Large combines harvest rice at the Baimahu Farm in Huai’an, Jiangsu Province, on Oct. 24. Photo: CFP

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Oct. 16 marks the World Food Day, a significant event recognized globally. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping has emphasized the vital role of food security to a nation on many occasions. The world is currently facing various challenges such as rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change, all of which exert mounting pressure on Earth’s resources. In an interview with CSST, Kenneth M. Quinn, President Emeritus of the World Food Prize Foundation, discussed China’s contributions to global food security and its remarkable achievements in poverty reduction.

Stable grain production 

Despite numerous challenges, including the intertwining effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and volatile fluctuations in international grain prices, China’s grain output reached 1.37 trillion jin (687 billion kilograms) in 2022, exceeding 1.3 trillion jin for eight consecutive years. 

“Over the past 40 years of dramatic transformation of Chinese agriculture, the enhancement of the most critical elements of the food production chain has meant that dramatic year-to-year fluctuations have been significantly limited,” Quinn told CSST. “As is the case in other modern agricultural systems, China, through its improved domestic production and transportation capabilities, has demonstrated its ability to react quickly and effectively to short-term shortages in certain geographic areas within its borders and to impact the international trading system.”

Quinn pointed out that the emphasis given to rural development by President Xi Jinping has considerably enhanced China’s abilities to respond to any local problems in terms of reduced harvest and food shortages. Moreover, the research being done at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science and other agricultural universities and research centers helps ensure that China will have the improved seeds and other amendments needed to maintain high production levels despite any changes in weather or other negative factors.

Achievements in food security  

China’s remarkable achievement in eradicating hunger and poverty has resulted in the uplifting of 750 million individuals from the global population living below the poverty level by 2019. This represents one of the most significant reductions in hunger ever witnessed. Experts estimate that between 1980 and 2020, approximately one billion people worldwide were lifted out of poverty, with China accounting for three quarters of the overall figure. 

“China stands alone in such a monumental achievement, one that was attained in a remarkably short period of time—just 40 years. In some countries in those regions, there was also progress being made in lifting people out of poverty. However, no country in either geographic region has achieved anything approaching the numbers of people uplifted in China,” Quinn said. 

He noted that the breakthrough achievement of late crop scientist Yuan Longping in developing “hybrid rice” in the 1970s produced a similar dramatic impact as Dr. Norman Borlaug did in Mexico and India. 

“Professor Yuan Longping first shared his remarkable hybrid rice across China when the increased plant yields were so critically needed to offset the extreme food insecurity being experienced by a significant portion of the Chinese population. Professor Yuan next shared his breakthrough achievements with the leadership and scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. There, his innovative agricultural technology could be shared broadly to many other countries in Southeast Asia and globally,” Quinn said. 

“In all of those ways, Professor Yuan’s initial breakthrough achievement in creating hybrid rice, as well as his subsequent development of ‘waterfall rice varieties,’ so named because the amount of grain on each rice plant is so numerous that it causes the plants to bend over and create the look of a ‘waterfall’ of rice kernels,” Quinn continued. He added that the impact of these multiple breakthrough achievements in plant science will positively impact Africa and the world in the decades to come.

Emulatable experience

When speaking at a Think Tank Forum organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences a few years ago, Quinn presented a paper in English outlining the five “Rs” that, in his assessment, led to China’s agricultural transformation. Those five “Rs” stand for Roads, Research, Rice, Rural Development, and Reform. 

The main theme throughout Quinn’s 50-year career in foreign affairs, and particularly during the 20 years during which he led the World Food Prize Foundation, was promoting “Peace Through Agriculture.” He has seen during his work in villages in the developing world, especially in Southeast Asia and Africa, how the improvement of roads and the introduction of new seeds can lead to significant improvements in the wellbeing of people as well as the promotion of peace.

“It is for this reason that I have urged countries and regions to emulate the recent experience of China in rapidly expanding and upgrading its rural farm to market road system,” Quinn said. “When I first visited China in 1979, the country’s rural road penetration was below 50%. The percentage of the population in poverty was over 70%. In 2023, rural road penetration was close to 100% and poverty was close to zero. Africa now faces the same challenge that China faced 40 years ago.” 

“When speaking in developing countries or at major conferences, such as the annual African Green  Revolution Forum, I often refer to this Chinese experience over the past 40 years as a model of a very successful process of agricultural transformation with lessons to be emulated,” he said. 

Edited by CHEN MIRONG