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Chinese President Xi Jinping, file photo.
China dreams of becoming a world power under the leadership of Xi Jinping. But that ambitious dream is about to be shattered by the growing food crisis in the country. Beijing is currently struggling to feed its own people. Recently, President Xi Jinping ordered the citizens of the country to stop wasting food.
Population growth and declining arable land, an industrialized economy and growing consumer demand for agricultural products could lead to a major food crisis in China, according to a Forbes report. This is due to the fact that the arable land in the country is much less than the population. Also, after the Corona epidemic, there have been massive floods in southern China recently. As a result, a large number of agricultural farms have been razed and thousands of tons of food grains have been wasted. As a result, the country will soon face a major food crisis.
According to local Chinese media, the recent floods have destroyed at least 29 billion pounds of food grains in the country. Numerous farms have been razed. At least 70 million people in 26 provinces have been affected.
The official from the Ministry of Emergency Management, Li Kungang, warned of another major flood next fall. “For the first time since 1998, the waters of China’s three main rivers are flowing at the highest possible levels,” the official told a press conference on September 3. The flooding has disrupted the production of rice, wheat, and other crops in all areas along the Yangtze River.
That’s probably why China, the world’s second-largest wheat producer and second-largest producer, has imported large amounts of wheat, Forbes said. In the first half of 2020, the country imported more wheat than in the last 10 years. In June alone, China’s wheat imports were the highest in seven years. Not just wheat, China has also bought a lot of corn from the United States.
To meet the needs of a large population, China will need to import more food grains this year. Demand varies widely with China’s food supply. China’s biggest problem as the world’s largest importer is that most countries have reduced food exports due to the Corona epidemic. Meanwhile, India and Vietnam have stopped exporting rice. China’s Ministry of Commerce wanted to stockpile enough food in July this year. However, Brazil, Russia, Canada, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia did not meet that target due to reduced exports.
According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 74.51 million tonnes of food grains from January to July. Which is 22.6 percent more than in the same period last year. The prices of all foods in the country have risen at least 13 percent since the Corona epidemic. China’s food reserves show that the country is in a food crisis.
According to a recent survey, the Chinese people waste a lot of food. A citizen of the country wastes at least 93 grams of food every day. And with the amount of food they waste each year, it is possible to feed 30 to 50 million people a year. In 2015 alone, the country wasted between 10 and 60 lakh tonnes of food.
China’s food crisis came to the fore in a speech by President Xi Jinping on August 11. The amount of food that goes to waste is terrifying and painful, he said. This was followed by the “Clean Plate Campaign” in China. Following President Xi Jinping’s message, the Wuhan Catering Industry Association called on restaurants in the city to limit food supplies. That being said, at least one food should be provided less than the number of people ordering food in a group.
As the world’s largest importer of the Corona epidemic, China has undergone major changes in its food supply. At the same time, they have begun to take strong measures against food waste. The Chinese government believes that by doing so they will be able to tackle the country’s food crisis in the coming days.
Source: India Blooms.
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