Sustainable Development Goals, Financial Inclusion, and Grain Security Efficiency

The 17 sustainable development goals proposed in the 2030 sustainable development agenda are the shared vision of all humanity. The core of achieving the sustainable development goals is to ensure grain security. Although financial inclusion is not separately incorporated into the United Nations sustainable development goals, it is an essential basis for supporting all sustainable development goals. Financial inclusion plays a critical role in improving grain security efficiency to ensure sustainable grain security. According to the Financial Access Survey implemented by IMF, this study calculated the financial inclusion index and grain security efficiency of 121 countries from 2015 to 2019. Based on calculating the efficiency of grain security in production and distribution, this study used an econometric model to empirically examine the role of financial inclusion in improving grain security efficiency. The study found that financial inclusion can promote grain security efficiency from the two links of production and distribution. Still, the improvement of grain security efficiency by financial inclusion is mainly reflected in the distribution. Further, the study found that the advancement of financial inclusion promotes the efficiency of grain distribution through the effects of residents’ income distribution, residents’ income growth, and consumption capacity upgrading, which achieves the goal of ensuring grain security and promoting sustainable development.

Can Industrial Integration Improve the Sustainability of Grain Security?

The sustainability to ensure grain security is an important issue that China’s government faces. It has become more important to ensure grain security by improving the efficiency of grain production under the constraints of limited resources. At present, industrial integration has become an important trend of economic development in China. This study explores the impact of industrial integration on the sustainability of grain security from the perspective of grain production efficiency. In this paper, the grain production efficiency was measured by stochastic frontier analysis method. The degree of industrial integration is measured by the coupling coordination method. Additionally, the effect of industrial integration on grain production efficiency is empirically studied by the panel tobit model. Empirical results show that industrial integration can promote the improvement of grain production efficiency, which reveals that accelerating industrial integration can also be conducive to grain security.

Food and Grain Consumption Per Capita in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and Implications for Conservation

Background: Grain security is crucial for social stability and ecosystem conservation regionally and globally, and it is particularly concerned widely in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) due to its high altitude and harsh climate for agriculture. Method: In this paper, we calculated and analyzed per capita food and grain consumption, including direct grain consumption, grain for fodder, industry consumption, seeds consumption, and wastage consumption and its changes in the QTP during 1995–2019. Results: The results showed that (1) in 2019, the average food consumption per capita was 333.35 kg, was stable since 1995. The dietary structure of residents was composed of direct grain consumption (44.15%), meat (10.72%), and milk (6.94%). The consumption of meat and milk was higher than the national average. (2) The average daily intake of energy and protein, animal protein, and the ratio of high-quality protein and fat energy were 2156.21 kcal·d−1, 73.53 g·d−1, 23.06 g·d−1, 38.32%, and 27.77% in 2019. Their changes were −342.98 kcal·d−1, −8.91 g·d−1, 11.16 g·d−1, 18.37%, and 11.08%, respectively. (3) The corresponding grain consumption per capita was 284.90 kg·a−1 in 1995, 262.19 kg·a−1 in 2010, and then remained stable until 2019. Conclusion: The study suggested that food consumption per capital was guaranteed at the well-off level since 2010, and food and dietary structure of residents were corresponding to physical geographic and climatic environment in the QTP. The conflict between food security and the ecosystem conservation can be managed without scarifying nature as the total grain consumption was stable since 2010, and the yield per unit area and total grain yield were both increasing since 2003 for agricultural condition improved in the QTP.

Forecasting China’s food grain demand 2021-2050 with attention to balanced dietary and fertility policies

The estimation of China's future food grain demand has become vital input for designing grain security measures. Addressing the population's age-gender and urban-rural structures under three fertility policies scenarios together with concerns for balanced diets, we established a multi-factor driven model to forecast China's food grain demand (including staple food grain and feed grain) during 2021-2050. The three scenarios are as follows; the two-child fertility policy for couples when either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family (scenario 1); universal two-child policy (scenario 2), and no limitations on the number of children (scenario 3). The results show that in scenario 3, China's food grain demand would peak in 2030 at about 329.3 million tons, about 3.7 million tons higher than that in scenario 2, and 104.7 million tons lower than that estimated with the traditional per capita method. These findings indicate that the demographic transition for fertility policy adjustment is not the main impacting factor of China's food grain security from 2021 to 2050. We might overestimate food grain demand by about 15 percent if we ignored each age-gender and urban-rural structure of the population. Then it may lead to an oversupply of grain and accumulation of stocks, which would generate about 1 billion RMB annual inventory cost burden. An important complement to the demographic strategy would come from the adoption of the proposed Dietary Guideline for Chinese Residents (2019). It can make people much healthier and save about 7.5 percent of China's food grain consumption, reducing the pressure scarce supplies of water and land in the country.

