Practical new agricultural machinery wins farmers' favor
“How many mu can this mower cut in one hour?” “How wide can this large-span self-propelled sprayer spray during operation?” A few days ago, the Huizhou agricultural machinery promotion fair was held at the Jinyusheng agricultural machinery market in Huicheng District, where practical new agricultural machinery such as small tractors, mowers and large-span self-propelled sprayers won the favor of many representatives of agricultural enterprises and large-scale agricultural growers.
It is understood that in recent years Huizhou's level of agricultural mechanization has risen rapidly; at present, the comprehensive mechanization level of rice production for tillage, sowing and harvesting has reached 70.86%, among which the machine-tillage rate has reached 96%, ranking among the top in the province. This year, the aim is to bring the comprehensive mechanization level of rice production to 72.25%, a year-on-year increase of 1.39 percentage points.
One sprayer vehicle can replace 35 workers
At the promotion fair, Ji Xiaomin, general manager of Huidong County Black Pearl Wax Apple Baihua Farm Co., Ltd., was rather interested in a mower. He told reporters that his farm covers about 1,000 mu and mainly grows fruits such as wax apple and papaya. At present, it is exactly the period when spring and summer weeds grow fastest; in order to ensure that the fruit meets the requirements of green food, he refuses to use herbicides to remove weeds, and for this reason, even 5-6 workers specialized in mowing every day find it difficult to complete the weeding task. “This mower is good; it takes only one person to operate it and it can cut more than 30 mu a day, equivalent to the efficiency of 10 people.” After learning about the efficiency of the mower, Ji Xiaomin decided to solve the weeding problem through “replacing people with machines” and ordered this mower at a price of 43,000 yuan.
The fundamental way out for agriculture lies in mechanization, and the advantage of mechanization lies in efficiency. At the promotion fair, a self-propelled large-span sprayer specially used for paddy fields also attracted much attention because of its high efficiency. Chen Junyu, general manager of the agricultural machinery dealer Huizhou Jinyusheng Machinery Co., Ltd., told reporters that this sprayer is suitable for rice plant protection operations. After its two wings are opened, the spraying width can be 12 m, and when operating in large contiguous rice fields it can spray more than 70 mu per hour, equivalent to more than 35 times that of manual spraying. “The efficiency of the sprayer is no less than that of the currently popular drones, and it is not affected by external factors such as wind, weather and the aerial environment, so it is more practical.” Chen Junyu said.
Striving to declare more than 20 million yuan in machine purchase subsidies
It is understood that, encouraged by national support policies and driven by the development of modern agriculture, Huizhou's level of agricultural mechanization has risen rapidly in recent years. By the end of 2014, the city's total agricultural machinery power had reached 1.35 million kW, a year-on-year increase of 14,500 kW; the original value of agricultural machinery had reached 1.044 billion yuan; and the comprehensive mechanization level of rice production for tillage, sowing and harvesting had reached 70.86%, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 percentage points, with the level of agricultural mechanization among the top in the province.
For the purchase of agricultural machinery, the central government gives strong support and subsidies. In 2014, the city handled a total of 2,147 indicator confirmation forms, benefiting 1,655 farmer households, subsidizing the purchase of 6,774 units (sets) of various types of agricultural machinery, and issuing 16.0788 million yuan in machine purchase subsidies.
“According to the central subsidy policy, the machine purchase subsidy for agricultural machinery averages about 30%, effectively reducing the economic pressure on farmers to buy agricultural machinery.” Chen Junyu told reporters that, promoted by the Municipal Agriculture Bureau, last year Jinyusheng Company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Huizhou Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China. Farmers buying agricultural machinery from the company no longer need to gather the full amount of funds; the subsidized portion is directly advanced by the bank, and farmers only need to raise the self-paid portion of the funds to take the agricultural machinery home, effectively reducing the financing pressure on farmers.
According to Liu Hua, deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Municipal Agriculture Bureau, the agriculture department will continue to promote the development of agricultural mechanization, striving to bring the city's total agricultural machinery power to 1.365 million kW and the original value of agricultural machinery to 1.07 billion yuan by the end of 2015, and in particular to further raise the mechanization level of rice production, animal husbandry, aquaculture, grain drying, feed processing and facility agriculture, so that the comprehensive mechanization level of rice production for tillage, sowing and harvesting reaches 72.25%, 1.39 percentage points higher than in 2014, among which the machine-tillage rate reaches 97%.
In addition, this year it is planned to build about 15 new demonstration bases for mechanized sprinkler and drip irrigation and greenhouse facility agriculture, increasing the area covered by facility agriculture by 6,000 mu, so that the city's facility agriculture area reaches 130,000 mu; support the construction of more than 3 rice drying and processing centers, raising the city's daily grain drying capacity from 1,300 tons last year to about 1,700 tons this year; and support the construction of 2 livestock and poultry feed processing centers, effectively driving the efficiency of agricultural machinery. In addition, the implementation of the central machine purchase subsidy policy will be further intensified, striving to declare more than 20 million yuan in central machine purchase subsidy funds for the whole year.