How is China’s Grain Situation?
As of 2023, China's total grain output has remained above 1.3 trillion jin (650 million metric tons) for eight consecutive years. Per capita grain availability stands at 500 kilograms, surpassing the internationally recognized food security threshold, ensuring that staple grains are basically self-sufficient and that people's food supply is absolutely secure.
However, China is one of 13 water-scarce nations in the world. Of the more than 50,000 inland river systems, only around 20,000 remain since the founding of the People's Republic. Currently, southern regions with abundant water resources have largely abandoned grain cultivation because it is troublesome and unprofitable, relying instead on the South-to-North Water Diversion Project to support agriculture in the north, while northern grain production feeds the south. (This imbalance has partly constrained regional economic development, as the policy-driven mandate for the north to focus on unprofitable grain farming has limited its economic diversification.)