CAS to Help Bohai Rim Region Increase Grain Output by 10 Billion Jin in the Next 5 Years

XINHUA NEWS SHIJIAZHUANG, May 27 (Reporter Gao Bo) According to Dr. Liu Xiaojing, director of the Nanpi Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the construction of the demonstration zone of the national major science and technology support program “Bohai Granary Science and Technology Demonstration Project” will greatly enhance the grain production capacity of the low- and medium-yield fields around the Bohai Rim, striving to achieve the goal of increasing grain output by 6 billion jin by 2017 and by 10 billion jin by 2020.

Liu Xiaojing said that it is now difficult to achieve large increases in grain output in high-yield areas, but the Bohai Rim plain region, including Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning, Tianjin and other places, has 40 million mu of low- and medium-yield fields and 10 million mu of saline-alkali wasteland. If problems such as the scarcity of freshwater resources and poor soil in these places can be solved, the enormous potential for increasing grain output will be brought into play.

Over the past 30 years, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has established an agricultural experimental station in Hebei, helping Nanpi County, Hebei Province, improve low- and medium-yield fields and greatly increase grain output on saline-alkali land.

“I never even dared to dream that the wheat yield on this saline-alkali land could reach 1,000 jin. In the past, 500 jin per mu was already good, and ordinary people used to worry about what grain they would eat the following year.” said Bai Shuchen, a villager from Baifangzi Village, Nanpi County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province.

Bai Shuchen's hometown, Nanpi County, is located on the coast of the Bohai Sea. Since ancient times, its soil has been poor, freshwater resources scarce, and grain output low. A ballad has long been passed down: “In spring it is a vast white expanse, in summer it is a watery expanse, nine out of ten years there is no harvest, and for half the year people eat chaff and vegetables.”

Bai Puqing, village Party secretary of Baifangzi Village, told reporters that the increase in wheat yield per unit area was mainly due to the establishment of the Nanpi Ecological Agriculture Experimental Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the support of the demonstration zone of the “Bohai Granary Science and Technology Demonstration Project.” Villagers switched to planting the Chinese Academy of Sciences winter wheat varieties “Xiaoyan 60” and “Xiaoyan 81,” and together with the application of new technologies such as brackish water irrigation, the former saline-alkali land was turned into high-yield fields.

The Nanpi Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established in 1986 on the basis of undertaking the national task of tackling low- and medium-yield fields in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain. In April 2013, the Nanpi Station began to undertake the “Bohai Granary Science and Technology Demonstration Project,” a project proposed by Academician Li Zhensheng, winner of the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, on the basis of research on increasing grain output in low- and medium-yield fields around the Bohai Rim, and jointly implemented by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology together with Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning and Tianjin.

In the nearly 30 years since its establishment, researchers at the Nanpi Station have carried out long-term work on the two major problems of water shortage and saline-alkali land, conducting scientific research on soil, fertilizer, water, seeds and many other aspects on this poor land. They have developed a series of technologies, including brackish water mixed irrigation technology, winter saline water freezing irrigation improvement technology, and rapid improvement of soil fertility, all of which have provided a solid foundation for the “Bohai Granary” project.

“The grain yield per unit area of low- and medium-yield fields in Nanpi County has increased from an average of 300 jin per mu in 1985 to an average of 800 jin per mu.” Liu Xiaojing said that the selection and breeding of salt-tolerant wheat and corn varieties is also a key reason for the increase in grain output. For example, “Xiaoyan 81,” when planted on mildly to moderately saline-alkali land, has an average yield of about 900-plus jin per mu, with a maximum of more than 1,000 jin, achieving a doubling. The HN866 corn combination bred by the Nanpi Station reached a yield of 1,125 jin per mu in 2013, an increase of 15.7% over traditional varieties.