Spring plowing agricultural machinery market is booming, heavy-duty and new-type farm machinery are popular

In the spring plowing season, walking into the large agricultural machinery market in Zhongxiang City, Hubei, rows of shiny farm machines of all kinds catch the eye. In the agricultural machinery sales supermarket, farmer friends who have come from various townships to buy farm machinery look at the machines and ask about prices.

“Is there also a subsidy for buying a paddy field wheel rotary tiller?” asked Zhou Fajin, a farmer from Group 4 of Wanyan Village, Lengshui Town, at the Aoxiang Agricultural Machinery Sales Supermarket. Manager Wang Pengyuan told him that the subsidy would be about 1,900 yuan, to be processed at the agricultural machinery subsidy office next door.

Wang Pengyuan said that this Jinyun-brand paddy field wheel rotary tiller is a newly stocked item that can directly bury straw stubble into the field. This year Hubei has banned straw burning, so it is especially in demand, and more than ten units have already been sold.

The reporter saw farmers walking back and forth, touching the rice transplanters, then looking at the tractors, asking about prices while discussing brands. Yin Wenhua, 40, is a farmer from Guanzhuanghu Town who has worked away from home for several years and has now returned to the village. He wants to buy a high-horsepower tractor that can both rotary-till and sow, and also haul grain for transport, and plans to make a living from agricultural machinery.

“Farmers nowadays really admire agricultural machinery. You can see that those buying farm machinery include folks from nearby Changshou Town and Yangzi Town, and farmers from Caimiao Town in neighboring Shayang County have all come here to buy.” Holding a stack of receipts, Wang Pengyuan told the reporter that since the start of spring, several hundred farmers have come every day to choose and buy, and high-horsepower tractors sell best. For example, Foton-brand tractors sold more than 400 units last year, and more than 200 units have already been sold this year.

At the Tiansheng Agricultural Machinery Sales Supermarket across the way, which mainly sells Dongfanghong-brand agricultural machinery, tractors and harvesters have sold more than 100 units each year in recent years, and rice transplanters can also sell more than 50 units. Manager Wu Tianping said that farmers now seek new-type, high-end agricultural machinery. This year they have newly stocked South Korean Daedong-brand ride-on rice transplanters, and the Hongfeng Agricultural Machinery Cooperative in Huji Town ordered 6 units.

“Agricultural machinery is an indispensable piece of equipment for farmers cultivating fields today, and has also become the main support for the development of modern agriculture.” said Wan Zhengmei, deputy director of the Zhongxiang City Agricultural Machinery Bureau. To make it convenient for farmers to choose and buy independently, Zhongxiang City built this large agricultural machinery market in the spring of 2010, offering one-stop services for sales, repair, logistics, training, and policy subsidies.

Wan Zhengmei introduced that the booming sales of agricultural machinery reflect the demands of agriculture, and mechanical farming has become a new trend; combined with the increased national subsidies for agricultural machinery, “full-price purchase, direct subsidy to the household,” farmers are more motivated to buy agricultural machinery, which has promoted agricultural mechanization. Last year, Zhongxiang City's machinery purchase subsidy funds were 25.2 million yuan, and this year it may exceed that figure. The city's mechanization level for cultivation, planting, and harvesting has already reached nearly 80%.

Wan Zhengmei analyzed that this year agricultural machinery has shown two major characteristics. First, new-type agricultural machinery is constantly being introduced, such as ride-on rice transplanters and paddy field wheel rotary tillers, which have become new favorites; second, high-horsepower heavy-duty agricultural machinery is popular, as it can be used for cultivation, harvesting, and transport, and the city has nearly 10,000 medium and large tractors.

After completing the machinery purchase subsidy procedures, Zhou Fajin contacted the agricultural machinery supermarket to deliver the paddy field wheel rotary tiller to his home. He said that this new agricultural machine would not only be used for his own family but also to help others cultivate their fields. Nowadays farmers rely on agricultural machinery to cultivate fields, carrying out mechanical plowing, mechanical transplanting, and mechanical harvesting, with basically full-process mechanization; without agricultural machinery, it is basically impossible to cultivate fields.