Author: Cheng Guangyan (Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs).
Since the reform and opening up, China's food production and supply have increased significantly, which has strongly supported the transformation of urban and rural residents from having enough to eat well. In 2021, China's per capita daily energy supply will reach 3,400 kcal, which can fully meet the per capita daily caloric demand, and the per capita animal protein supply is 37 per day5 grams, which is 20-40 grams lower than that of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and there is still a gap of about 6 grams with basic nutritional needs. Improving the supply of high-quality animal protein is an important task to ensure national food security in the coming period.
With the growth of income, the advancement of urbanization and the improvement of people's living standards, on the one hand, the total food consumption will show a rigid growth. The "China Agricultural Outlook Report (2023-2032)" shows that in the next 10 years, China's annual consumption of grain, meat, eggs, and milk will increase respectively0%, the pressure on the food supply increases. On the other hand, unreasonable diet leads to more common chronic diseases. According to the "China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2021" and related statistics, the overweight and obesity rates in China have reached4%, * the number of diabetics reached 14.1 billion people, the number of people with high blood pressure has reached 24.5 billion people, and the number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases is 3300 million people. The irrational structure of food consumption in China is mainly reflected in three aspects: First, the consumption of staple foods is mainly refined grains, and the consumption of whole grains and miscellaneous grains is insufficient. Second, the consumption of red meat in animal products is too high, and the consumption of poultry meat, milk and aquatic products with low fat and higher nutritional value is obviously insufficient. Third, the consumption of vegetables, fruits, and soybeans has not yet reached the standard, which is significantly lower than the recommended amount of nutrition.
Ideas and paths of national food security under the concept of big food.
In the face of many challenges such as increasing pressure on resources and environment, complex international situation, and changeable climate, to meet the growing consumer demand, and to rely on the increase in cultivated land area to achieve increased production and limited space for external adjustment in the international market, we must implement the concept of big food, adhere to the optimization of residents' food nutrition, take into account economic feasibility, resource reduction, and environmental friendliness, accelerate the transformation from the production end to the supply and demand ends, and from simply doing "addition" to coordinating "subtraction" and "addition", so as to ensure the bottom line of food security and accelerate the construction of a healthy China. The specific development path is as follows.
By optimizing the nutritional structure of residents' food, up to 55.4 million tons of food demand can be saved every year. According to the author's estimates, 6-40 grams of grain are needed for every 1 gram of animal protein produced due to different **. In contrast, poultry meat, milk and aquatic products are not only low in fat, high in nutritional value, but also have high feed conversion efficiency. Taking into account the nutritional and health needs of residents and the pressure on resources, it is necessary to vigorously optimize the proportion of animal products and weaken the proportion of red meat, especially pork. Based on the static calculation of food consumption level in 2022, if the proportion of poultry meat in meat consumption increases to 40%, milk consumption increases to the Asian average (94 kg per person per year), and the proportion of aquatic products in animal products increases to 19%, a cumulative 55.4 million tons of food can be saved every year.
By reducing the loss and waste of the whole industry chain, 156 trillion kilocalories can be added every year. At present, the total rate of food loss and waste in China is 227%, with a preliminary estimate of about half of the room for impairment, i.e. 1135 percentage points, which can save 2300 million tons of food, converted into 156 trillion kilocalories, can feed 1900 million people, a decrease of about 2500 million acres of cultivated land resource use, 1500 million cubic meters of water consumption. In terms of links, the greatest potential for loss reduction is at both ends of the industrial chain, with agricultural production, post-harvest processing, and consumption accounting for the total loss respectively4%；In terms of products, vegetables have the greatest potential for impairment, accounting for 57% of the total impairment9%, followed by cereals.
Expand food supply** and tap the potential of calorie and protein supply from resources other than cultivated land. The area of forest land in China is 42600 million mu, it is necessary to popularize the complex management model of forest medicine, forest fungi, forest fruits, and forest vegetables in accordance with local conditions, develop the breeding industry of forest poultry, forest livestock, and forest bees, rationally develop the grassy hills and grassy slopes in the south, build a modern forage industry system, scientifically use lakes, reservoirs and other large water surfaces, develop ecological fisheries, and increase the supply of aquatic products.
