Five special plans for the 12th Five-Year agricultural mechanization development nationwide officially released

Following the release of the “12th Five-Year Plan for National Agricultural Mechanization Development,” on September 28 the Ministry of Agriculture issued five special plans including the “12th Five-Year Plan for National Agricultural Mechanization Science and Technology Development” and the “12th Five-Year Plan for National Agricultural Mechanization Education and Training.” These five special development plans respectively target five fields: agricultural mechanization science and technology, agricultural mechanization education and training, agricultural mechanization technology extension, agricultural machinery testing and appraisal, and protected agriculture. They summarize the main achievements of “11th Five-Year” development, analyze the new situation, new tasks and new requirements faced in development, define the guiding ideology, goals and key tasks for development over the next five years, and put forward safeguard measures for implementation. The five special plans are coordinated and connected with the national “12th Five-Year” plan for agricultural mechanization development, enriching and refining the content of the “12th Five-Year” plan and further enhancing the pertinence and guiding role of the national “12th Five-Year” development plan for agricultural mechanization.

Over the next five years, agricultural mechanization science and technology development should focus on research into common technologies for the mechanization of major crops

The special plan for agricultural mechanization science and technology development in the “12th Five-Year” period points out that the guiding ideology for agricultural mechanization science and technology development over the next five years is, in accordance with the overall requirements of “independent innovation, accelerated transformation, upgrading industry, comprehensive development,” to persist in combining basic theoretical research, applied basic research and applied research; combining original innovation with integrated innovation and the introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation of technology; combining agricultural machinery with agronomy; and combining industry, academia, research and extension. Efforts should be made to improve the conditions for safeguarding agricultural mechanization science and technology, raise the level of scientific and technological innovation and the capacity for technology transformation, and provide scientific and technological support for the sound and rapid development of agricultural mechanization. The goals should be a marked improvement in the capacity for effective supply of agricultural mechanization technology, the gradual improvement of scientific research conditions for agricultural mechanization, the continuous improvement of an innovation mechanism closely combining agricultural machinery with agronomy and industry, academia, research and extension, and the continuous improvement of the quality of the agricultural mechanization science and technology talent team. Centering on the common technologies constraining the mechanization of different regions and different crops, the focus should be on research into mechanized tillage, planting, field management, harvesting and comprehensive utilization of agricultural resources technology, as well as research into agricultural machinery appraisal and testing technology; making breakthroughs in key technologies for the mechanization of major crops and improving mechanized production technology systems; accelerating research into equipment and technology for protected horticulture, protected livestock and poultry farming, fisheries and primary processing of agricultural products; accelerating research into agricultural mechanization technology for pasture and hilly and mountainous areas; and strengthening soft science research on agricultural mechanization. Safeguards for agricultural mechanization science and technology development should be provided in areas including strengthening organizational leadership and improving the innovation system; strengthening policy support and ensuring funding input; strengthening joint collaboration and improving the innovation mechanism; implementing key projects and enhancing innovation capacity; and strengthening international cooperation and deepening technical exchanges.

Over the next five years, agricultural mechanization education and training should take quality improvement and innovation capacity building as the core

Adhere to the policy of “serving development, giving priority to talent, being application-oriented, innovating mechanisms, being guided by high-end talent, and overall development,” focus on building the three teams of agricultural mechanization management talent, scientific and technological talent and practical talent, innovate the content of education and training, improve education and training methods, integrate education and training resources, optimize the education and training workforce, and raise the quality of education and training. During the “12th Five-Year” period, the plan is to train more than 5.5 million person-times of agricultural mechanization management, scientific and technological and practical talent each year, of which the management talent team is to be trained more than 200,000 person-times each year; the scientific and technological talent team more than 800,000 person-times; and the practical talent team more than 4.5 million person-times. With the goal of improving policy implementation capacity, intensify the training of agricultural mechanization management cadres; with the goal of enhancing technical support capacity, accelerate the pace of training agricultural mechanization scientific and technological personnel; with the goal of improving operational service capacity, enhance the effectiveness of training agricultural machinery practical personnel; with the goal of improving education and training capacity, increase the building of infrastructure and the teaching workforce; and with the goal of improving practical skills, accelerate the development of agricultural mechanization vocational skills. It is necessary to continue implementing the major agricultural mechanization education and training action, increase support for agricultural mechanization education and training, improve the agricultural mechanization education and training management system, and create a favorable atmosphere for agricultural mechanization education and training.

