At that time, industrial and agricultural output was not large, surplus grain was not enough, and industrial products were not enough. A large number of industrialization projects still need a lot of manpower and material resources. At the same time, part of the labor force should be transferred from agricultural production to industrial and infrastructure construction. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state and the people had no money, and everything they didn't need had to be imported from abroad. According to the general rule, food can't meet everyone's needs.

Workers can't do their jobs well without enough food, and they can't do anything without the most basic equipment and materials for industrialization (although the Soviet Union helped a part, China is a big country with greater demand), so at that time, through the food supply system, it was mandatory to stipulate how much food each household could get, so as to ensure adequate food supply for industry and infrastructure construction, while leaving some food for export in exchange for a small amount of foreign materials and equipment.