China's organic agriculture area has reached 2.72 million hectares

At the recently held 5th China (Chengdu) Organic Agriculture Summit, it was learned that China's organic agricultural production area has reached 2.72 million hectares.

The scale of organic agriculture is increasing, and its quality is also improving. "A 13-year experiment at the Quzhou Experimental Station of China Agricultural University proves that organic farming models show strong disease resistance, and crop yields can equal or even exceed those of conventional farming models." Li Ji, a professor at the College of Resources and Environmental Sciences of China Agricultural University, introduced that in recent years the crop yields of organic farming models can exceed those of conventional models by 20%. "By reducing chemical fertilizers and pesticides and using techniques such as intercropping and relay cropping with leguminous plants and fallowing, soil fertility can still be improved."

Some experts attending the meeting said that the trend of agricultural products developing toward branding and high-end positioning is becoming increasingly obvious. Advancing modern agriculture and enhancing the global competitiveness of China's agricultural products are all new opportunities for the development of organic agriculture. But the development of organic agriculture also faces challenges. "Technical support and input supply for organic agricultural production are still relatively weak. Developing organic agriculture has a relatively long conversion and cultivation cycle, and a sound support and guarantee system is needed to promote it continuously," said Liu Ping, deputy director of the China Green Food Development Center. Tang Yuanjie, Party secretary and president of the Farmers' Daily, suggested that in the future a group of ecological entities mainly consisting of specialized cooperatives and agricultural enterprises should be built, thereby forming an enterprise alliance nationwide.