Grain production focuses on sustainable development, with the pace of change in agricultural development accelerating
The recent State Council executive meeting held that the work related to “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” concerns the overall national situation and must be placed in a foundational position at all times. The meeting deployed accelerating the transformation of the agricultural development mode and taking a path of safe, efficient and green development.
In recent years, the structural adjustment of the planting industry, the accelerated transformation and upgrading of herbivorous livestock farming, and pilot programs such as converting grain fields to forage and grain-bean rotation have been launched early. The integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, along with agricultural mechanization and informatization, has advanced solidly, and the cultivation of practical rural talent and new-type farmers has gradually deepened…… These changes clearly show that China's agricultural development mode is accelerating its transformation.
Grain output and production capacity have risen simultaneously. In the first half of this year, China's summer grain harvest again achieved a bumper harvest from a high starting point and a high base, with total output increasing by 8.9 billion jin over the previous year. At the same time, the designation of permanent basic farmland got underway, high-standard farmland construction expanded from pilot points to broader areas, the action to protect and improve cultivated land quality was officially launched, green yield-increasing model research entered wheat fields, and high-yield grain creation reached a new level. Grain production is shifting from a focus mainly on annual output to a sustainable development path of storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology.
Structural adjustment and layout optimization have advanced simultaneously. The Ministry of Agriculture issued the Guiding Opinions on Further Adjusting and Optimizing the Agricultural Structure, carried out pilot programs for converting grain fields to forage in the “Three North” region, and launched pilot programs for grain-bean rotation in 30 counties in the Northeast. The structure of grain and economic crops and of planting and breeding has been continuously optimized. Efforts to upgrade the staple food processing industry were advanced, and nationwide demonstrations for leisure agriculture were carried out. At present, there are more than 1.5 million “farm stays” nationwide, benefiting more than 30 million farmers, and the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries is accelerating.
Resource utilization and environmental protection have been implemented simultaneously. This year, eight ministries and commissions, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, jointly issued the National Agricultural Sustainable Development Plan (2015-2030), continuously strengthening the top-level design for the protection of agricultural resources and the environment. A tough battle against agricultural non-point source pollution was launched, the action to achieve zero growth in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides was carried out, and pilot programs were implemented for the protection and utilization of black soil in major grain-producing counties in the Northeast, the restoration of cultivated land polluted by heavy metals, and comprehensive treatment in areas with severe groundwater overexploitation. A new round of the project to return farmland to forest and grassland was launched, focusing on both protection and treatment, and promoting the transformation of agricultural resource utilization toward conservation and efficiency.
Moderately scaled operations and the cultivation of operating entities have accelerated simultaneously. Relevant departments successively formulated and issued guiding opinions on the supervision of and risk prevention for industrial and commercial capital leasing rural land, and on the confirmation, registration and certification of rural land contractual management rights, guiding the orderly transfer of land. As of now, the area of household contracted cultivated land transferred accounts for more than 30.4% of the area under household contract. Large planting and breeding households, family farms, farmers' cooperatives and other new-type operating entities are developing rapidly. The Ministry of Agriculture has steadily implemented the new-type professional farmer cultivation project and the modern young farmer master plan. As of the end of June, the number of farmers' professional cooperatives registered with industry and commerce nationwide reached 1.412 million. As a demonstration province for province-wide advancement in the Ministry of Agriculture's new-type professional farmer cultivation, Jiangsu has 14,000 grain, vegetable and fruit family farms, with output and benefits per unit of land more than 20% higher than those of ordinary farmers.
Scientific and technological support and equipment guarantees have been upgraded simultaneously. Since the pilot reform of seed industry rights was launched at the end of last year, “empowering” and “sharing benefits” with research institutions and personnel have been steadily advanced, breaking through the institutional “shackles” for innovation-driven agricultural development.