All localities will do their best to prevent agricultural floods, fight floods and provide relief to ensure the safety of rice production

Recently, the issue of rice supply and price has received much attention. In China, in early August, Wuchang City in Heilongjiang Province, famous for "Wuchang rice", suffered sustained heavy rainfall and severe flooding. Internationally, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released the latest data, affected by India and other countries to restrict rice exports, the global rice price index rose to the highest level in nearly 12 years in July.

Under the influence of multiple factors, how is China's domestic rice supply this year? How to restore rice field production in Wuchang? How to ensure the safety of national rice production?

For the disaster-stricken rice fields, local measures were taken to speed up the resumption of agricultural production: organizing multiple forces to seize the drainage water in the fields, digging and expanding the existing drainage projects, clearing and removing obstacles, digging ditches, puddles and erecting pumps for those without drainage projects; Set up a post-disaster technical guidance group to provide one-to-one help to farmers, spray foliar fertilizer on heavily affected plots, and promote crop grouting and ripening.

For disaster-affected farmers, the loss should be reduced through insurance and other means. At present, the insured area of cultivated land agricultural insurance in Wuchang City accounts for about 70% of the total cultivated land. Zhang Qiang, customer manager of agricultural insurance of Wuchang Branch Company of Ping An Property Insurance Co., LTD., introduced that after the disaster, the company promptly took aerial photos and surveys of the affected plots through satellite positioning and the use of drones, verified and registered the disaster situation, introduced relevant information and agricultural insurance claims process to farmers in a timely manner, and made rapid compensation payments.

Wuchang rice field disaster impact on the "rice bag" geometry? Industry analysts believe that the market supply of this single category of Wuchang rice may be affected to a certain extent, but the impact on the national rice supply is limited.

Zhang Ye, director of the Wuchang Rice Industry Service Center, believes that the disaster will have a certain impact on the supply and price of Wuchang rice, but it is unlikely to have a large fluctuation, and the local government is strengthening support to help farmers and enterprises overcome difficulties and consolidate and enhance the rice industry chain.

Zhang Lei, head of Wuchang Dada Agriculture Co., LTD., said that some rice paddies were affected quickly and quickly, which had a limited impact on the overall food production in Wuchang. In addition, the price of DaoHuaxiang 2, the main variety of Wuchang rice, has been at a high level, and it is unlikely that prices will rise sharply because of local disasters.

From the perspective of the whole country, the proportion of rice planting area and output is small. In 2022, for example, China's rice planting area will reach 442 million mu, and the proportion of rice planting area will be less than 6‰. The national rice output is 416.99 billion jin, and the Wuchang high-quality rice output is 2.6 billion jin, accounting for about 6.2‰.

While rice production has been affected in some parts of the country, the international news has also raised some concerns about rice supplies. August 4, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released the latest report shows that in July, the FAO rice price index rose 2.8%, an increase of 19.7%, the highest level since September 2011, mainly due to the world's largest rice exporter India announced on July 20 to ban rice exports except steamed rice.

How will the volatility of the international rice market affect the Chinese market? Agricultural experts analysis, whether from the import proportion or domestic production and demand situation, China's rice supply has sufficient security.

In terms of imports, according to the data of the General Administration of Customs, in recent years, China's annual import of rice and the largest amount of rice in one year is 6.19 million tons, accounting for about 2.97% of domestic rice production in the year, and imports are mainly for variety adjustment.

In terms of domestic production and demand, China is the world's largest rice producer, with rice output of more than 200 million tons since 2011, with surplus production and demand, sufficient reserves, and self-sufficiency rate of more than 100%. On August 23, the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the total output of early rice in China this year was 56.67 billion jin, an increase of 430 million jin over the previous year. Peng Chao, director of the Rural Revitalization Research Center of the Management Cadre College of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, believes that this year's early rice production increase, middle and late rice growth is generally good, individual local rice disasters have limited impact on the national rice supply and demand fundamentals, and China's rice import sources are diversified and relatively stable. In general, the smooth operation of the national rice market has the basis for stable self-sufficiency.