Expert says increasing investment in science and technology is the only way to solve China's agricultural problems
Baoding, Sept 27 (China News Service) (Lyu Zihao, Yu Junliang) The China (Langfang) Agricultural Products Fair was held from the 26th to the 28th. During the event, Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province held the “2015 · China (Zhuozhou) Agricultural High-Tech Industry Development Summit” in Langfang, where industry experts from China Agricultural University, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Agricultural Industry Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other research institutions offered suggestions and advice on the problems facing China's agriculture.
According to Chen Zemin, president of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Agricultural Industry Chamber of Commerce, in developed countries 3% of the agricultural population supplies the entire nation's food demand, while in China 60% of the agricultural population cannot achieve food self-sufficiency, and large quantities of corn, soybeans, cotton and other products still need to be imported every year. Low agricultural labor productivity has become a major factor restricting China's agricultural development.
Chen Zemin said that for a long time, China's smallholder economy, extensive farming and over-exploitation have caused soil compaction and pollution. Therefore, increasing investment in science and technology is the only way to solve China's agricultural problems, from seed breeding, seedling optimization, mechanized planting and harvesting to later-stage deep processing, as well as opening up new distribution and sales channels, enhancing the added value of agricultural products, and forming a complete industrial chain that increases farmers' incomes.
⟦NL> Zhuozhou Mayor Wang Yanqing revealed that the Hebei Provincial Government and China Agricultural University have signed a cooperation agreement to build a national-level modern agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zone covering 109 sq km in the city, creating four leading industries: nutrition and health, biological materials, biological agriculture and high-end agricultural machinery, and cultivating three supporting service industries: exhibition and trade, science and education services, and health services. At present, project introduction and infrastructure construction in the park are proceeding simultaneously. By 2030, the output value of high-tech industries will reach 100 billion yuan.
Chen Zemin believes that Zhuozhou is the southern gateway to Beijing and the capital's back garden, with convenient transportation and huge market potential, and has established long-term cooperative relationships with numerous agricultural research institutes and possesses modern agricultural experimental bases. He hopes that relevant national departments will promote the integration of education, science and technology with agricultural production, actively support the construction of the Zhuozhou national-level modern agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zone, introduce the world's advanced agricultural technology, and build Zhuozhou into an agricultural talent training base and a modern agricultural demonstration base, “China's agricultural development will move toward glory from Zhuozhou.”
Li Daoliang, a professor at China Agricultural University, said that “Internet + agriculture” will make agriculture online and data-driven, and through internet data will integrate and optimize the allocation of factors such as land, fertilizer, seeds, technology and labor to form new business forms, bringing entirely new changes to the production methods, management methods, operating methods, service methods and farmers' lifestyles of traditional agriculture, achieving the goals of quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, income growth, ecology and safety, enabling enterprises to profit and farmers to increase their incomes.
It is reported that the “2015 · China (Zhuozhou) Agricultural High-Tech Industry Development Summit”, hosted by the Hebei Provincial People's Government and China Agricultural University, took as its theme “implementing the national strategy of coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, gathering superior resources of modern agricultural science and technology, and building a world-class ‘agricultural Silicon Valley’,” exploring the trends and future of high-tech agricultural development.