Sun Dongwei: step up the peanut industry to improve grain and oil safety and security

BEIJING, March 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from People's Daily: According to China's government work report 2023, its major task this year is to stabilize grain output and advance rural revitalization, in which promoting the production of oilseed crops and fostering rural industries with local features to create more channels for increasing rural income are highlighted.

During China's two sessions (annual meetings held by National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) separately), Sun Dongwei, the member of the 14^th NPC and the secretary of the CCP and chairman of Shandong Luhua Group, made a proposal that China should strive to develop the peanut industry and improve grain and oil safety and security.

Sun thinks, although China has secured the bumper harvest for 19 consecutive years with a total grain output of 650 million tons, the grain industry still has structural problems. To develop the domestic oil industry, China should urgently unleash the growth potential of oilseeds. As an old oilseed crop in China with wide planting areas, mature cultivation technology, leading processing technology, a solid consumer base and a controllable domestic value chain, the peanut is a strong substitute for the imported soybeans. Therefore, it should be included in the national grain security industry revitalization plan as soon as possible and given policy support throughout the whole value chain from base, breeding, planting, storage and transportation to processing.

Sun points out that the peanut industry is important for rural revitalization and increasing agricultural income. "While continuing to expand the planting area of soybean and making efforts to boost its yield, China should also step up the peanut industry to achieve a more diversified oilseed supply," he said.

Sun puts forward that the government should give more subsidy for promotion of improved varieties on the policy level to increase both output and income; set up the core growing region in areas suitable for peanut planting, for example, expanding peanut areas in Xinjiang province to fully utilize the excellent ecological resources there and using peanuts to rotate with cotton; and set pilot projects for new variety and technology and train farmers on new tech, facilitating the mechanization of peanut production in Xinjiang.

In addition, to improve peanut harvest and expand growing areas, Sun suggests that harvesting machines can be further advanced in order to be applied in different conditions in a large scale, reducing manual labor and costs. In a nut shell, the peanut industry in China, with policy guarantee and industrialization that can beef up the whole value chain from breeding, planting and storage to transportation, processing and sales, will bolster rural revitalization and make contributions to domestic grain and oil safety and security.

SOURCE People's Daily