What are the reasons for this year's high corn yield in Northeast China?
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture organized experts to conduct on-site yield measurement and acceptance of corn in Heilongjiang Province, and villager Pang Zhongge of Dongsheng Village, Wuliming Town, Zhaodong City, achieved a high yield of 1242.57 kg per mu.
Li Shaokun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a position expert of the National Corn Industry Technology System, told reporters that according to the expert group's on-site yield measurement results, corn in the three provinces and one region of Northeast China had another bumper year this year. Among them, the first accumulated temperature zone of the Songnen Plain in Heilongjiang reached more than 1000 kg per mu, with the highest reaching 1242.57 kg; the second accumulated temperature zone of the Songnen Plain in Heilongjiang reached more than 930 kg per mu; and the semi-arid area of western Northeast China reached more than 1000 kg per mu, with the highest reaching 1203.95 kg.
Pang Zhongge excitedly told reporters that the corn he planted this year could reach 1242.57 kg per mu, and he also had to thank the Northeast region corn “Double Increase Two Hundred” science and technology action organized and implemented by the Department of Science and Technology Education of the Ministry of Agriculture. It was precisely because of good varieties, good techniques, and the careful guidance of experts that he achieved this year's high yield.
Yin Cai, deputy director of the Zhaodong City Agriculture Bureau, also calculated an account for reporters: the fields implementing “Double Increase Two Hundred” added only four technical steps - deep loosening and raising large ridges, spraying foliar fertilizer, one artificial topdressing, and unified prevention and control of corn borer and northern leaf blight. The input per mu was 586.5 yuan, 150 yuan more than ordinary farmland, while the average yield per mu was 1226 kg, 250 kg higher than even the best-performing ordinary farmland plots. Among these, the single technique of deep loosening and raising large ridges could increase land utilization by 20%, increase the number of retained seedlings per mu by 1000 plants, and calculated at 1.1 yuan per jin, could save costs and increase income by 400 yuan per mu.
According to Li Shaokun, the Northeast region corn “Double Increase Two Hundred” science and technology action takes “increase yield by 200 jin per mu and save costs and increase efficiency by 200 yuan per mu” as its goal orientation, relies on the National Corn Industry Technology System, the grassroots agricultural technology extension system, and the farmer training system, takes the construction of high-yield demonstration areas and the “Corn King” competition as entry points, and closely links major corn-producing counties, agricultural administrative personnel, scientific and technological experts, technology extension personnel, and farmers. At the same time, according to the water and heat conditions of different ecological type areas, it determines the regional layout of corn varieties in different accumulated temperature zones, guides farmers to adopt leading varieties with high and stable yields, supplemented by in-depth exploration of promising varieties, and improves the yield-increasing potential of improved varieties; promotes on a large scale the application of high-yield and high-efficiency integrated technologies such as mechanized deep loosening and soil preparation in corn fields, precision sowing, deep fertilization and pesticide application, straw return to the field, drip irrigation under film, dense planting with offset ridges and wide-narrow rows, film mulching with large ridges and double rows, and unified prevention and control of pests and diseases, so as to increase corn yield; uses large machinery to complete deep and precise soil preparation, precision sowing, precision fertilization, and post-sowing compaction in one pass, significantly improving seedling quality; advances full mechanization at key corn production stages in a timely manner to further tap the yield-increasing potential of corn; and in response to technical difficulties existing in corn production in different regions, organizes technical forces to carry out planned, tiered, batch-based, and farming-season-based technical training and guidance services for agricultural technicians, science and technology demonstration households, and farmers, promoting the organic combination of leading varieties with main promoted technologies, agricultural machinery with agronomy, and experimental demonstration with large-scale extension, and improving the application rate of high-yield and high-efficiency corn technologies.
A relevant person in charge of the Department of Science and Technology Education of the Ministry of Agriculture told reporters that the Ministry of Agriculture carried out the “Double Increase Two Hundred” science and technology action in the three provinces, one region, and one bureau of Northeast China precisely in response to the growing pressure of international competition in China's corn market, to guide and promote the major corn-producing areas of Northeast China onto a path that gives equal weight to high yield and high efficiency, to achieve stable and high yields by improving the application rate of improved varieties and good methods, to meet the rigid growth of domestic corn consumption, to save costs and increase efficiency, reduce production costs, improve planting benefits, protect farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, and lay a solid foundation for improving the market competitiveness of Northeast corn.
Through interviews, reporters deeply felt that the high corn yields again achieved in Northeast China this year proved that the “Double Increase Two Hundred” science and technology action is truly a typical model of agricultural science and technology increasing production and income, and its good mechanisms, good practices, and good experience are worth learning from and promoting. In particular, since the action was implemented in 2012, with goal achievements and performance assessment as its orientation, it has strung together the individual “pearls” of major corn-producing counties, agricultural administrative personnel, scientific and technological experts, technology extension personnel, and farmers into a necklace, giving play to a synergistic effect; the material rewards and battle for honor in the “Corn King” competition stimulated farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain and local governments' enthusiasm for grasping grain; and it is precisely this kind of promotion and application that enabled improved varieties, good methods, and high-yield and high-efficiency integrated technologies to take root, blossom, and bear fruit on the black soil of Northeast China.