Food security first

In his inspection tour of a grain production area in North China last week, Premier Wen Jiabao used a quote from the late Chairman Mao Zedong: "With enough grain reserves ready, our heart will be at ease." We see the unprecedented importance the central government has attached to agriculture development and grain production.

Premier Wen assured the people and the world that China had enough grain reserves and that it could feed its own population. As Wen said, a country with a population of 1.3 billion makes the biggest contribution to the world by feeding its population on its own.

Authorities from the State Administration of Grain reiterated on Monday that grain supply was not a problem with ample reserves, and that China would very likely have another bumper harvest, the fifth consecutive increase in grain output in the past three decades.