Experts Assess the Promotion and Application of Integrated Water and Fertilizer Management: Staying Close to the Market Is Key
China ranks first in the world in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, but their utilization rate is 15% to 20% lower than that of developed countries. At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed that by 2020 China's agriculture should achieve "one control, two reductions, three basics" and zero growth in chemical fertilizer use. Against the backdrop of accelerating transformation and upgrading in the fertilizer industry, developing water-soluble fertilizers and promoting integrated water and fertilizer technology has become an inevitable trend. This was learned by the reporter at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's research meeting on fertilizer industry transformation and upgrading and integrated water and fertilizer development, held recently in Linshu County, Shandong.
Experts from relevant departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Water Resources who participated in the research believe that the environmental contribution of integrated water and fertilizer technology is not only saving water and fertilizer, but also reducing non-point source pollution. However, at present there are still many problems in the development of China's water and fertilizer industry, such as the smallholder planting model of individual households restricting large-scale development, and the incomplete technology promotion and service systems. Focusing on how to advance the implementation of integrated water and fertilizer technology, the attending experts offered suggestions one after another.
Jin Yong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Tsinghua University, suggested that to promote integrated water and fertilizer management, the key is to stay close to the market, establish a business model for promoting integrated water and fertilizer management, and use market, industrial, and capital means to advance it.
In the view of Chen Qing, an expert on the research group and professor at China Agricultural University, promoting integrated water and fertilizer technology is a systematic project that requires the joint efforts of the government, research institutions, enterprises, industry organizations, and other parties. Water-soluble fertilizer producers need to break through bottlenecks, strengthen connections with irrigation equipment enterprises, strengthen coordination and interaction, and jointly meet the product and technical service needs of large modern agricultural operators.
Chen Hongkun, director of the National Engineering Research Center for Compound Fertilizers and vice president of Kingenta Group, said that as a leading enterprise in new-type fertilizers, Kingenta has positioned water-soluble fertilizer as a strategic product of the company and is pursuing large-scale and industrialized development, and has currently formed an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons. At the same time, it has established a trinity promotion model of "fertilizer + equipment + service" to accelerate the rooting of integrated water and fertilizer technology.