Subsidies and loans join forces for spring plowing as localities take multiple measures to safeguard farmers' production
In this year's spring plowing and spring sowing, besides actively promoting advanced agricultural facilities and technologies, localities are also helping farmers through subsidies, loans and other means.
Jing Maoxiang, a major grain grower in Tangshan Town, Huantai County, Shandong, has contracted 2500 mu of wheat fields this year. These past two days, Huantai County's “unified prevention and control” project has been rolled out in full, and the pest and disease control problem that once gave old Jing the biggest headache has been readily solved.
Jing Maoxiang: It used to take 6 or 7 days and cost 15,000 to 16,000 yuan; now that the county has carried out the unified prevention and control project and brought in about ten control vehicles, these more than 2000 mu of land are done in a single day, and our confidence in farming is even greater.
What old Jing saved was time; in Hebei, another major wheat-producing area, what Bai Lijun, a major grain grower in Nanhe County, saved was water. This year, “integrated water and fertilizer” equipment was installed in his more than 2300 mu of land, regulating moisture and fertilizer nutrients quantitatively by human control; compared with the traditional method of flood irrigation, the water-saving rate can reach more than 40%.
Bai Lijun: In the past, watering like this once required over 100,000, nearly 200,000; after using this, it saves nearly a third, 60,000 to 70,000 yuan.
The two major problems facing farmers, technology and funds, the former is being rapidly overcome through the promotion and use of agricultural science and technology. To solve the funds problem, “subsidies” are still the first choice in many places. Dongguan Town, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, carried out farmland fieldization last year, with the government investing 10,000 yuan per mu of funds, integrating small, scattered and disorderly farmland into neat square fields, and uniformly building tractor roads and canals.
In Lu'an, Anhui, agricultural loans have also been innovated in various ways. In the past, because agricultural products and agricultural facilities could not serve as collateral, it was difficult for banks to grant loan credit; but since this year's spring plowing and preparation, local rural financial institutions have implemented agricultural guarantee mortgage loans, with guarantee companies evaluating and guaranteeing the various agricultural assets of major agricultural operators, and then banks issuing loans. Major grain grower Tian Yi:
Tian Yi: Some procedures have been simplified, and moreover, part of the facilities in the park can be used as collateral, which solves the guarantee problem. The quota can be greatly increased, which is also a relatively big support for our production and operation.