legal level, which will make the country's grain circulation management more efficient and offer legal support for the establishment of a higher-level, higher-quality food safety guarantee system.

The ordinance talks of a series of policy measures on grain purchases and sales to protect farmers' interests, including the prohibition of any default in grain purchase payment to farmers. It says the country will further strengthen the regulations on food quality and safety supervision, establish and improve the circulation of the food quality safety risk monitoring system and strengthen the regulation of grain purchases, transportation and storage.

The ordinance also says false reporting of the volumes of grain purchases and storage, embezzlement of grain subsidies, and misuse of credit funds earmarked for grain production should be curbed by increasing fines for violations. These measures will provide effective legal means for promoting fair competition and orderly development of the grain market, and promote the interest connections between grain producers, traders and consumers.