2014 Agricultural Machinery Roundup: Farming, Planting, Management and Harvesting, the Song of Machines Rings Out
Editor's note:
It is the end of another year.
Agricultural mechanization is an important supporting force for safeguarding national food security and promoting farmers' income growth. In 2014, China's comprehensive mechanization level for crop farming, planting and harvesting exceeded 60%; state subsidies for agricultural machinery purchases reached a historic new high; new agricultural technologies and new equipment were widely applied in production; farmers made new explorations of production models, and various regions explored many different forms of agricultural production models according to their own needs; the purchase and sale of agricultural machinery and equipment for weak links in production both flourished, showing a trend of rapid growth.
NO.1
Comprehensive mechanization level for crop farming, planting and harvesting exceeds 60%
It was learned from the National Rural Work Conference held recently that in 2014 the national comprehensive mechanization level for crop farming, planting and harvesting exceeded 60%, and is expected to reach more than 61%, achieving the “12th Five-Year Plan” target one year ahead of schedule. National agricultural mechanization continued to develop healthily and rapidly along the track of “comprehensive, full-process, high-quality and high-efficiency,” providing strong equipment support for ensuring national food security and enhancing comprehensive agricultural production capacity.
In recent years, the mechanization level of grain production has continuously improved, as mechanization in key weak links such as corn machine harvesting accelerated. New types of socialized service organizations such as agricultural machinery cooperatives have risen rapidly, and agricultural mechanization production during important farming seasons, for example order-based operations and one-stop farming, planting and harvesting service models, has been widely accepted by farmers. The mechanization levels of rice planting and harvesting exceeded 38% and 81% respectively, among which the machine harvesting rate of early rice was 74.8%, up nearly 5 percentage points year on year, effectively overcoming the adverse effects of continuous rainy weather on the “double rush” production in Hunan and other provinces. At the same time, through measures such as policy guidance, demonstration guidance and improved technical services, corn harvest mechanization was advanced, with the national corn machine-harvested area exceeding 320 million mu, an increase of 45 million mu over the previous year, and the machine harvesting level exceeding 56%.
NO.2
In 2014, 150 million mu of agricultural machinery deep loosening and soil preparation was completed nationwide
In order to give play to the role of deep loosening and soil preparation in promoting increased yields, the Ministry of Agriculture launched a 100 million mu pilot this year. Because of the high attention from top to bottom, timely deployment and arrangements, and strong policy support, the smooth implementation of agricultural machinery deep loosening and soil preparation operations in various regions was effectively promoted. This year, a total of 150 million mu of agricultural machinery deep loosening and soil preparation was completed, fairly well accomplishing the 2014 target task.
China has about 720 million mu of arable land suitable for deep loosening, of which Northeast China, North China and the Huang-Huai-Hai region account for about 80%. Deep loosening time is mainly concentrated in the two periods before spring sowing and after autumn harvest, and the autumn deep loosening area accounts for about two thirds of the whole year. As of now, 107 million mu of autumn deep loosening and soil preparation has been completed; adding 41.71 million mu of spring deep loosening and soil preparation, the cumulative operation area for the whole year reached 149 million mu, exceeding the target task of 100 million mu. Northeast China, North China and the Huang-Huai-Hai region, as the main battlefield for deep loosening and soil preparation operations, completed 119.6 million mu this year, among which Heilongjiang Province (including agricultural reclamation) accounted for 59.12 million mu, about one third of the province's dryland area.
The state listed deep loosening machinery as a key focus of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, giving priority to meeting farmers' needs to purchase large tractors and deep loosening machinery. As of November 15, the country invested 61.32 million yuan of central subsidy funds this year, adding 17,642 units (sets) of deep loosening machines and combined soil preparation machines.
NO.3
The Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Bank of China cooperate to test the waters of agricultural machinery leasing
At present, farmers' demand for large and medium-sized, multifunctional and high-performance agricultural machinery is growing, but their purchasing power is relatively weak, which restricts the development of agricultural machinery modernization. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture cooperated with Agricultural Bank of China to test the waters of solving farmers' machinery purchase financing difficulties through market means and government guidance to innovate financial service methods.
Solving “difficulty in obtaining loans” through leasing, and easing “expensive loans” through agricultural machinery purchase subsidies plus interest subsidies, is recognized by financial institutions, welcomed by farmers, and solves problems for the government. It is an agricultural machinery financial support model with universal promotion value. It gives full play to the role of fiscal funds in “using a little to move a lot” and “using small money to leverage big money”; government departments advance the development of agricultural mechanization; agricultural machinery suppliers and dealers promote the sales of agricultural machinery; lessees reduce funding pressure and lower the threshold for mortgages and pledges; and grassroots Agricultural Bank branches also expand “three rural” business development.
“The leasing method is more convenient than a mortgage loan; the machine can be obtained in one month, whereas previously a loan could not be approved even in half a year. Previously the cooperative purchased a cotton picker for 3.25 million yuan, and the interest alone on a 4-year loan was more than 500,000 yuan. This year, with the same three to four million yuan, it can lease 7 cotton pickers at once; it enjoys subsidies and the state also provides interest subsidies, saving more than 900,000 yuan on one machine. In the past, when the cooperative bought machinery, it could only find ways to raise funds to buy one; now it can immediately build an operation service team.” said the person in charge of the cooperative.
NO.4
In 2014, agricultural machinery purchase subsidy funds reached 23.75 billion yuan
In 2014, the central government's agricultural machinery purchase subsidy funds reached 23.75 billion yuan, an increase of 2 billion yuan year on year. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance further advanced the reform and innovation of the subsidy system, fully implementing “full-price machine purchase, fixed-amount subsidy, county-level settlement, and direct subsidy to card.” A total of 21 provinces across the country chose some urgently needed machinery for open subsidies. More than 4 million farmer households nationwide benefited from machine purchase subsidies, and more than 5.4 million units/sets of agricultural machinery (tools) were subsidized, effectively promoting the improvement of agricultural machinery equipment capacity and the development of the agricultural machinery industry.
⟦NL> NO.5
Sales of high-horsepower tractors and machinery urgently needed for grain production rise
This year, the ownership of large and medium-sized tractors is expected to reach 5.72 million units, up 8.6% year on year, with a trend of expanding growth. Rice transplanters and corn combine harvesters, urgently needed for grain production, maintained a high-speed growth trend, with ownership expected to reach 665,000 units and 343,000 units respectively, up 9.7% and 20.1% year on year respectively.
This year, the market for transplanters and rice and wheat harvesters showed flourishing production and sales. According to statistics, the country invested 3 billion yuan of central fiscal funds in total, subsidizing the purchase of 45,000 rice transplanters and 103,000 rice and wheat combine harvesters. In terms of corn harvesters, various regions also fully gave play to the supporting and pulling role of the agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policy, giving key preference to farmers purchasing corn harvesting machinery. As of November 15, the central fiscal funds used to subsidize the purchase of corn harvesters were 3.05 billion yuan, an increase of 700 million yuan over the same period last year, and local fiscal funds invested in subsidizing the purchase of corn harvesters were 73.24 million yuan.