The purpose of trying to produce artificial cultivated land is to solve the self-sufficiency in grain problem in China .
In my opinion, the most important thing in China is food for its people, so the most valuable thing in China is grain. In Chinese history, China saw its first peak grain production in 1998 with 512 million tons, realizing the self-sufficiency in grain and even enjoying some surplus. In that year, it was difficult for the farmers to sell their grain and the barns could not store all the grain, which could be called a historical success. However, things did not turn out satisfactorily all the way. Since 1999 when China became a net grain import country, our grain production had experienced the output of less than 500 million tons for 8 consecutive years. In 2007, the grain production reached 502 million tons and it increased gradually year by year. In 2010, it reached 546 million tons. We are faced with an unavoidable fact, which is that our grain production can not meet the demand in China . At present, the degree of self-sufficiency in grain stands at 90% - 95% in China (40% in Japan ), and it is decreasing by 0.5% -1% year by year. It is very risky to rely on imported grain to meet the internal need, so China will be perplexed by the issue of grain security for a long time to come.
Against such a background, I think the self-sufficiency in grain in China can only be guaranteed by producing artificial cultivated land so that the food problem of the people can be solved completely while the other alternatives, including relying on high yield seeds, GM crops and increasing the per unit area yield of grain are not reliable.