View of wheat fields in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Local authorities in the province vowed to develop 2.9 million mu (193,333.3 hectares) of high-standard farmland this year as they introduced Shaanxi's agriculture mission for 2021 on March 2. Photo: cnsphoto

 
The Party and the government will be held equally accountable for food security, according to the revised regulations on grain circulation management to be effective from April 15, marking the first time that the co-responsibility for food security lands in China's administrative legislation.

Both the provincial Party chief and governor will be responsible for "rice bags," which fully indicates that the Party has always put the issue of feeding China's 1.4 billion people as a top priority, Huang Wei, deputy director of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration (NFSRA), told a press briefing on Thursday.

The provincial governor liability regime for rice bags is the country's unique institutional arrangement for ensuring food security. Since its advent in 2016, the reprisal mechanism has continuously improved, based on the experience of which the new regulations have been established, stipulating that the co-responsibility regime will be put in place in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, according to Huang.

It's the first time that such a regime has been written into the country's administrative laws and rules, Huang noted, adding that relevant government departments are working on the policy requirements and specifics of the co-responsibility system to strengthen the Party's leadership in this area.

The grain circulation management rules were introduced in 2004 and have been amended twice previously, in 2013 and 2016.

Global Times