Full Mechanization of Sugarcane Production: Ministry of Agriculture Deploys and Advances the Work
On November 24, the Ministry of Agriculture held a national on-site meeting in Chongzuo City, Guangxi, to advance the full mechanization of sugarcane production, implementing the "Development Plan for Production in Major Sugarcane Producing Areas (2015-2020)" and promoting the accelerated development of full-process mechanization in sugarcane production.
Vice Minister of Agriculture Zhang Taolin stressed that accelerating the full mechanization of sugarcane production is an important task for implementing the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, building a modern agricultural industrial system, production system, and management system, and improving agricultural quality, efficiency, and competitiveness. Major sugarcane producing areas must further raise their understanding of the importance and urgency of developing sugarcane production mechanization, strengthen their sense of mission, open up new ideas, and establish the concepts of innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development. They must adhere to the principles of market leadership and government support, adapting to local conditions and rational layout, highlighting key points and advancing as a whole, and departmental coordination to form a joint force. They must further increase work efforts, innovate mechanisms and methods, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all production entities to overcome difficulties and achieve practical results.
The meeting pointed out that sugarcane production is the basic guarantee for sugar supply. Affected by factors such as natural conditions and production costs, the development situation of China's sugar industry is not optimistic. Accelerating the full mechanization of sugarcane production is of great significance for enhancing the competitiveness of the sugar industry, ensuring industrial security and sugar supply security, and promoting farmers' income growth.
The meeting required that at present and for a period to come, agricultural (agricultural mechanization) authorities at all levels must focus on doing seven key tasks well. First, strengthen organizational leadership, take sugarcane mechanization as an important part of developing modern agriculture, incorporate it into the overall plan for local economic and social development, and comprehensively study and coordinate to resolve difficulties and problems encountered in development. Second, implement and improve support policies, give full play to the role of agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policies, and further improve measures supporting agricultural mechanization development such as research and development of key equipment, agricultural machinery financial leasing, and cultivation of new professional farmers. Third, strengthen the construction of demonstration bases, follow the laws of pilot first, demonstration-driven, and socialized services to advance the development of sugarcane production mechanization, and strive within 1-2 years to create a batch of fully mechanized models that can be learned from and referenced. Fourth, accelerate the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy, make full use of the country's advantageous resources, and comprehensively research and improve full-process mechanization production technical specifications suitable for different conditions. Fifth, accelerate land consolidation, carry out “merging small plots into large plots,” and build high-standard sugarcane fields suitable for efficient operation of large, medium, and small machinery systems, creating conditions for efficient agricultural machinery operation. Sixth, accelerate the research and development of machinery, with the localization of sugarcane mechanical harvesting technology as the main focus, drive the localization of the production and manufacturing of machinery needed in all links of sugarcane production, and improve the performance of domestically produced machinery as soon as possible. Seventh, accelerate the transformation of sugar mills, cooperate with relevant departments to support sugar mill technological transformation, formulate and revise purchase standards for mechanically harvested sugarcane entering mills, and mill agricultural affairs management, and explore the establishment of an effective linkage mechanism between mechanical harvesting and sugar mill processing.