Amid rising economic challenges following the crackdown on the private sector and the collapse of real estate behemoth including Evergrande Group, issues related to China’s food security and its ability to feed 1.4 billion people have come in sharp focus especially in the post Covid phase.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission this week said it will focus on the security and stability of energy, food and supply chain in 2022 while effectively expanding consumption and investment, news agency ANI said. 

President Xi Jinping said been stressing that the rice bowl of China must be firmly kept in Chinese hands. Beijing has said that the country’s national security is linked to its food security.

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“China is a huge country but the production of rice and other crops has been dropping. The arable land is not very large and many parts of the country face severe weather conditions,” an analyst told India Narrative on condition of anonymity.

The Diplomat said that food security has been listed as equally important as national energy security and finance security in the face of threats from the China-U.S. trade war and a “complicated global environment.”

China’s rice imports have been steadily rising for more than one year as large parts of crops were damaged due to heavy rains. Concerns have risen especially as production has been dented due to the extreme climatic conditions coupled with the Covid 19 pandemic. Thinning labour force in the agriculture sector is also a key concern for the country’s policymakers.