By Mei Mei Chu
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s first food safety law aimed at achieving “absolute self-sufficiency” in staple grains took effect on Saturday, boosting efforts by the world’s largest importer of agricultural products to reduce its dependence on regarding purchases abroad.
The law provides a legal framework for the Communist Party’s existing guidance for local governments and the agricultural industry to increase food production, although it did not provide details on how the law will be implemented.
This includes protecting agricultural land from conversion to other uses, protecting genetic resources and preventing waste.
Passed just six months after its first reading, the rush to pass the food security law reflects China’s urgency to address problems that have held back production, such as lack of arable land and water resources, labor shortage and lack of agricultural technology.
The law holds central and provincial governments accountable for integrating food security into their economic and development plans, ensuring that food supply remains a top priority in this country which has a painful history of famine.
The party will lead the implementation of a national food security strategy “that puts China first” by importing moderately and using scientific and technological advancements to boost production, according to a provision of the law.
“It will have to adhere to the principle of storing grain in the ground and use technology to improve grain production,” he said, in order to ensure “basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute self-sufficiency in grain basic products intended for food.
It also provides for the creation of a national cereal emergency plan and a food safety monitoring system.
China has expanded the definition of “coarse grains” to include millet and oats, in addition to sorghum, barley, buckwheat, mung beans and potatoes. Cereals refer to wheat, rice, corn, soybeans and coarse grains.
Entities that violate the law can be fined between 20,000 yuan and 2 million yuan, while individual violators can be fined between 20,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan.
The law also states that China will “strengthen international cooperation on food security and enable international grain trade to play its role.” He did not give details.
Analysts say the law is vaguely worded and may not have a significant impact on how China boosts its food production.
“This does not change the realities on the ground for local officials, who were already under significant pressure to ensure food security,” said Even Pay, an agricultural analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China.
“The Food Safety Act enshrines existing practices in law, but should not change anything. Food safety was already among the top national priorities and cannot go further,” she added.
(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; editing by Naveen Thukral and Michael Perry)
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