BEIJING — China will strengthen the regulation on grain circulation and strategic reserves in 2019, aiming to promote the security of national grain and the ability to deal with emergencies.

“We will accelerate the establishment of an efficient and modern system of grain circulation and a unified system of national stockpile reserves,” said Zhang Wufeng, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, at a national meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Zhang stressed that administration will continue to assess the responsibility of provincial governors in ensuring grain security this year, while the local government should reinforce the assessment of the management on grain reserves and figure out the volume and quality of the grain reserves.

Statistics showed enterprises nationwide purchased more than 360 million tonnes of grain last year with no difficulty for farmers of major areas in selling grains.

China has significantly improved its ability to ensure food security in recent years, being able to feed 20 percent of the world’s population with 10 percent of the cultivated land and 6 percent of the fresh water in the world.