Science and technology boost agricultural development, giving agriculture the wings of science and technology

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed adhering to the path of new-type industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, promoting deep integration of informatization and industrialization, positive interaction between industrialization and urbanization, and mutual coordination between urbanization and agricultural modernization, and promoting the synchronized development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. The Central Rural Work Conference further emphasized relying on reform and innovation to advance agricultural modernization. We must implement a series of major arrangements of the Party Central Committee, focus on solving the practical problem that agricultural modernization still lags far behind industrialization, informatization, and urbanization, strive to achieve "synchronization of the four modernizations," and give agriculture the wings of science and technology.

I. To give agriculture the wings of science and technology, we must clearly understand the situation and seize opportunities

Agricultural science and technology are the foundational support for ensuring national food security, an inevitable choice for breaking through resource and environmental constraints, and a decisive force for accelerating modern agricultural development. Relying more on agricultural science and technology innovation is a hallmark of the era of agricultural modernization.

In achieving "synchronization of the four modernizations," the weak link is agricultural modernization. Since the reform and opening up, China's level of agricultural modernization has improved considerably. But it cannot be denied that relative to industrialization, informatization, and urbanization, whether in terms of production efficiency, modern equipment levels, scientific and technological support levels, or farmers' educational quality and income levels, agricultural modernization remains the link with the largest gap and the greatest need for strengthening. Only by advancing agricultural modernization in tandem with the in-depth development of industrialization, informatization, and urbanization can we accelerate the pace of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing the Chinese Dream.

Developing modern agriculture from a high starting point is inseparable from agricultural science and technology. Since the founding of New China, China's agricultural science and technology undertakings have achieved leapfrog development, and the supporting role of agricultural science and technology in agricultural development has continuously strengthened. The contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress was only 20% in the early days of New China, and by 2014 it had exceeded 56%. However, compared with Western developed countries, China's contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress is still relatively low, and support for modern agricultural development is still not strong enough. At present, China's agricultural production faces the contradiction between rigid growth in grain demand and hard production constraints, the contradiction between rapidly rising production costs and declining comparative benefits, and the contradiction between labor transfer and "who will farm the land." According to 2012 statistics from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China's average yields of rice, corn, and soybeans were only 80.8%, 76.9%, and 71.2% of those of the United States, respectively. Accelerating agricultural modernization faces many challenges, including increasingly tight resource constraints, continuously growing impacts of natural disasters, increasingly severe environmental pollution, deepening impacts of climate change, accelerated flows of urban and rural factors, and increasing difficulty in continuing to raise output. Against the backdrop of international agricultural competition, only by accelerating agricultural scientific and technological progress can we break through resource and environmental constraints, ensure national food security, and inject strong momentum into agricultural output growth, farmers' income growth, and rural prosperity; only by accelerating the improvement of the agricultural science and technology innovation system, strengthening innovation in and application of key agricultural technologies, and adhering to the integration of agriculture, science and education, and production, teaching, and research, can we give agriculture powerful wings and reliable wings, ensuring that agriculture flies high, fast, and far.

Giving agriculture the wings of science and technology has a solid practical foundation. The Party Central Committee has always attached great importance to agricultural science and technology work. In particular, in recent consecutive years it has issued No. 1 documents repeatedly emphasizing vigorously advancing agricultural scientific and technological progress, providing reliable policy guarantees for the takeoff of agricultural science and technology. China has already established an agricultural scientific research, education, and technology extension system with a complete organizational structure and the largest scale in the world, forming a diversified agricultural science and technology support system that combines agriculture, education, and extension with Chinese characteristics, providing strong organizational guarantees for agricultural development.

A comprehensive analysis of the internal and external environment for agricultural science and technology development shows that China's development of modern agriculture has demand, opportunities, conditions, and foundations. Giving agriculture the wings of science and technology is not only very necessary but also entirely feasible. Since entering the new century, China has entered the international advanced ranks in biotechnology research, super rice breeding, research and development of highly pathogenic avian influenza vaccines, research on transgenic insect-resistant cotton, breeding of dwarf male-sterile wheat, and breeding of double-low rapeseed, among others. The pace of independent innovation in agricultural science and technology has accelerated markedly, and there is a very good foundation for achieving the goal of agricultural science and technology taking the lead in reaching world-class levels and achieving overall transcendence.

II. To give agriculture the wings of science and technology, we must adhere to the path of new-type agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics

China's agricultural modernization has its own particularities. We must take good measurements of agriculture's "body" in order to tailor the "clothing" of agricultural science and technology; we must base ourselves on China's basic national conditions, conform to the development laws and trends of world agriculture, adhere to the path of new-type agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and accelerate agricultural scientific and technological progress.

Absolute security of staple food is fundamental. Developing modern agriculture requires never slackening in grain production. China is the world's most populous country, and solving the issue of food is the top priority in governing the country. Although China's grain output has achieved "eleven consecutive increases," food security still faces many challenges: the tight balance in grain supply and demand has not changed, resource constraints on grain production are constantly becoming more prominent, grain yields per unit area still need continuous improvement, overall returns from grain cultivation remain relatively low, and grain losses and quality and safety problems caused by farmland pollution and backward storage and transportation are becoming increasingly serious. "Ensuring food security is an eternal topic, and at no time can we relax," "The Chinese people's rice bowl must at all times be firmly held in our own hands, and our rice bowl should mainly contain Chinese grain," "Ensure basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple food." These are the overall judgment and basic requirements for China's agricultural development. Against the background of a high base in grain output, to further improve the capacity for ensuring food security, we must implement a national food security strategy that is based mainly on ourselves, grounded in domestic production, ensures production capacity, allows moderate imports, and relies on scientific and technological support. In particular, we must increase scientific and technological support for the development of the seed industry and continuously cultivate new grain varieties that are high-yielding, stable-yielding, high-quality, efficient, and stress-resistant.