Through the promotion and application of low-protein diet technology, 13.2 million tons of soybean meal can be saved every year. Studies have shown that the popularization and application of low-protein diet technology, the use of feed precision formula and fine processing technology, combined with the use of synthetic amino acids, enzymes and other additives, can effectively improve the efficiency of feed protein utilization, and can reduce the protein content demand of pig and poultry compound feed to 104%, down 4 percent from current levels5 percentage points can reduce feed protein consumption by about 13.2 million tons, equivalent to about 17 million tons of soybeans.
Solve the "last mile" problem of scientific and technological achievements and tap the potential of scientific and technological production increase. According to statistics, at present, more than 3,000 new achievements in agricultural science and technology are registered in China every year, but the conversion rate is only about 40%, and less than 30% of the real scale is formed. Relevant studies have shown that the rate of advanced and practical technology in science and technology demonstration households has reached more than 90 percent, and compared with ordinary peasant households, the yield per mu of major grain crops has increased by more than 10 percent, and the average cost per mu has been saved by more than 30 yuan.
Use biosynthesis technology to carry out research and development of edible protein and feed substitute products, and broaden the boundaries of the protein industry. Biotechnology and bio-industry are the main directions of the new round of scientific and technological revolution, and they have broad prospects in ensuring food supply. First, in order to replace global hot products with animal proteins such as biologically cultivated meat, microbial protein meat, and insect protein meat, it is necessary to increase scientific and technological innovation, seize the commanding heights of international research, and prevent developed countries from forming technological monopolies. The second is to speed up the industrialization and application of new feed. Accelerate the industrial application of new feed products such as carbon monoxide synthetic protein, carbon dioxide synthetic starch, and microbial protein, and expand feed products.
Implement the strategic recommendations of the big food concept and ensure national food security.
Accelerate the transformation of agricultural production into a nutrition-oriented one. To implement the concept of big food, it is necessary to build an assessment system with food safety as the goal, take calories, proteins, and fats as important food safety assessment indicators, and guide and encourage all localities to develop and utilize food resources according to local conditions. It is recommended to compile and publish the "China's Food and Nutrition Supply and Demand Balance Table" on a regular basis, take the nutritional and health needs of residents as an important consideration index in the preparation of agriculture-related plans, encourage the development of poultry meat, milk and aquatic products industries with high nutritional value and low grain consumption, reduce the dependence of animal protein output on cultivated land, and ask for protein from grasslands and oceans.
Strengthen the guidance of residents' food consumption. The first is to incorporate food education into the teaching system of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, activate the five main bodies of "teachers, students, families, schools and communities", establish a long-term mechanism for food education, and cultivate scientific and reasonable eating habits from an early age. The second is to give full play to the main role in the popularization of food and nutrition science, gradually improve the reward and punishment system for food and nutrition science popularization, and encourage scientific research workers and industry practitioners to actively engage in science popularization. The third is to study and introduce a nutrition labeling system for fresh agricultural products as soon as possible, and scientifically guide the public to buy fresh ingredients.
Actively promote food loss reduction in the whole industry chain. Focusing on both ends of the industrial chain, vegetables and grains, we will promote food loss reduction: First, increase investment, improve the mechanization and intelligence level of harvesting, storage, segmentation and other links, promote the application of advanced cold chain equipment, and strengthen the infrastructure and scientific and technological support for food loss reduction. Second, it is necessary to appropriately shorten the mileage of food transportation, increase the self-sufficiency rate of fresh agricultural products such as vegetables in large and medium-sized cities, and reduce the circulation and loss of fresh agricultural products. The third is to advocate a civilized, healthy and scientific food culture, and enhance the awareness of anti-food waste in the whole society. Fourth, strengthen the research and effect evaluation of the food loss reduction mechanism, and publish food loss reports on a regular basis.
Implement the subsidy policy for the promotion and application of low-protein diets. It is suggested to study and establish a quantitative model and benefit accounting relationship between protein content in feed and animal emission reduction, fully consider the comprehensive effect of low-protein diet on nitrogen emission reduction, implement emission reduction subsidy policies for breeding enterprises using high-quality low-protein diets, guide the whole industry to reduce the level of feed protein, and promote the efficiency and emission reduction of the aquaculture industry.
Strengthen the monitoring and top-level design of large food resources. The first premise of implementing the concept of big food is to find out the potential of food and nutrition supply in China's forests, grasslands, rivers, lakes and seas, as well as facility agriculture. Strengthen top-level design, take the concept of big food as the guide, study and formulate food resource development plans and development paths, clarify the goals, tasks and promotion measures for optimizing the food production structure and industrial layout, and effectively ensure national food security.
*:Farmer**.