Ministry of Agriculture Actively and Steadily Advances the Grain-to-Forage Pilot to Develop Grass-Fed Livestock Farming
On September 1, the Ministry of Agriculture held a meeting in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, calling for actively and steadily advancing the pilot work of converting grain crops to forage to develop grass-fed livestock farming, vigorously promoting the integration of farming and livestock raising, and enhancing the comprehensive benefits of crop cultivation and livestock breeding.
To further advance agricultural structural adjustment, this year's Central Document No. 1 requires accelerating the development of the grass-based livestock industry, supporting the cultivation of forage crops such as silage corn and alfalfa, carrying out pilots for converting grain crops to forage and for combining crop cultivation with livestock raising, and promoting the coordinated development of a three-part planting structure comprising grain, cash crops and forage. To this end, the Ministry of Agriculture selected ten provinces and autonomous regions, including Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Gansu, to carry out the “grain-to-forage” pilot. At present, all pilot provinces and autonomous regions have formulated project implementation plans and performance assessment systems, and 33 pilot counties have been designated.
Wang Zhicai, Chief Livestock Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, said at the meeting that all localities must fully recognize the great significance of accelerating the conversion of grain crops to forage to develop grass-fed livestock farming such as cattle and sheep, accurately grasp the overall requirement of enhancing the comprehensive benefits of crop cultivation and livestock breeding, and actively and steadily advance the pilot work. With the adjustment of corn planting structure as the focus and the development of grass-fed livestock farming as the vehicle, efforts should be made to guide the shift from harvesting and storing corn grain to using the whole plant for silage, drive the recycling, conversion and value-added use of straw, and promote the shift of corn resources from cross-regional sales to local use, thereby advancing the transformation of grain crop cultivation toward forage crop cultivation and striving to build a new type of agricultural production structure featuring circular crop-livestock integration, integrated production and processing, balanced grain and forage, and combined farming and livestock raising.
Wang Zhicai said that the “grain-to-forage” pilot work bears on the overall situation of transforming agricultural development modes and adjusting the structure. It is necessary to consistently adhere to combining crop cultivation with livestock raising and to market orientation, reasonably determine the pilot area for grain-to-forage conversion and the total amount of silage forage harvested and stored, and, with reasonable benefit distribution at the core, build a long-term mechanism for close cooperation between crop growers and livestock raisers. Attention should be paid to giving play to the bridging and linking role of livestock farming enterprises, driving farmers to adjust their planting structure and helping them increase their planting income. It is necessary to fully respect the wishes of both crop growers and livestock raisers, advance the work in accordance with regional and industrial realities, and resolutely refrain from mandatory task assignments or directive administrative drives. It is necessary to coordinate the relationship between enterprises and farmers, adopt effective measures, fully take into account farmers' interests in the course of harvesting, storage and transactions, and drive up farmers' incomes. It is necessary to properly handle the relationship between the existing stock and the increment, grasp the pace of adjustment and development appropriately, scientifically determine the scope of planting structure adjustment, and effectively safeguard food security.