Transforming Low- and Medium-Yield Farmland Helps Break Through the Hu Huanyong Line

In 2014, China's grain production achieved a record “eleventh consecutive increase”, with total output reaching 1214.2 billion jin, an increase of 10.32 billion jin over the previous year. Eleven consecutive years of grain growth is gratifying, but how can grain production maintain its growth momentum in the future? As economic development enters the new normal, how can we rely on the power of science and technology to transform low- and medium-yield farmland? On the premise of ensuring steady growth in grain production in the three major plain regions known as the “first granary”, how can we carry out comprehensive planning to safeguard national food security?

With these questions in mind, our newspaper conducted an exclusive interview with Researcher Duan Ziyuan, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Science and Technology for Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Researcher Zhang Zhengbin of the Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Difficulties of Continuous Increase from a High Starting Point under the “Eleventh Consecutive Increase”

Moderator: In 2014, China's grain production achieved the “eleventh consecutive increase”, which should be said to be gratifying, but many industry experts have said that we must never treat food security issues lightly. What is your view?

Duan Ziyuan: China's total grain output has achieved the “eleventh consecutive increase”, which is a hard-won achievement. But China's food security has also encountered the difficulty of continuous increase from a high starting point.

Chen Xiwen, Deputy Head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, said at an economic security forum that China currently needs to import six major agricultural products, and food security cannot be ignored. The Central Economic Work Conference held not long ago identified transforming the agricultural development model as one of the five major tasks of economic work in 2015, and the Central Rural Work Conference emphasized that the primary task of advancing agricultural modernization is to safeguard national food security, which shows that our government attaches great importance to food security.

China currently imports more than 84 million tons of grain each year. In addition to more than 60 million tons of soybeans, grain imports have also reached nearly 15 million tons. In addition, each year China also imports 4.5 million tons of cotton, 4.54 million tons of sugar, and 8.09 million tons of vegetable oil. China has become a net importer of the three major staple grains of wheat, rice and corn, and the world's largest grain importer.

But the export prices of grain on the international market are lower than those on the domestic market; the prices of China's agricultural products are approaching the “ceiling”, while the “floor” of production costs keeps rising; environmental pollution caused by excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides continues to worsen; the burden of state agricultural subsidies is heavy; the efficiency of grain production keeps declining; grain production capacity in the rain- and heat-abundant regions of the south is declining, while the cost of grain production in water-scarce regions of the north keeps rising. The “sixfold squeeze” thus presented continues to become more prominent, and the challenges facing national food security are enormous.

Zhang Zhengbin: To maintain continuous growth in total grain output, it is necessary to achieve the transformation of low- and medium-yield farmland. But the transformation of low- and medium-yield farmland faces problems in four aspects: first, the problem of water shortage. China has 900 million mu of dryland, accounting for 50% of China's cultivated land area. Second, land quality (saline-alkali land, sandy land). The total area of saline-alkali wasteland and saline-alkali-affected cultivated land exceeds 500 million mu, of which 200 million mu has potential for agricultural use, accounting for more than 10% of China's total cultivated land area. Third, investment in agricultural science and technology is not high. Because low- and medium-yield farmland is generally located in remote areas, investment in basic farmland improvement, agricultural machinery, irrigation, fertilizer and so on is relatively low, forming a long-term planting habit of extensive cultivation with low yields. Fourth, there is a lack of drought-resistant, salt-resistant and stress-resistant biological varieties, and yields are low and unstable.

Moderator: Faced with such difficulties, what strategies does the government have to respond?

Zhang Zhengbin: In fact, scientific and technological support for national food security has already become part of the national strategy.

In 2013, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected agriculture in Shandong, he emphasized that “safeguarding food security is an eternal subject for China”.

The first major theme of the 2014 No. 1 Central Document was improving the national food security guarantee system, mainly implementing a national food security strategy based on self-reliance, rooted in domestic production, ensuring production capacity, moderate imports, and scientific and technological support.

In May 2014, when Xi Jinping inspected agriculture in Henan, he also pointed out that the foundation of grain production lies in cultivated land, its lifeblood lies in water conservancy, its way out lies in science and technology, and its driving force lies in policy. These key points must be implemented one by one and put in place, striving to achieve new breakthroughs in grain production from a high base.

At the recently held Central Economic Work Conference, General Secretary Xi further pointed out that we must unswervingly accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model, and as quickly as possible shift to intensive development that gives equal weight to quantity, quality and efficiency, focuses on improving competitiveness, focuses on agricultural technological innovation, and focuses on sustainability, and take the path of modern agricultural development featuring efficient output, safe products, resource conservation and environmental friendliness.

The just-concluded Central Rural Work Conference pointed out that we must be good at seizing opportunities amid changes and creating conditions in adversity, constantly tapping new potential, cultivating new advantages and expanding new space.

All of these reflect the central government's and national leaders' attention to scientific and technological support for national food security.

Building China's Two Major Granaries

Moderator: It was just mentioned that implementing the transformation of low- and medium-yield farmland is an inevitable way to ensure grain growth. Then how can the transformation of low- and medium-yield farmland be accelerated?

Duan Ziyuan: I believe that transforming low- and medium-yield farmland and building the “Bohai Granary” and the “Huaibei Granary” in the southern Huang-Huai region are new breakthroughs.

In February 2014, Zhang Laiwu, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, proposed that the Ministry of Science and Technology advance agricultural scientific and technological progress from five major aspects. The focus was on the Bohai Granary and the dryland farming science and technology project.

On the basis of nearly ten years of research, the Chinese Academy of Sciences made advance arrangements and, after achieving demonstration success over a certain area, jointly launched the “Bohai Granary Science and Technology Demonstration Project” with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the “three provinces and one municipality” of Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning and Tianjin, and has already obtained important progress and expected results. Vice Premier Wang Yang made a special trip to Wudi County in Shandong in the project area for investigation and inspection, and gave full affirmation and high praise. In 2014, the proposal “Accelerate the Transformation of Low- and Medium-Yield Farmland to Build a Granary in the Southern Huang-Huai Region”, written under Zhang Zhengbin's leadership, received attention from relevant state departments. Zhang Laiwu made a special trip to Anhui Province to investigate scientific and technological support for food security. He suggested building a second granary science and technology demonstration project in the Huang-Huai-Hai and other regions, giving full play to the grain increase potential of low- and medium-yield farmland, exploring the technical model for increasing grain production on low- and medium-yield farmland and the “primary, secondary and tertiary” industry integration technology system, and providing scientific and technological support for solving the problems of increasing grain production, increasing farmers' incomes and improving agricultural efficiency.

Recently, in accordance with the spirit of the instructions by President Bai Chunli on building the Huaibei Granary, the Bureau of Science and Technology for Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has arranged 10 million yuan in funds and joined with the Anhui Provincial Agricultural Commission, the Department of Science and Technology and multiple other provincial departments, as well as Guoyang County and Longkang Farm in Bozhou City, to select the typically significant Guoyang County and Longkang Farm in the Huaibei region to carry out joint research on promoting agricultural transformation and development, including the treatment of mortar black soil, screening and breeding of wheat varieties resistant to fusarium head blight, breeding of machine-harvested high-yield corn varieties, improvement of water conservancy facilities, intelligent mechanized operations and demonstration of agricultural Internet of Things construction, so as to carry out preliminary exploration for the deployment of national tasks.