Chen Yun's Thoughts and Propositions on Food Security

After the founding of New China, Chen Yun, who was in charge of financial and economic work, attached great importance to food work and formed a series of thoughts on food security, showing the foresight of strategists, which still has important reference significance for ensuring food security and improving food security governance capabilities today.

　　"The whole Party attaches importance to food work"

For a large agricultural country with a large population, the food problem is very important. As the main leader of the country's economic work, Chen Yun has always attached great importance to grain work, put forward that "the grain problem has become the central issue of rural work and agricultural production", and demanded that "the whole party attach importance to grain work".

Chen Yun paid great attention to the importance of food security from the important position of agricultural production. He pointed out that "the food problem, that is, the agricultural problem, is the biggest problem." he believed that if we attach importance to food work, we must attach importance to agricultural production, which is not only an important guarantee for food security, but also a basic condition for ensuring industrial development and the completion of all economic plans. In March 1955, he objectively analyzed the important position of agricultural production in the national economy in the "Report on the First Five-Year Plan for the Development of the National Economy": "Industrial products using agricultural products as raw materials account for the current total industrial output value of the country. More than 50%, and most of the foreign exchange required for importing industrial equipment and construction equipment is also obtained from the export of agricultural products. Therefore, the development of agriculture is the basic condition to ensure the completion of industrial development and all economic plans."

In addition, Chen Yun emphasized the importance of food security from the perspective of people's livelihood, and proposed that "to improve life, eating is the first priority". In terms of "eating, food first and non-staple food", he regarded solving the problem of people's food as the primary responsibility. Attach great importance. As early as at the Shanghai Finance and Economics Conference in August 1949, Chen Yun pointed out, "Now we are managing the country, and it is our responsibility for the people to have food". In November 1956, he made specific arrangements at the expanded ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Commerce, demanding that the Ministry of Commerce must attach great importance to solving the problem of feeding the people. He emphasized the importance of food security from the perspective of the vital interests of the people and demanded that the people's food must be guaranteed.

Chen also stressed the importance of food security from a political perspective. As early as the early 1950 s, at the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chen Yun proposed that the food problem must be solved first to achieve national political and economic stability. In September 1957, at the National Food Work Conference, Chen Yun further emphasized that "food work is an important work related to the vital interests of the people of the whole country" in response to the shortage of food supply across the country ". He pointed out that grain is the most important material to stabilize the market and ensure construction. Whether the market is stable or not depends on whether the food situation and food prices are stable. If market prices are not stable, nation-building cannot proceed. Therefore, "food work is extremely important. It is not only a simple economic work, but also a major political work". In September 1985, Chen Yun once again stressed that "eating and dressing for one billion people is not only a major economic problem in China, but also a major political problem." Food security is related to political stability and national security. Chen Yun has repeatedly reminded the whole party to attach great importance to food security.

　　"No food is the most dangerous" 

Chen Yun's leadership solved several food crises in the early days of the founding of New China and deeply understood the importance of food reserves for food security. He proposed that "no food is the most dangerous" and emphasized that "the country must have a certain amount of food reserves, and the situation without food reserves is very dangerous".

On the one hand, Chen Yun is highly concerned about China's food security situation. After the founding of New China, large-scale economic construction put forward higher requirements for agricultural production, especially grain production. However, our country has a large population and little land, low food productivity, coupled with the impact of natural disasters, the food gap has increased, and the problem of food shortage has become a constraint to economic construction. In this regard, Chen Yun has always maintained a clear understanding, paying attention to the national food security situation at any time, and planning food security in times of peace. In February 1955, Chen Yun pointed out at the National Finance and Economics Conference that "the food situation will be tense for at least ten years from now." He objectively analyzed the adverse effects of food shortages on agricultural and rural work, and further emphasized the importance of food security. In April 1959, Chen Yun reminded again in a letter to the comrades of the Central Financial and Economic Group, "China's food problem has not yet passed. Food is fixed, the world is fixed; food is tight, and the market is tight." In January 1961, Chen Yun clearly pointed out at the Ninth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: "Now, the food supply is tight." He analyzed the reasons for the shortage of food supply in detail from three aspects, and proposed that we must concentrate our efforts to strengthen the agricultural front. Arrange economic life in the order of agriculture, light and heavy.

