On April 20, at the press conference on agricultural and rural economic operation in the first quarter of 2022, the reporter of China Securities Journal learned that the progress of spring management and spring sowing in China was generally good, and the supply of agricultural materials was generally guaranteed. In early April, China's vegetable production in the field increased by more than 1 million tons year-on-year. The total supply of meat, eggs, milk, fish, fruits and vegetables is sufficient, which can fully meet the consumption needs of urban and rural residents.
In addition, pig enterprises that continue to make losses may usher in an inflection point. In the first quarter, pig prices generally fell. In February and March, pig raising fell into a loss. However, the expert team predicts that with the continuous accumulation of various favorable factors such as the high callback of the number of newborn piglets and the high decline of feed costs, pig breeding is expected to turn losses into profits in the third quarter, but uncertain factors still exist.
summer grain production situation is better than expected
Zeng Yande, chief agronomist of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas and director of the development planning department, said that in the first quarter, the operation of the agricultural and rural economy was generally stable, the progress of spring management and spring sowing was generally good, and the situation of summer grain production was better than expected.
It is reported that the North encountered a rare autumn flood when planting in autumn and winter in 2021. After many hard efforts, the area of winter wheat was the same as that of the previous year and decreased slightly, but the seedling situation was the most complex and worst in the past decade. After the beginning of spring, all localities pay close attention to promoting the transformation from weak to strong, and promote the transformation and upgrading of winter wheat seedlings.
At present, the proportion of class I and II seedlings of winter wheat is 87.9%, which is 17.4 percentage points higher than that before winter and 3.7 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year. The growth trend is basically the same as that of the whole year, and there is a foundation for winning a good harvest of summer grain. Spring ploughing and preparation for sowing are progressing smoothly. According to the agricultural dispatching, the intended planting area of spring sowing grain this year is 940 million mu, an increase over the previous year. At present, more than 20% of spring sown grain, 70% of early rice planting and 70% of northeast rice seedling raising, all faster than last year.
Zeng Yande mentioned that the implementation of expanding the planting of soybean oil is better, which is a hard task for agricultural production this year. At present, the national soybean and oil production capacity improvement project has been started, and the objectives and tasks of soybean oil planting expansion have been implemented to provinces, cities and counties.
"At present, the preparation of spring ploughing has come to an end. The progress of seeds, pesticides and chemical fertilizers has exceeded 90%, and the supply is generally guaranteed." Pan Wenbo, director of the planting management department of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said.
national solid production foundation of "vegetable basket" products
Chen Ping, head of the market and Information Technology Department of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said that China's vegetable production, supply and market operation are highly seasonal. According to the perennial law, after the Spring Festival, with the temperature rising, the number of vegetables on the market increases, and the prices generally fall seasonally. The decline of vegetable prices in spring this year is slower than that in the past year, mainly due to the superposition of adverse weather, rising costs and covid-19 pneumonia.
"At present, the national production foundation of 'vegetable basket' products is still relatively solid, and the total amount is sufficient." Chen Ping said that in early April, the area of vegetables in the field in China was about 74 million mu, with a year-on-year increase of nearly 3 million mu, and the output was about 19.3 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of more than 1 million tons. The total supply of meat, eggs, milk, fish, fruits and vegetables is sufficient, which can fully meet the consumption needs of urban and rural residents.
Chen Ping mentioned that due to the multi-point spread of covid-19 pneumonia some time ago, some areas have encountered problems such as difficult field harvest and inadequate logistics distribution, and the supply of "vegetable basket" products in some areas has been affected.
It is reported that the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, together with relevant departments, acted quickly, timely dispatched the production and supply of 36 large and medium-sized cities, organized key Shenzhen Agricultural Products Group Co.Ltd(000061) wholesale markets to do a good job in joint supply guarantee, strengthened the coordination of member units of the inter ministerial joint meeting on "vegetable basket" food management, and effectively ensured the stable production and supply of "vegetable basket" products.
pig enterprises are expected to turn losses into profits
Yang Zhenhai, director of the animal husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said that the overall price of pigs fell in the first quarter. In February and March, pig raising fell into a loss. Recently, under the joint action of the increase of pork consumption and market regulation during the Qingming Festival, the supply and demand of pork has improved. However, the current pig breeding has not turned losses into profits. Every pig sold in March lost 327 yuan, 153 yuan more than in February.
Yang Zhenhai said that the expert team predicted that with the continuous accumulation of various favorable factors such as the high callback of the number of newborn piglets and the high decline of feed costs, pig breeding is expected to turn losses into profits in the third quarter, but uncertain factors still exist.
According to Yang Zhenhai, from the perspective of production, China's pig production has returned to the perennial level in 2021. Affected by the inertial growth of production, the number of pigs sold in the first quarter of this year continued to increase, but the production capacity was further optimized. In the first quarter, 195.66 million pigs were sold, a year-on-year increase of 14.1%. Fertile sows have been callback to normal stock for 9 consecutive months. At the end of the first quarter, the number of fertile sows in China was 41.85 million, equivalent to 102.1% of the normal population of 41 million, which is in a green and reasonable area of capacity regulation.
Next, the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas is ready to do a good job in three aspects. First, stabilize production. Strengthen monitoring and early warning, guide farmers to reasonably arrange production, urge all localities to stabilize support policies, rescue farmers and prevent excessive decline in production capacity.
"Now pig breeding enterprises and slaughtering and processing enterprises have encountered temporary operating difficulties and the capital chain is relatively tight. The Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, the development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of finance, the Ministry of ecological environment, the Ministry of Commerce and the CBRC have issued documents requiring that loans should not be restricted, cut off or withdrawn at will." Yang Zhenhai said.
Second, prevent epidemics. Guide all localities to comprehensively promote the "joint prevention of covid-19 pneumonia and major animal diseases", orderly promote the centralized immunization of major animal diseases in spring, continue to do a good job in the normalized prevention and control of African swine fever, and implement key prevention and control measures such as monitoring, screening, cleaning and disinfection. What needs special emphasis is that all localities should do a good job in the prevention and control of animal epidemics and strictly prevent the superposition of the two epidemics.
Third, unblocking and blocking points. In view of the problem that the transportation of feed, veterinary drugs and livestock products is blocked in some areas due to epidemic prevention and control, give play to the role of ministerial and provincial coordination mechanism, and do everything possible to help farmers solve problems and maintain normal production and marketing order.
