Beijing should lower grain prices and reduce its intervention in the market, according to the Economic Information Daily, which said the mainland's grain pricing policies were not working.
It was the first open criticism of Prime Minister Li Peng's 'grain first' policies, introduced three years ago following warnings the country would soon be unable to feed itself.
The Government responded with hefty increases in state grain prices which, with other measures, brought record harvests in two of the next three years.
But the paper said it was now 'highly abnormal' for the state to be buying grain from peasants at prices far above those on domestic and international markets.
It said that in many places, state-run grain marketing enterprises had no money to buy the grain and peasants were not being paid for their harvests.
'The peasants get used to the fact that they have to sell grain without being paid,' the paper said. It gave the example of Hebei province, where no one wanted to buy its grain and only 40 per cent of grain shipments were being met.
