How can farmers overcome the difficulty of spraying pesticides? Specialized plant protection services are the key
In recent years, China's plant protection machinery is undergoing profound changes. With the application of small remote-controlled aircraft, helicopters and large self-propelled boom sprayers, plant protection operations have begun to realize the transformation from people carrying machines to “machines carrying people”.
On August 12, the “On-site Meeting on Major Disease and Pest Control of Autumn Crops and Safe Use of Low-Toxicity Pesticides”, hosted by Sino-Agri Leading Biosciences Co., Ltd., was held in Linyi City, Shandong Province. More than 150 people from the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, the Shandong Plant Protection Station, the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, local plant protection stations, supply and marketing cooperatives, farmers' professional cooperatives, dealers, large-scale growers, plant protection machinery manufacturing enterprises and surrounding farmer representatives observed a demonstration of large-scale plant protection machinery for specialized unified prevention and control of corn and rice diseases and pests.
From people carrying machines to “machines carrying people”
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At the demonstration site for specialized unified prevention and control of corn diseases and pests in Miaoshan Town, Tancheng County, Linyi City, a “giant” machine unfolded its two booms, forming huge “wings”, and drove into the cornfield while spraying.
Zhao Jinkai, chairman of Beijing Fengmao Plant Protection Machinery Co., Ltd., introduced at the site that this large plant protection machine is a self-propelled ultra-high-clearance boom sprayer introduced from Italy and assembled in China. It is currently the world's most advanced pesticide spraying machine specially used on tall-stalk crops such as corn; the tank can hold 2.2 tons of liquid, and it can work 300 mu per hour, with very high operating efficiency; the ground clearance is 2.8 m, and the boom height can be raised from 0.5 m to 3.8 m, while the wheel spacing can be adjusted between 2.25~3 m according to the crop planting pattern; it is worth mentioning that this machine can use a computer to precisely control the dose of pesticide sprayed per mu, realizing variable-rate spraying and precise application.
At the observation site, several elderly people stood beside their own cornfields with manual sprayers on their backs, unwilling to go into the cornfield to spray pesticide. Lü Daiqiang, a farmer from Lü Village, Miaoshan Town, said: “In such hot weather, you still have to wear long clothes and trousers, put on a hat, and carry a more than 40-jin spray tank into the cornfield. Spraying pesticide is too tiring, and if you are not well protected, it is easy to get poisoned. This large machine makes two passes in a few minutes, enough for more than ten of us to do for a day.”
After watching the spraying demonstration of the “giant”, Lü Daiqiang said with emotion that in the future they would no longer have to worry about spraying pesticides.
Specialized plant protection services need to be vigorously promoted
Xu Dekun, head of the Linyi Plant Protection Station, introduced that corn is a tall-stalk crop, currently 2.1~2.3 m tall. The weather is hot, and coupled with high labor intensity, most farmers are unwilling to carry out control, and after tasseling, control becomes even more difficult. With large plant protection machinery, the problem of disease and pest control in the middle and late stages of corn can be solved, and it has become possible to implement the corn “one prevention, two reductions” technology. The so-called “one prevention, two reductions” technology means applying pesticide once at the corn large trumpet stage to control multiple diseases and pests at the same time, so as to reduce the base number of insect occurrence in the middle and late stages of corn and lessen the degree of disease prevalence. It is a new technology for maintaining and increasing corn yield.
“However, prevention and control by individual households is very difficult, and we must rely on social forces to do a good job in specialized plant protection services.” Xu Dekun believes that at present, in the entire chain of agricultural production, mechanized prevention and control of diseases and pests needs to be strengthened, especially as family farms and large-scale growers increase, which places higher demands on socialized specialized plant protection services.
At the demonstration site for specialized unified prevention and control of rice diseases and pests in Quanyuan Township, Tancheng County, a large plant protection machine resembling a “hornet” attracted great attention from the participants. This large plant protection machine is also a self-propelled boom sprayer for both paddy and dry fields, introduced from Italian technology by Beijing Fengmao Plant Protection Company and assembled in China.
Chairman Zhao Jinkai introduced at the site that the “hornet” can also carry out plant protection operations for short-stalk crops such as wheat, peanuts and soybeans, with good control effects.
Multi-party cooperation to put services into practice
“If there were no new and efficient plant protection machinery, it would be very difficult to produce, promote and use low-residue pesticides; and without a specialized plant protection service team, it could not be put into practice either.” said Su Yi, general manager of Zhonglihua Company. The company has carried out strategic cooperation with Beijing Fengmao Plant Protection. Previously, in the main agricultural production areas of Yinan County and Linyi County in Shandong Province, Runan County in Henan Province, and Zhijiang City in Hubei Province, it used new plant protection machinery to carry out large-scale promotion of specialized unified prevention and control of crop diseases and pests, effectively controlling major disease and pest damage and promoting the sustained and stable development of local agriculture.
Zhang Jinglian, head of the Heyu Plant Protection and Agricultural Machinery Service Farmers' Professional Cooperative in Lanshan District, Linyi City, said that disease and pest control by individual farmer households is labor-intensive and time-consuming, with high labor intensity, and the utilization rate of machinery bought individually is also low. According to market demand, on the basis of an agricultural materials business department, a specialized plant protection cooperative was established last year, purchasing large and medium-sized plant protection machinery. Relying on Sino-Agri Leading's plant protection solutions, this year it began to provide full-process specialized plant protection services for local large-scale growers and family farms, and was generally welcomed.
Li Mingli, head of the Shandong Provincial Plant Protection Station, said that the relatively backward plant protection machinery has become a major bottleneck restricting the development of modern agriculture in China. The large plant protection machinery displayed by enterprises such as Beijing Fengmao Plant Protection Company has advanced technology and uniform spraying, which not only reduces the amount of pesticide used and improves control efficiency, but can also protect the ecological environment. The full-process specialized plant protection services carried out by specialized plant protection cooperatives relying on plant protection solutions provided by large companies have solved the long-standing pesticide spraying problem troubling farmers and represent the future direction of development.