India's land area is one-third of China's, and there is no Yuan Longping. Why can India feed 1.4 billion people and not eat enough food to export, while China needs to import a lot of food every year?
India and China, the world's two most populous countries, have a very different picture of the balance between food supply and demand: India is able to meet domestic demand on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is able to export large quantities of food.
At first glance, this phenomenon may seem enviable, but when you look into the reasons for it, it is thought-provoking.
According to the latest data, India's total grain production is expected to reach 32,885,200 tonnes, which is 2,110,000 tonnes higher than the average output over the past five years.
This figure may seem impressive at first glance, as if India's granary is constantly expanding, providing a constant supply of food at home and abroad.
However, the story behind the numbers is far more complex than it seems. Behind the seemingly paradoxical phenomenon of India's relatively low agricultural production efficiency and strong export capacity lies in India's unique socio-economic structure.
A large amount of farmland is concentrated in the hands of a few landlords, while the majority of peasants are reduced to tenant farmers or hired laborers, and it is difficult to obtain a reasonable return for their labor.
This unequal distribution of land allows the rich to accumulate wealth and manipulate market prices, thus securing food supplies to the global market. However, this situation has also led to serious inequalities in the distribution of food within the country, and hunger remains widespread.
In contrast, the situation in China is more complicated. Although China is the world's largest agricultural country, due to its large population, limited arable land, and the continuous decline in arable land due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, China has had to supplement its domestic food supply through imports.
However, China's grain imports are carried out on the basis of ensuring basic domestic self-sufficiency, which embodies the food security strategy of "focusing on me, basing ourselves on the domestic market, ensuring production capacity, moderate imports, and scientific and technological support".
China's food policy emphasizes self-sufficiency, strictly controls grain exports, and ensures that "Chinese's rice bowl is mainly filled with Chinese grain." While this strategy may limit China's influence in the international grain market in the short term, it provides a more stable guarantee of China's food security in the long run.
India actively encourages grain exports as an important source of foreign exchange and economic growth. While this policy has earned a place in the international market, it has also led to the problem of uneven distribution of food within the country.
In contrast, China is more focused on balancing the domestic market and is constantly improving agricultural productivity through innovative strategies such as "storing grain in technology".
It is worth mentioning that China has about 135 million hectares of arable land, which is much less than that of India, but its food production efficiency is far superior. This is the result of decades of unremitting efforts in the field of agriculture by China.
In stark contrast to India's large landlord system, China's public ownership of land guarantees the rights and interests of peasants, enabling them to decide what crops to grow and truly become the owners of the land.
In terms of scientific and technological innovation, China is at the forefront of the world. Agricultural scientists, represented by Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", have made great contributions to increasing grain production.
Academician Yuan Longping's hybrid rice technology has not only greatly improved China's grain production, but also contributed Chinese wisdom to global food security. This continuous scientific and technological innovation has enabled China's output per unit area to continue to increase, effectively alleviating the contradiction of more people and less land.
The Chinese government has always regarded food security as "the greatest thing in the country". The concept that "the rice bowl of Chinese is mainly filled with Chinese grain" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. To this end, China has invested heavily in agricultural infrastructure and built high-standard farmland to improve the resilience of agriculture.
At the same time, China has also actively responded to the challenges brought about by climate change, vigorously developing water-saving agriculture and drought-resistant crops, demonstrating agricultural wisdom with Chinese characteristics.
Source: Finance – Government of India: Total grain production is estimated at 32,885,200 tons, which is 2,110,000 tons higher than the average grain production in the past five years
