How can big data lead agricultural development? Zhang Xingwang shares his views
The photo shows Zhang Xingwang, director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture. (Image source: Sina Finance, photo by Liang Bin)
Sina Finance News - The “2015 4th China International Agribusiness Summit Forum” was held in Beijing on May 17. Zhang Xingwang, director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, suggested using big data to lead China's agricultural development.
First, we need to do a good job of top-level design, carry out scientific planning and layout for the framework and technical roadmap of China's agricultural big data construction, and have an overall arrangement.
⟦NL> Second, we need to place special emphasis on data collection and mining, and establish a massive database with unified standards, comprehensive content, mutual connectivity and rapid response, so that it can explain clearly every product, every link and every regional market.
Third, innovate the research and development of data systems, so that massive data can be transformed into intelligent, precise and scientific decision-making information.
Fourth, emphasize the application of data, so that the data lying in the databases of various departments can come alive and truly be provided to market entities anytime and anywhere.
The following is the transcript of the speech:
Zhang Xingwang: Hello everyone. As an alumnus, I am very happy that my alma mater can hold an agribusiness forum, and first of all I would like to express my congratulations.
I have always had a basic understanding that the development and revitalization of any industry cannot be separated from three forces: the political sector, the business sector and the academic sector. Only when these three forces strive and interact in the same direction can a major leap in an industry be achieved. During 2010 to 2012, when I was studying here, I had the opportunity to come into contact with many elite entrepreneurs from all walks of life outside the agricultural field. At that time, it made me think a lot about China's agriculture. Where exactly is the driving force of future agriculture? I deeply realized that for agriculture to move from tradition to modernity, from products to industry, and from production to market, it needs some new concepts, especially modern industrial chains and value chains, these modern industrial organization methods and business concepts, including the integration and interaction of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Therefore, I believe that in the process of China's agricultural development and transformation, an outstanding group of entrepreneurs is indispensable, and at the same time, in the agricultural field, industrial and commercial capital can also find its own value and realize its social responsibility.
Recently, several departments including the Central Rural Work Leading Group Office, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Land and Resources and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce jointly issued opinions on strengthening the supervision of industrial and commercial capital leasing agricultural land and risk prevention. In particular, these opinions clearly encourage industrial and commercial capital to enter capital-intensive and technology-intensive industries in agricultural development, engage in agricultural product processing, circulation and socialized services, and encourage the development of fine seed and seedling breeding, standardized facility agriculture and large-scale breeding, these three major categories of modern planting and breeding suitable for enterprise-based operation. At the same time, they also clearly encourage industrial and commercial enterprises to carry out agricultural environmental governance and the consolidation and restoration of resources, and further clarify, for industrial and commercial capital, in addition to these encouraged contents, what else do we restrict? What is prohibited? It should be said that this is both a document strengthening supervision and, in my view, a document that sets the mission and development direction for industrial and commercial capital entering agriculture.
Returning to the title of my speech, how can big data be used to open up the industrial chain? As the information wave penetrates 360 degrees into everyone's work and life, big data is changing everyone's life, including the way we understand the world. What exactly does big data mean? The United States launched a big data research and development program in 2012, and the governments of Japan, the United Kingdom and quite a number of other countries have successively launched action plans in this area. In 2013, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he made a speech in which he said that big data is the oil resource of the industrial society, and that whoever masters data masters the initiative.
What does big data mean for agriculture? With the rise of big data technology, by comprehensively, quickly and accurately capturing information across the entire agricultural industrial chain, it is entirely possible to realize the unification of agriculture, logistics, commerce and information flows, realize the optimal allocation and efficient operation of various resources across the entire industrial chain, and realize the development of resource-saving and environment-friendly multifunctional agriculture.
In the spring two years ago, I had an opportunity to go to a very famous place in western China, the hometown of Chinese goji berries, Zhongning County in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. I stayed in that county for half a month to carry out research, and it mainly revolved around goji berry products. But after staying for half a month, to this day I still have not figured it out, and there are still many questions that are unclear. We all know that goji berries are a very good food ingredient for people's health. Is this product suitable for men or women? Is it better to eat it in the morning or at night? Is it better to eat it directly or to soak it in liquor? Is it better to eat 10 pieces each time or 20 pieces?
Such questions have become a confusion for me, and I believe they have also become a confusion for many consumers. This makes me think of many questions. In the process of China's agriculture moving toward modernization, what kind of path should we take? Of course, there are many ways to solve this. It occurred to me that the development of agriculture in general not only needs the qualitative paths and approaches of Chinese cuisine and traditional Chinese medicine, but also needs some quantitative methods like Western cuisine and Western medicine. That is, to move from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture, it is necessary to move from the traditional qualitative way of thinking to agricultural development combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, so that it is possible to realize the central government's proposal that agriculture should shift from production orientation to consumption orientation. Therefore using big data to open up the agricultural industrial chain is very necessary.
From an international perspective, if a country wants to participate in global agricultural competition, it is hard to imagine doing so without the support of big data. Everyone here today is participating in this activity because they care about agriculture. You will certainly have noticed that the reason U.S. agriculture can occupy such a leading position in the world is of course due to many factors, but there is a very important baton, which is how to use big data thinking to continuously speak to global agriculture and continuously speak to the world agricultural product market, which has had a profound impact on global agriculture. The United States has an agricultural outlook system, which has now persisted for 92 years since 1923. Every year and every month it uses large amounts of data to release a great deal of data information to U.S. domestic agriculture and the international agricultural product market, continuously using data information to guide and lead the development of world agriculture. It should be said that this role is very important and very huge. Much of our information about China itself, as many experts will also understand, is not even as complete as the information about China released by the United States.