China's agricultural mechanization level rises 27 percentage points in ten years

Bi Meijia, Chief Economist of China's Ministry of Agriculture, said on the 24th at the “Foundation of a Great Nation——China Rural Development Golden Autumn Report Conference” organized by China National Radio's China Countryside Voice that in 2013, China's comprehensive mechanization level for crop cultivation and harvesting reached 59.5%, an increase of 27 percentage points over 10 years ago.

Bi Meijia said that at present, China's wheat crop has basically achieved full-process mechanization, but the mechanization level of corn and rice still lags behind, and the potential remains very large.

The comprehensive mechanization level for cultivation and harvesting refers to the percentage of the total workload accounted for by the amount of work performed using machinery and equipment in agricultural production. Agricultural mechanization is an important piece of agricultural infrastructure, the material foundation of agricultural modernization and an important indicator for measuring the level of agricultural modernization, and a key element in promoting the transformation of traditional agriculture into modern agriculture, playing a pivotal role in the process of transforming traditional agriculture into modern agriculture.

Other data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that last year, in China's 153 national modern agriculture demonstration zones, the comprehensive mechanization level for crop cultivation and harvesting reached 72.5%, and agricultural production methods within the demonstration zones already relied mainly on modern facilities and mechanical operations.

Bi Meijia also said that although grain production in some areas suffered from drought this year, this year will still be a bumper harvest year, and is expected to achieve an “eleventh consecutive increase.”