CHINA OFFICIAL CONDEMNS GOVERNMENT GRAIN POLICY The grain output of a major Chinese grain-producing province is not increasing, because farmers lack incentives, production costs are rising, storage facilities are poor and there is not enough state investment in grain, the province's vice-governor said. The China Daily quoted Yang Jike, vice-governor of Anhui, as saying farmers could earn twice as much growing cotton as they could growing grain, and three times as much growing cash crops like flax. He said production costs had risen to 40 pct of farmers' earnings, from 20 pct in 1982, and lower investment had caused the area of irrigated land to fall. Yang said investment in agriculture fell in 1985 to 9.9 pct of the province's total investment, from 26 pct in 1978. He said an estimated 1.5 billion yuan worth of grain was hit by mildew or rot in state granaries every year, and a further 1.5 mln tonnes was eaten annually by rats. He said government measures to deal with the problem dealt with trifles, rather than the essentials. He called for more investment in grain production, an immediate ban on illegal use of or damage to farmland and a reversal of what he called the tendency to rely on grain imports. The New China News Agency quoted Zhang Yan, a delegate to the National People's Congress, attacking grain policy. He said the government had cut agricultural investment to three to four pct from 11 pct. "With the abundance of grain and cotton in the past few years, some people got carried away, relaxing their attention to grain and cotton production," he said. On Saturday, vice-premier Tian Jiyun said China aimed to be self-sufficient in grain. Now it exports corn from the northeast, but it imports wheat. "Grain consumption is rising every year. Even if we reach the 1987 target of (405 mln tonnes), it cannot be considered adequate," Tian said.