Grain security assessment in Bangladesh based on supply-demand balance analysis

Ensuring the grain supply-demand balance and achieving grain security had been the main tasks for the government of Bangladesh. On the supply side, Bangladesh’s supply of grain products has increased substantially, with an average annual growth rate of 1.99 million tons in 1998–2018. Domestic grain production, especially rice production, accounted for the largest proportion in its structure. However, under the constraints of resources and environment, imports and international aid were needed to ensure a stable and sustainable grain supply. On the demand side, Bangladesh’s demand for grain products continued to grow at an average annual rate of 2.09 million tons and its structure was constantly diversified. In recent years, domestic grain production has fully met the grain demand for food use, but the overall grain supply dependence on foreign gradually increased. From the analysis of the influencing factors, the grain supply, especially the domestic production of rice and maize, had the greatest impact on the balance of grain supply-demand in Bangladesh. Moreover, multiple cropping index, chemical fertilizer application per hectare and irrigation rate were the three main factors affecting grain production. As a typical agricultural country, Bangladesh’s grain security was faced with challenges, such as high population density, insufficient cultivated land resources, international grain trade and frequent natural disasters. It is suggested that its government should strengthen scientific and technological research, adjust agricultural structure, improve the efficient utilization of agricultural resources and grain circulation systems, and balance the grain demand between food use and indirect use, so as to achieve complete grain self-sufficiency and overall grain security.

Magnesium Fertilization Affected Rice Yields in Magnesium Sufficient Soil in Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China

Magnesium (Mg) plays a crucial role in rice yield. Heilongjiang Province is the main rice-producing region of China, playing an important role in guaranteeing China's and the world's grain security. However, rarely Mg fertilization is applied in this province. Soil Mg status of main rice-producing areas in Heilongjiang Province was investigated and Mg fertilizer experiments were conducted aiming to provide fertilizer recommendation in this region. A total of 358 soil samples from the 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm soil layer from the main rice-producing areas of Heilongjiang Province were collected to analyze soil exchangeable Mg (ex-Mg) and relative chemical properties. Meanwhile, field experiments of soil and foliar Mg application were performed in 2017–2019 to identify the effect of this nutrient on rice yield. The results showed that the ex-Mg concentration in the 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm soil layer was 282 mg kg−1 and 243 mg kg−1, respectively. Moreover, ex-Mg ranged on the abundant and exceptionally abundant level accounted for 75% in 0–20 cm and 55.3% in 20–40 cm. The ex-Mg concentration in the upper soil layer was higher than in the lower soil layer and varied depending on regions, which the west part of Heilongjiang Province showed the highest concentration in both soil layers. Correlation analysis showed that there had a significant (P < 0.05) linear relationship between ex-Mg and pH, CEC, ex-K, Ca, K/Mg, and Ca/Mg. Meanwhile, the results of path coefficients demonstrated that pH, CEC, and Ca/Mg had the most direct effect on ex-Mg concentration among these above factors. Soil Mg application had little effect on rice yield, which might be related to the soil Mg concentration and availability, and root uptake activity. Foliar Mg application increased rice yield by 8.45% (P < 0.05) compared to without Mg treatment, increased 1,000-grain weight by 2.62% (P < 0.05), and spikelet number per panicle by 4.19% (P < 0.05). In general, the paddy soil ex-Mg concentration in Heilongjiang Province was abundant. Soil-applied Mg played little role in rice yield in ex-Mg abundant regions, while foliar application increased rice yields significantly via increasing 1,000-grain weight and spikelet number per panicle.

Factors on Spatial Heterogeneity of the Grain Production Capacity in the Major Grain Sales Area in Southeast China: Evidence from 530 Counties in Guangdong Province

Grain security is an essential issue for countries across the world. China has witnessed over the last decades not only a rapid growth in the volume of the grain production, but also a divergence in its geographical distributions. Existing studies on the influencing factors of grain production have overlooked thus spatial heterogeneity. This paper investigates the factors that cause the geographical heterogeneity in grain output levels in Guangdong province of China, in terms of land, labor and capital. To address the spatial attenuation effect of the influencing factors, we use the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) on samples of different spatial ranges, which include a total of 530 southern counties from 2015 to 2017. The results show that (a) the effect of land endowment on grain output vary across the east and the west, and between coastal and inland areas; (b) the effect of labor endowment on grain output are inconsistent in the sign and magnitude of the estimates across counties; (c) the effect of agricultural capital on grain production shows heterogeneity spatially (across the east and the west) and economically (across developed and less developed regions). We then analyze the potential mechanism behind this spatial heterogeneity, as well as its policy implications.

Design and Experimental Study of a Spiral Auxiliary Feeding Device for Lodged Corn on a Combine Harvester

HighlightsThis study designed an auxiliary feeding device for lodged corn on a combine harvester.The mechanical characteristics of lodged corn stalks were studied as the basis of the design.The working parameters were optimized in an orthogonal experiment.Abstract. Lodging causes kernel and ear loss in mechanical harvesting of corn and threatens grain security. To address this issue, the mechanical bending properties and lifting forces of lodged corn stalks were explored in this study. The ears of lodged corn could be lifted to the normal harvesting height by applying an upward force to the stalks. Based on this conclusion, an auxiliary feeding device for lodged corn in a combine harvester was designed. An orthogonal optimization experiment was conducted to explore the effects of working parameters on the device performance. The results demonstrated that the sequence of the factors affecting kernel loss with the auxiliary feeding device was: harvesting direction, forward speed of the harvester, and rotating speed of the spiral stalk lifter. The optimal combination of harvester forward speed and rotating speed of the spiral stalk lifter was 0.5 m s-1 and 300 rpm, and the ratio of the peripheral speed to the speed of motion was 9.42. The optimal harvesting direction was opposite to the lodging direction of the stalks. This study provides a theoretical basis and design reference for low-loss harvesting of lodged corn. Keywords: Auxiliary feeding, Combine harvester, Corn, Harvest loss, Lodging, Orthogonal experiment.