Over the next five years, agricultural mechanization technology extension should accelerate the experimental demonstration and widespread application of new technologies

With the extension of yield-increasing and efficiency-enhancing, resource-saving and environment-friendly mechanization technologies as the focus, it is necessary to strengthen system building, innovate extension mechanisms, enhance service capacity, and strive to achieve breakthroughs in mechanization of weak links. The overall goals are: the technological innovation capacity, technology integration capacity and extension service capacity of agricultural mechanization are to be comprehensively improved, providing technical support for the comprehensive mechanization level of tillage, planting and harvesting of major crops to exceed 60%. During the 12th Five-Year period, the focus should be on extending mechanization technology for the production of major food crops, key mechanization technologies for cash crops, resource-saving and environment-friendly mechanization technologies, mechanization technologies for livestock and aquaculture, protected agriculture engineering technology, and agricultural mechanization technology for hilly and mountainous areas. It is necessary to establish diversified investment mechanisms, encourage agricultural machinery enterprises, agricultural production and operation organizations, farmers and others to increase investment in the extension of new agricultural mechanization technologies; intensify the demonstration and project approval work for agricultural mechanization technology extension projects, plan projects scientifically, and increase project reserves. Strengthen the building of agricultural mechanization demonstration zones, mainly adopting whole-process mechanized production methods, strengthen the integration of advanced agricultural mechanization and agronomic technologies, and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Improve the collaboration mechanism among agricultural machinery scientific research, teaching, extension and production units, and further promote the integration of industry, academia, research and extension. Strengthen cooperation among agricultural machinery, agronomy and other departments, and promote the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy, the integration of mechanization and informatization, and the integration of mechanization with modern agricultural production and operation methods.

Over the next five years, agricultural machinery testing and appraisal should vigorously enhance appraisal capacity, public service capacity and standardization

The overall goals are: by 2015, form a national agricultural machinery testing and appraisal system that is “fully functional, reasonably laid out, technologically advanced, distinctly characterized and standardized in management,” further improve the agricultural machinery testing and appraisal system with Chinese characteristics, make agricultural machinery testing and appraisal work more coordinated with agricultural mechanization development, provide stronger technical support and guarantees, and make its role in serving “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” more prominent. New breakthroughs are to be achieved in national agricultural machinery testing and appraisal capacity, with the scope of ministerial-level appraisal capacity increased by a further 50% on the existing basis, and the appraisal capacity at the ministerial and provincial levels covering 14 major categories and 57 types of agricultural machinery; the testing and appraisal system is to be further improved, procedures further standardized and management more scientific; the awareness of testing and appraisal personnel of appraising according to law is to be markedly strengthened, with the rate of working with certificates reaching 100%; technical specifications and standards for agricultural machinery testing and appraisal are to be improved with more prominent characteristics; new breakthroughs are to be achieved in basic theoretical and methodological research such as evaluation of the advanced nature, applicability, safety and reliability of agricultural machinery products, and the scientific and technological content of agricultural machinery testing and appraisal is to be markedly raised. Focus on strengthening laboratory construction for large tractors of more than 100 horsepower, 50-70 horsepower energy-saving and environment-friendly paddy field tractors, high-clearance tractors, high-performance grain combine harvesters, corn harvesters, sugarcane harvesters, rapeseed harvesters, cotton harvesters and large and medium-sized matching implements. Plan rationally, integrate resources, and carry out the building of appraisal capacity at the ministerial and provincial levels in a focused and tiered manner. Further increase capital construction investment and financial support, and strengthen the building of infrastructure, instruments and equipment, and testing and appraisal bases. Further expand and deepen international exchange and cooperation in agricultural machinery testing and appraisal, and enhance the international influence of China's agricultural machinery testing and appraisal.

Over the next five years, the development of China's protected agriculture should take accelerating the transformation of the development mode as the main line

Since the reform and opening up, China's protected agriculture has made considerable progress, with the level of technical equipment rising continuously. In 2010, China's horticultural facility area exceeded 3.5 million hectares; the proportions of large-scale farming of pigs, laying hens, broiler chickens, dairy cattle and beef cattle reached 64.5%, 78.8%, 85.7%, 46.5% and 41.6% respectively. In 2010, the total output of protected vegetables exceeded 170 million tons, accounting for 25% of total vegetable output. The output of pork and milk from large-scale farms reached 32.709 million tons and 16.626 million tons respectively. The output of protected aquatic products reached 7.8 million tons, accounting for about 15% of total aquatic product output. Over the next five years, China should actively promote scientific and technological innovation in protected agriculture and improve the equipment level, comprehensive production capacity, risk resistance capacity and market competitiveness of protected agriculture. Promote steady growth in facility scale and markedly improve the equipment level. The level of operating machinery and equipment for tillage, irrigation and plant protection in protected horticultural production, as well as intelligent greenhouse environment control equipment, is to be continuously improved, the production environment markedly improved, and labor intensity effectively reduced; the level of complete sets of process equipment for standardized large-scale livestock and poultry farming is to be continuously improved, the proportion of supporting engineering disease-prevention facilities and equipment is to be increased by more than 20%, and the proportion of harmless treatment of waste from standardized large-scale livestock and poultry farms is to reach 100%. To this end, it is necessary to focus on the research and development of new technologies and new equipment, and raise the technical level of protected horticulture, protected livestock farming and protected aquaculture. By incorporating protected agriculture equipment into the scope of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, earnestly implement the relevant input safeguard policies for protected agriculture, and form a relatively stable government input mechanism. Fully mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises and farmers to invest in and develop protected agriculture, and form a multi-channel, diversified and multi-level investment pattern and safeguard mechanism.