In the face of surging food prices worldwide, the Chinese central government's assurances of a stable supply from ample stock is crucial to keeping domestic grain prices in check.

However, as China Daily says, to address growing concerns over long-term grain prices, the authorities should encourage farmers to increase production with more financial incentives.

The central government has promised to increase policy support for agriculture with clearer, straighter and stronger signals to mobilize and protect farmers' initiatives to plant crops. But the problem is that such fiscal incentives are still far sufficient.

China Daily reports although farm produce sold at higher prices last year, farmers complained the benefits were eroded by production costs that rose at a much faster pace.

The paper concludes that if policymakers decide that fighting inflation is more urgent, and thus necessary to keep domestic grain prices stable, they must come up with more fiscal subsidies to compensate grain farmers enough to keep them in the fields.