On the other hand, Chen Yun stressed the importance of grain reserves for food security and even national security. He objectively analyzed the gap in China's grain reserves and pointed out that "we do not have any grain reserves, which is very dangerous". In May 1951, Chen Yun put forward the idea of storing grain and preparing for famine at the first national propaganda work conference: "I often think that we should do some insurance work in grain" and "in order to cope with floods and droughts, we should pay attention to grain reserves". In May 1961, he further emphasized at the foreign trade professional conference that "no food is the most dangerous", and emphasized the strategic significance of food reserves for food security and even national security from the perspective of foreign trade work.

　　"How can we increase agricultural production?" 

Chen Yun not only attached great importance to food security, but also paid attention to exploring ways to ensure food security, put forward the important proposition of "What method can be used to increase agricultural production?", and participated in the formulation of a series of effective policies and measures to ensure food security and lay a solid foundation for the smooth progress of socialist economic construction.

Chen Yun advocated that to ensure food security, we must adhere to the principle of self-reliance, based on domestic, supplemented by imports. In response to several food crises in the early days of the founding of New China, Chen Yun once proposed to import grain to ease the domestic food tension. However, he is also soberly aware that the most fundamental thing to ensure food security is to be based on domestic and self-reliance. In November 1953, he pointed out in a report to the central government that to solve the problem of tight urban edible oil supply, the most fundamental thing is to base itself on the country, expand the sown area, increase the output per unit area, and increase agricultural production. In November 1961, Chen Yun proposed at the meeting of the first secretaries of the Central Bureaus of the Communist Party of China, "On the issue of food, there should be such a goal: one is to survive, and the other is not to rely on foreign countries." He emphasized that the solution to the food problem must be based on food self-sufficiency. Importing food is only a temporary method and cannot be too dependent.

Starting from the basic national conditions of more people and less land, Chen Yun put forward measures to increase grain production, such as protecting and increasing cultivated land and increasing the yield per unit area, so as to ensure food security. In September 1961, when Chen Yun presided over the meeting of the Central Industrial Support Agriculture Group, he proposed that "to solve the problem of food, one is to open up wasteland, and the other is to increase the output per unit area". On the one hand, he believes that insufficient arable land is an important cause of food difficulties, proposes to protect and increase arable land to ensure food supply, and clearly proposes that "reclamation of wasteland suitable for cultivation is an important way to increase agricultural production". In February 1962, Chen Yun further analyzed the large increase in arable land occupied by water conservancy, industry, and transportation infrastructure, which led to a large decrease in grain cultivation area, which led to a decrease in grain production, and proposed to protect arable land and reclaim wasteland to increase grain production. On the other hand, he believes that it is necessary to increase the output per unit area based on the basic national conditions of more people and less land to increase grain production. At the Third Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in September 1957, Chen Yun analyzed and compared the basic national conditions and agricultural production methods of my country and the Soviet Union, the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries, and pointed out that increasing production depends on increasing the output per unit area. In fact, Chen Yun's consideration of agricultural development at this time already contains the idea of changing the growth mode of agricultural production and taking the road of high-quality agricultural development, which predictively points out the correct direction of China's agricultural development.

Chen Yun has the courage to break down the old and establish the new, and keeps pace with the times to explore ways to increase agricultural production and ensure food security. In the early 1960 s, Chen Yun proposed to adjust rural policies and relax farmers' freedom as the basic countermeasures to solve the problem of food shortage, and began to explore the practice of contracting agricultural output to households, which has become the reform since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, especially the rural reform. Important ideological source.

Source: Learning Times