Problems Existing in the Development of Protected Agriculture and Countermeasures

Protected agriculture is an important practical form of modern intensive and efficient agriculture. In recent years, China's protected agriculture has achieved relatively rapid development, but some prominent problems still exist in practice, such as: due to a lack of funds, most protected agriculture operations are on a small scale; farmers' scientific and cultural literacy is relatively low, and the capacity of scientific and technological services for protected agriculture is relatively weak; there is a lack of effective supervision over the entire production process, making it difficult to guarantee product quality and safety; and due to information asymmetry and a low degree of organization and industrialization, farmers' production arrangements are highly blind, increasing market risks, and so on. To promote the healthy and rapid development of China's protected agriculture, efforts must be made to solve these problems.

I. Increase support for protected agriculture

The practices and experience of some countries in developing protected agriculture are worth learning from. In Japan, farmers who build greenhouses or glasshouses can receive 50% subsidies from the state, 30% from prefectures, cities, towns and villages, and need only contribute 20% to own full property rights. To encourage farmers to increase investment in agriculture, the Japanese government supports farmers through low-interest loans, with interest rates 1/3-2/3 lower than market rates. For the purchase of tractors, rice transplanters, seedling facilities, certain irrigation and fertilization facilities, and agricultural product processing and storage equipment, farmers can receive subsidies of about 50% of the total cost from the government. Such industrial policies have greatly mobilized farmers' enthusiasm, and Japan's agricultural structure has already undergone obvious changes, with protected horticulture agriculture accounting for as much as about 40%, becoming Japan's largest agricultural industry. To break through the limitations of natural conditions, the Netherlands has since the 1970s implemented a nationwide strategy of using capital to replace land in developing efficient agriculture. To solve the financing difficulties farmers encounter in developing efficient agriculture, especially protected agriculture, the Dutch government established three systems: (1) the farmers' cooperative finance system, whose main form is the “farmers' cooperative bank”. (2) Establishment of an agricultural guarantee fund. The government set up a special agency to serve and provide guarantees for farmers borrowing from banks. (3) Establishment of an agricultural safety fund. These measures enabled the Netherlands' greenhouse agriculture to develop rapidly and also enabled limited land to produce considerable economic benefits. These experiences are all worth learning from.

Powerful measures must be taken to increase support for protected agriculture. First, support for protected agriculture must be increased. For the concentrated contiguous construction of winter-warm sheds or multi-span greenhouses, supporting infrastructure construction such as water, electricity and roads in key zones, farmers' newly added high-standard irrigation facilities, factory seedling facilities, storage and transportation facilities, and centralized vegetable waste treatment facilities, subsidies of different proportions should be given according to the different projects. Second, financial institutions should be encouraged to issue large loans to farmers or cooperatives using farmers' land contract management rights as collateral, and insurance business should be carried out targeting the various risks farmers may encounter in engaging in protected agriculture. Third, the development of rural cooperative finance should be encouraged, the credit reporting system should be improved, and better services should be provided for agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Fourth, a farmers' entrepreneurship and development fund should be established. Interest subsidies on loans should be provided for farmers and other business entities newly building winter-warm sheds and multi-span greenhouses.

II. Actively promote the scaling-up of protected agriculture

First, on the basis of full investigation and research, planning should be done according to local conditions, land transfer should be actively promoted, scattered layouts should be turned into contiguous construction, support policies should be introduced to guide farmers to participate in protected agriculture, and farmers should be helped to solve supporting infrastructure problems such as water, electricity and roads, actively and steadily advancing the development of specialized villages and towns. Second, the rural two committees and capable rural people should be encouraged to take the lead in developing protected agriculture, organizing scattered farmers together, establishing specialized cooperatives, and expanding the scale of production and operation. Third, urban capital should be encouraged to enter the field of protected agriculture, and through forms such as “company + base” and “company + base + association + cooperative + farmer”, the scaled operation of protected agriculture should be promoted.

III. Improve the capacity of scientific and technological services for protected agriculture

First, agricultural departments should regularly provide professional and technical training to farmers engaged in protected agriculture, enabling farmers to promptly master the most advanced agricultural production technologies and operating procedures, while also strengthening on-site technical guidance for farmers. Second, agricultural research institutions should strengthen research, innovation and promotion of technologies such as improved variety breeding, precision agriculture, efficient cultivation and healthy breeding, providing scientific and technological support for the development of protected agriculture. Third, factory seedling cultivation should be promoted, and seedling subsidies should be implemented for producers and operators who use seedlings bred by factory seedling centers. Fourth, according to the layout of protected agriculture zones, specialized agricultural input stores should be established. Agricultural law enforcement agencies at all levels should strengthen supervision of specialized agricultural input stores to ensure that agricultural input supply is safe, efficient and timely.

IV. Implement standardized production, ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products, and improve product market competitiveness

Domestically, the public's consumption has long since shifted from “eating enough” decades ago to today's “eating well” and “eating safely and healthily”; internationally, developed countries around the world have imposed increasingly high technical requirements on imported agricultural products from other countries. For China's agricultural products to win the domestic market and break through the “green barriers” in international trade and successfully capture the international market, the quality and safety of agricultural products must always be placed first. In protected agricultural production, effective supervision must be carried out throughout the entire process in accordance with international standards, especially the standards of exporting countries, from the production environment, inputs, processing, storage, transportation and sales, law enforcement must be strengthened, and strict market access and quality traceability systems for agricultural products must be implemented. Enterprises, bases, cooperatives and farmers should be encouraged to actively participate in the “three products and one label” certification of products and environment-related international certification, production management system certification, etc., striving to build famous and excellent brands with international influence and increase product market share.

V. Establish smooth sales channels to ensure the free flow of goods

First, protected agriculture zones built in contiguous areas should set up specialized market analysis departments to promptly and comprehensively understand domestic and international agricultural product market supply and demand information, scientifically arrange production plans, and avoid blindness in production as much as possible. Second, large specialized wholesale markets should be built in agricultural product production areas. Third, the internet and other emerging media should be fully used to promptly release product information, and a product promotion and sales network covering urban and rural areas domestically and connecting to international markets externally should be gradually established. Fourth, through effective connections with supermarkets, government organs, enterprises and institutions, and special urban consumer groups, part of production can be determined by sales. Fifth, through holding agricultural festivals and fairs, the visibility and market competitiveness of products should be expanded.