The government of China reiterated on Friday its commitment to provide adequate supplies of food for the country's 1.4 billion-strong population, vowing more public and private investments in rural and agricultural development to ensure a stronger, more efficient and competitive Chinese agriculture sector.

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Beijing's renewed pledge to safeguard the country's food security was contained in a statement issued at the conclusion of the government's annual Central Rural Work Conference.  The Chinese government had earlier instructed conference participants to create a 2016 rural development strategy for the 13th Five-year Plan period that begins next year. 

"Food security is the bottom line of agricultural structural reform," the government statement said. 

China's farm and rural modernization program is among the best in the developing world, and has served as a model for countries like Kenya and the Philippines.

But while Beijing acknowledges the progress made by the country's farmers over the past few years, government officials have emphasized the need to solve a number of structural problems still plaguing China's agriculture sector.

Chinese farmers produced some 621 million metric tons of grain this year, allowing the country's farm sector to achieve a 2.4 percent growth over national grain production volumes in 2014, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

In a report, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) said that -- while there was below average rainfall in the southern parts of the Yangtze Valley earlier this year -- rains began to improve across most of China starting mid-March, "benefitting planting operations and early crop development."   

China's top agricultural policymakers, however, point out that billions of tons of the country's grain stock remain unprocessed because of inadequate processing facilities, while some other important farm products are in extremely short supply.

Beijing has pledged to address the twin problems over the course of the next 12 months.  China's 2016 agricultural plan seeks to step up grain processing; promote large-scale farm production; curb excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers; cut production costs; expand rural infrastructure; and ensure greater focus on crops that are in short supply in the country. 

The Chinese government said it will ensure sufficient funding for the program by carrying out fiscal policies that prioritize the country's food-producing rural areas.

Cheng Guoqiang of China's Development Research Center of the State Council expressed confidence in Beijing's 2016 program for the agriculture sector. 

"By initiating supply-side reforms, policymakers hit at the crux of modern agricultural development," Cheng told Xinhua news.  

Tagsfood security, agriculture, China agriculture, rural development