In a country with a population of 1.3 billion, if one person consumes 0.5 kg of grain per day, there will have to be 650 million kg for the whole country to meet the basic need. In this sense, food security is the basis for a healthy and dynamic society and should be given top priority on the ruling party's agenda.

The Central Rural Work Conference held recently was of great importance. The conference set the tone for agricultural development in 2011, indicating that the government will increase its support in this area. The investment of the Central Government alone will be amount to 900 billion yuan ($136.4 billion), not to mention the supporting funds on local levels. As China has basically shaken off the impact of the financial crisis and is back on the track of sound progress, substantial support for agriculture can be sustained. This provides the prerequisite for the Chinese Government to build large-scale water conservancy projects in 2011.

Compared to various hot issues in today's China, agriculture is not talked about much. Only when the food price becomes a threat to the well-being of people's everyday life, will it become a focus of public attention.

During the first four years of the 21st century, the grain output dropped continuously. The year 2003 saw production slump to 435 million tons, the lowest in 20 years. In 2004, the Central Government increased its support in agriculture, leading to big harvests in the next seven years. Since last summer, food prices have kept rising, and vegetable prices have soared by nearly 10 percent each month. Thanks to these years' bountiful harvests, the inflation didn't go beyond control, and the grain price has been kept within a moderate growth.

China's tremendous marketization, globalization and pluralism have made people's lifestyle more diversified, and the number of people engaged in farming is decreasing year by year. However, agriculture is always important, as we cannot live without food. This provides the answer to the axiom "No stability without food security," and indicates why the government has focused on agriculture for the past seven consecutive years.

The financial crisis has brought many countries waves of difficulties, such as the sharp price fluctuation of agricultural products and the escalating prediction of inflation. Therefore, China attaches great importance to agriculture, and has changed its form of support from direct subsidy to strengthening infrastructure construction. The plan to build water conservancy projects in 2011 is a move in that direction. 

In the spring of 2010, southwest China was hit by the worst drought in 50 years, leaving large areas of cropland unproductive and many people suffering from lack of water. Besides 2010, 2001, 2006 and 2008 also saw great drought. We have to admit that improper human activities are a key factor that transforms extreme weather events into even greater disasters.

Construction of water conservancy projects has long been ignored since the early 1980s. Many finished reservoirs and irrigation systems fell into disuse because of lacking funds and managerial expertise, and many were changed for other purposes to generate greater profits. These have caused the decrease of irrigation areas since the 1990s. Natural disasters were on the rise and we were more vulnerable in the face of drought and flood.

Frequent occurrence of droughts indicated that we didn't do well enough in the construction and maintenance of water conservancy projects. In order to be better prepared for large natural disasters, China should increase its investment in water conservancy and irrigation facilities and gradually repair the abandoned projects. Besides, efforts should be made to establish the cooperation mechanism among rural households, providing them subsidies and encouraging them to work together to build and maintain facilities. Only when these problems are solved can we prevent the past tragedies from happening again.