Ideas and Paths for Transforming the Agricultural Development Model

The Central Economic Work Conference held recently clearly stated that it is necessary to unswervingly accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model, and quickly 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 a modern agricultural development path featuring high output, safe products, resource conservation and environmental friendliness.

⟦NL> Experts pointed out that against the backdrop of China's economy entering a new normal of improving quality and efficiency, China's agricultural development has also reached a new stage of intensive development that pays more attention to efficiency rather than the extensive development model that focuses on output. Transforming the agricultural development model is a long and arduous task.

“This year China's grain output achieved an ‘eleventh consecutive increase,’ but it must be seen that China's grain production methods are still relatively extensive. Under the increasingly severe dual constraints of arable land and water resources, this situation urgently needs to change.” said Qin Fu, director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Compared with developed countries, China's grain production is still at an extensive production stage that relies on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and flood irrigation to increase output. Data show that at present, China's average chemical fertilizer use per mu is 21.2 kilograms, 4.1 times the world average, and grain production is still difficult to shake off the characteristics of “large farms, large water use and large fertilizer use.”

Such an extensive development model directly leads to the decline of soil fertility. At present, the area of degraded arable land in China has accounted for more than 40% of the total arable land area. The black soil layer in Northeast China is thinning, soil in the South is acidifying, and the cultivated layer of the North China Plain is becoming shallower, seriously affecting arable land output.

“The central government's proposal to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model hits the key point. How should the agricultural development model be transformed? Fundamentally, it is necessary to change from being driven mainly by factors to being driven by scientific and technological innovation, change the extensive farming model of large farms, large water use and large fertilizer use, and make science and technology the fundamental driving force for bumper grain harvests and agricultural production.” Qin Fu said.

At present, China's comprehensive mechanization level for crop cultivation, planting and harvesting has exceeded 60%, nearly 30 percentage points higher than 10 years ago, but there is still a large gap compared with developed countries.

“The gap is potential. In the future, we must take an intensive development path that relies on scientific and technological progress and increases per-unit yield, and give agriculture and grain production the wings of science and technology.” said Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture.

Han Yijun, a professor at the College of Economics and Management of China Agricultural University, believes that in the future it is necessary to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model, from an extensive operation that mainly pursues output growth and competes on resources and consumption to intensive development that gives equal weight to quantity, quality and efficiency, focuses on improving competitiveness, and focuses on sustainability.

“It is necessary to integrate the green concept throughout the entire process of tackling key problems in yield-increasing models. In terms of technical paths, promote new varieties with high yield, high efficiency and multiple resistance, advance large-scale, standardized and mechanized production, advance the quality construction of arable land, and vigorously promote cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing technologies such as fertilizer control, pesticide control and water control.” said Bi Meijia, chief economist and spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The reporter learned from the Ministry of Agriculture that China will carry out research on green yield-increasing models and integrate the green concept throughout the entire process of tackling key problems in yield-increasing models. In terms of technical paths, promote new varieties with high yield, high efficiency and multiple resistance, advance large-scale, standardized and mechanized production, advance the quality construction of arable land, and vigorously promote cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing technologies such as fertilizer control, pesticide control and water control. The plan is to strive to achieve “zero growth” in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in grain and agricultural production by 2020, and strive to improve land output rate, input utilization rate and labor productivity.

“Transforming the agricultural development model means taking the path of sustainable development, making efforts to return farmland to forest, wetland and grassland, allowing agriculture to restore its function of maintaining ecology, and taking the path of modern agriculture featuring resource conservation and environmental friendliness.” said Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In the view of Dang Guoying, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, transforming the agricultural development model means paying more attention to efficiency and enhancing the competitiveness of agricultural products.

“At present, the prices of many agricultural products on the international market are lower than ours. From this perspective, the competitiveness of China's agricultural products is not strong. Food security is not only quantity security, but also includes quality security and economic security.”

Dang Guoying believes that in the future it is necessary to reduce the cost of agricultural products through concentrated contiguous areas and large-scale operations, and also rely on technological innovation to change production models to reduce costs, improve competitiveness, and fundamentally increase the efficiency of agricultural production.