What does Yuan Longping's rice yield mean?
Recently, while on a trip to the countryside for an interview, just as the rice flowers were filling the air with fragrance, I chatted with a few farmers beside a rice paddy, and the conversation turned to the new record set not long ago by Academician Yuan Longping's super rice of 1026.7 kg per mu. One farmer said, that is the yield of those scientists; for us farmers, it is beyond reach. Another, a chairman of a cooperative, disagreed with him: if we plant the way the experts do, the yield can certainly be raised further. Right now our high yields can reach 1500 jin, much higher than in the past. We will catch up slowly!
I thought this cooperative chairman's view made a good deal of sense.
Perhaps for an ordinary farmer, no one can plant rice the way Academician Yuan Longping does, nor achieve such a high-yield target. So then, what does the yield of Academician Yuan Longping and other rice experts mean? It means that through the application of various scientific and technological means, in further raising per-unit grain yields and tapping the potential for increasing grain production, it is both theoretically possible and practically achievable. Academician Yuan Longping's new record of 1026.7 kg per mu has set a new benchmark for rice production. If these scientific and technological means are extended over a large area, then, as that cooperative chairman said, by "planting the way the experts do," the yield can certainly be raised further.
In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture officially launched the "China Super Rice Breeding Program" and put forward three-phase targets: achieving 700 kg per mu in 2000, 800 kg in 2005, and 900 kg in 2015. At present, not only have the three-phase targets long been achieved, but the fourth-phase target of surpassing the 1000 kg mark has also been achieved. In fact, when the first-phase target was achieved, a yield of over 700 kg per mu was for the vast number of farming households across the country a height beyond reach, yet today this height is easily surpassed in many places. This shows that the experts' yield is both within sight and within reach.
How can the experts' yield be turned into a large-scale increase in production? I once consulted an expert in agricultural technology extension on this question, and he told me that the reason experts can achieve high yields is that all technical measures can be implemented to the letter, so raising the rate at which all technologies are put in place is the key. Later, an interview I conducted at the Jiansanjiang land reclamation area in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, confirmed this expert's view. The director of the reclamation area's science and technology bureau introduced that after harvesting corn in autumn, the reclamation area immediately plows the land and forms ridges; this is the autumn ridging technique they promote. The benefits of autumn ridging are, first, because the land after the autumn harvest is suitable for deep loosening, and there is more rain in autumn, which helps the soil retain moisture; second, after it snows in winter, the soil undergoes alternating freezing and thawing, which increases the inner gaps like frozen tofu, and after the ice and snow melt the following year there is abundant moisture, which can ensure uniform emergence and a high survival rate when seedlings are raised and transplanted in spring. He also told me that local farmers still use traditional cultivation methods, and after harvesting the corn they just "hibernate for the winter," waiting until the following spring to plow and form ridges; by then, the surface has just thawed, deep plowing is impossible, and the soil moisture is poor, so if there is a spring drought, it is even harder to guarantee the quality of spring plowing. Comparing the two, the autumn ridging technique can increase the yield by 200 jin per mu.
You see, just a single change in cultivation method makes such a big difference in yield. China's grain production has increased for more than ten consecutive years; apart from the strong support of preferential agricultural policies, the promotion and application of a large number of new technologies has played an indispensable role. The deep loosening and compaction techniques for wheat, the centralized seedling raising and machine transplanting of rice, the "one spray, three preventions" of mid-season management, and the high-yield creation model using technological integration; once these technical means succeed in the experts' experimental fields and are promoted and used in the fields, they play an immediate role in raising per-unit yields over large areas. Although the experts' yields are currently still hard to replicate in the fields, the experts' yields are leading China's grain step by step along the path of increasing production. Think about the targets the experts set back then; how many have already been achieved by today's farmers, making tremendous contributions to increasing grain production and raising farmers' incomes. Given all this, can we still think the experts' yields are beyond reach?
Science and technology advance, and yields grow by an inch. Scientists represented by Academician Yuan Longping are constantly seeking new targets and setting new records; led by these new targets, China's grain production follows closely and keeps climbing to new heights, becoming an important guarantee for national food security and national economic development.