Draft Agricultural Technology Promotion Law specifies that agricultural technology service quality shall be evaluated by farmers

Draft amendment to the Agricultural Technology Promotion Law enters second reading——

Agricultural technology service quality to be evaluated by farmers

On August 27, at the 28th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress held in Beijing, members of the Standing Committee heard the report on the deliberation results of the draft amendment to the Agricultural Technology Promotion Law delivered by Li Chong'an, Vice Chairman of the Law Committee of the National People's Congress.

On the afternoon of the 27th, members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress deliberated the draft amendment to this law in groups.

In the draft submitted for deliberation, a provision conducive to increasing farmers' incomes was added to the principles that agricultural technology promotion should follow; the management system of grassroots agricultural technology promotion institutions was clarified; it was stipulated that all posts in township agricultural technology promotion institutions should be professional technical posts; provisions were added to promote enterprises, scientific research and teaching units, and other technical service organizations to actively carry out agricultural technology promotion services; and it was made clear that in assessing and evaluating the work of personnel in grassroots agricultural technology promotion institutions, the opinions of the farmers they serve should be heard.

In April this year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress conducted the first reading of the draft amendment to the Agricultural Technology Promotion Law.

Highlight public welfare and avoid disconnection between research and practice

Sun Wensheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said during group deliberation that he had participated in a law enforcement inspection of the Agricultural Technology Promotion Law last year and had gone specifically to the grassroots this year to conduct research. Judging from the situation reported at the grassroots level, it is very necessary and urgent to promptly revise and promulgate the Agricultural Technology Promotion Law. In addition, great importance should be attached to the public welfare nature of this law, and the state should increase investment. Therefore, he generally agreed with the second-reading draft of the amendment and also hoped for and supported its passage by vote.

Member Deng Xiuxin said that Article 20 of the draft, which states that agricultural research units and institutions of higher learning should list issues that need to be solved in agricultural production as research topics, is very well put and solves the problem of insufficiently close integration between theory and practice. However, writing it only this way is not enough, because funding for agricultural scientific research is mainly supported through project approval by science and technology departments and agriculture departments. He suggested changing it to “science and technology project approval departments, agricultural research units and schools should list technical issues that need to be solved in agricultural production as research topics, and their research results may be promoted through agricultural technology units or directly promoted to agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations,” which would be more comprehensive.

Clarify the monitoring duties of grassroots agricultural technology promotion stations

Yin Chengjie, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, proposed during group deliberation that clarifying the inspection, testing and monitoring duties of grassroots agricultural technology promotion institutions fully conforms to the current working conditions of the grassroots agricultural technology promotion system. China's current agricultural management system only establishes institutions at the county level; there is no agriculture bureau in townships, only agricultural science and technology promotion stations. If we rely only on county agriculture bureaus to inspect, test and monitor the quality and safety of agricultural products, it is simply impossible. Therefore, for a long time, grassroots agricultural technology promotion institutions have consistently undertaken the function of quality and safety inspection in the process of agricultural production. This is the implementation and extension of the functions of agricultural administrative departments at all levels.

After the Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products was promulgated and implemented, grassroots agricultural product quality and safety testing centers have basically been staffed by the same personnel as agricultural technology promotion centers, and joint construction can be carried out by adding additional signs, assigning functions, replenishing personnel and improving conditions.

In fact, grassroots agricultural technology promotion institutions currently undertake such tasks. Clarifying the above duties of grassroots agricultural technology promotion institutions at the legal level is conducive to making full use of existing resources, further extending the regulatory chain, effectively strengthening regulatory measures and greatly improving work efficiency.

Establish an agricultural technology safety certification system

Ma Haohui, a deputy to the National People's Congress attending this Standing Committee session as a non-voting participant, said in his speech that farmers who remain in rural areas to farm mostly have an educational level between primary school and junior middle school, and it is not easy for them to distinguish the impact of agricultural technology on the quality and safety of agricultural products. To prevent some people or groups from one-sidedly pursuing profit and disregarding the safety and quality of agricultural products, consideration should be given to establishing an agricultural technology safety certification system, that is, before allowing agricultural technology to be promoted in a regulated manner, an evaluation and verification institution recognized by the competent agriculture administrative department under the State Council should first certify whether the agricultural technology is safe.

For this reason, it was suggested that in Article 21 of the draft, after “agricultural technology promoted to agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations must be tested in the promotion area and must be advanced, applicable and safe,” the following should be added: “and must first be evaluated and certified by an evaluation and certification institution recognized by the competent agriculture administrative department under the State Council, confirmed to be safe, and obtain a safety license.”

In addition, a paragraph was added to Article 38: “If agricultural technology that has not obtained a safety license is promoted because it has not been certified as safe and causes serious social harm, and constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be pursued according to law.”