China is to carry out a detailed national grain census at the beginning of April 2009, the first major survey of the country's grain reserves since 2001.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang emphasized the importance of the census at a televised rally held on March 25 to launch the survey. He said every granary in the country must be checked to ensure their records reflect the reality of the nation's grain reserves.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang emphasized the importance of the census at a televised rally held on March 25 to launch the survey. [Xinhua]

Hundreds of thousands of staff from ten state departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Administration of Grain will take part in the survey. The whole operation will be supervised by the State Council.

Five years of good harvests have boosted the country's food supply but also exerted downward pressure on grain prices. A severe drought in northern China this year has caused uncertainty about this summer's harvest. Li Keqiang stressed that the survey was required to verify the real situation of national food supply and demand.

This census will cover the country's central grain reserves, local reserves, state provisional reserves, as well as commercial grain reserves of state-owned enterprises, and will check quality and variety as well as quantity. Enterprises and local governments will be required to carry out self-checks and report to the central authorities.

NDRC Vice Minister Zhang Xiaoqiang said that, in contrast to routine annual checkups, the expense of the survey would be entirely borne by central and provincial governments, rather than the cities and enterprises to be surveyed.

Li Keqiang said the census was aimed both at raising grain production and improving grain inventory management.

"In recent years, we have made progress in inventory management. But we cannot ignore weak areas in our work, such as accounts not reflecting true inventory volumes. Stepping up surveillance of the grain inventory is an important measure to ensure the security of grain supplies," he said.

(China.org.cn by Maverick Chen, March 30, 2009)