How the national seed industry is breaking new ground in a new round of reform
Editor's note
Grain security underpins the world, and seeds cast the cornerstone. Seeds are an irreplaceable means of agricultural production and an important vehicle for advances in agricultural science and technology. At the end of last year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Seed Industry System and Improving Innovation Capacity." Central leaders have inspected the seed industry on multiple occasions and given important instructions on the reform and development of the seed industry. The direction of seed industry system reform has now been made clear, and a new round of seed industry reform is under way.
Management function: from “managing seeds” to “managing the seed industry”
5 provinces and autonomous regions Sichuan, Gansu, Hunan, Anhui and Ningxia have issued implementation opinions to support the reform of the seed industry system.
150 million yuan Tianjin plans to invest 150 million yuan in special funds to support the reform and development of the seed industry.
Tens of millions of yuan in funds Jilin, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and other provinces together invest tens of millions of yuan each year for the reform and development of the seed industry.
After the "Opinions" were issued, seed systems across the country worked together to advance seed industry reform one step at a time. The Ministry of Agriculture sorted the tasks of seed industry reform into 21 articles and 51 specific measures, and assigned them to the 19 member units of the inter-ministerial coordination group for the seed industry for concrete implementation. Each member unit took the initiative to assume its role and jointly push the work forward. Party committees and governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities also quickly conveyed and studied the spirit of deepening seed industry reform, promptly held meetings to study implementation opinions and measures, deployed the advancement of seed industry reform and development as an important task, and actively formulated local supporting policies and measures.
The Ministry of Agriculture invested 500 million yuan in the construction of germplasm resources, improvement centers, variety regional trials and variety display and demonstration fields. The Ministry of Finance studied and formulated a reward policy for major grain crop seed production counties, and arranged 400 million yuan in agricultural development funds to build improved seed breeding bases. In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission invested nearly 400 million yuan to provide rolling support for the building of enterprises' biological breeding capacity and to support seed enterprises in establishing technology centers. At the same time, the Ministry of Science and Technology organized the compilation of a research plan for improved varieties of major crops and launched a commercial breeding research and demonstration project. Moreover, more than 10 ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security also actively implemented seed industry reform policies and measures from their respective fields to support the reform and development of the seed industry. The Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress is stepping up revision of the "Seed Law," which will further strengthen the legal guarantee for promoting a fair competitive market environment.
Agricultural departments at all levels across the country have taken the initiative to transform their functions, increased efforts to streamline administration and delegate power, broken down regional restrictions, stimulated market vitality, and advanced seed industry reform. It is understood that the Ministry of Agriculture has already canceled or delegated 6 seed administrative approvals, and will soon delegate 5 more; the "Measures for the Approval of Major Crop Varieties" has been revised, and the "Guidelines for Green Channel Trials for National Rice and Corn Variety Approval" was also released on May 26.
Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Xinrong pointed out at the National Modern Seed Industry Development Work Conference that with the development of the seed industry, management work has shifted from “managing seeds” to “managing the seed industry,” and the scope of work needs to expand from managing licenses, varieties, quality and markets to grasping reform, science and technology, policies and mechanisms.
System reform: let scientific and technical personnel get rich through innovation
Property rights trading center On August 13, the National Seed Industry Scientific and Technological Achievements Property Rights Trading Center began trial operation at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Reform of equity ratios The Ministry of Agriculture carried out research on the reform of equity ratios for scientific research achievements, and a pilot reform plan has been formed.
Retaining status and professional titles while working at enterprises Gansu allows talent from scientific research institutions to retain their status and professional titles while working at enterprises; those with 30 years of service may go through retirement procedures at their original unit upon reaching the statutory retirement age.
Under market economy conditions, granting scientific and technical personnel equity incentives for their achievements is the most effective means of stimulating innovation vitality. Clearly granting scientific research institutions and scientific and technical personnel the corresponding rights to possess, use, dispose of and benefit from scientific and technological achievements is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture's reform of the seed industry science and technology system. “We must have the breadth of mind to let scientific and technical personnel get rich through innovation!” Yu Xinrong said with feeling. “At present, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance, is organizing some scientific research institutions to take the lead in piloting equity ratios between institutions and personnel for scientific research achievements. This will be an institutional innovation of landmark significance in the history of China's seed industry and even of scientific and technological development.”
At present, relying on the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Ministry of Agriculture has established the National Seed Industry Scientific and Technological Achievements Trading Center and built an achievement property rights trading platform, which officially went online on August 13. Its purpose is to allow all innovative achievements to enter the market openly, be traded fairly, and achieve optimal allocation across the country and the entire industrial chain. This form of “energizing” encourages scientific research institutions to apply for intellectual property rights for scientific research achievements formed with state funding, to contribute them as equity, or to publicly list them for trading, thereby activating the technology market for seed industry achievements, promoting the orderly flow of achievements to enterprises in accordance with the law, and accelerating the efficient transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
Strengthening the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation and the dominant position of scientific research institutions in basic and public-interest research has always been at the core of the reform of the seed industry science and technology system. On the one hand, through policy guidance and project support, enterprises are encouraged to integrate scientific and technological resources and increase investment in breeding innovation; in particular, the introduction of specially relaxed policies can more effectively promote the flow of talent to enterprises. On the other hand, the level of support for public-interest scientific research institutions is raised so that they can focus on basic theory, breeding materials, generic technologies and other research, gradually establishing a seed industry scientific and technological innovation system in which basic and public-interest research and commercial breeding are orderly divided and closely coordinated.
Today, many provinces and municipalities across the country have issued local policies to promote the transfer of breeding talent to enterprises. Gansu allows talent from scientific research institutions to retain their status and professional titles while working at enterprises; those with 30 years of service may go through retirement procedures at their original unit upon reaching the statutory retirement age. Zhejiang and Hunan allow breeding scientific and technical personnel who join seed enterprises to retain their personnel relationship at their original unit for 5 years. Hubei allows scientific research personnel who leave their posts to transform scientific and technological achievements and establish technology-based enterprises in the province to retain their personnel relationship at their original unit for 5 years.
Seed enterprises: enhancing innovation capacity and intellectual property protection to cure the “heartache”
10 star enterprises Beijing selected 10 star enterprises and awarded 10 million yuan, and is building a collaborative innovation development mechanism for the seed industry with Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai and Chongqing.
New variety regional trials Zhejiang and Hunan give priority to arranging enterprises with independent innovation capacity to participate in regional trials, and Jiangsu provides a certain number of regional trial slots each year for integrated breeding, propagation and promotion enterprises to take part in trials.
Special funds Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, Guangxi, Ningxia and other provinces and regions have added special funds to support enterprises in carrying out commercial breeding.
The "Opinions" further strengthened the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation, and many backbone seed enterprises have cherished this rare opportunity and kept innovating. Shennong Dafeng invested nearly 250 million yuan to build a scientific research system; China National Seed Group, Longping High-Tech, Golden Nonghua and Kenfeng Seed Industry each invest more than 70 million yuan in annual scientific research; and enterprises such as Denghai Seed Industry have each invested more than 10 million yuan to build testing systems for the green channel for variety approval. In this period of development opportunity, capable and far-sighted seed enterprises are increasing research and development investment to enhance their own variety innovation capacity. From January to July this year, domestic seed enterprises applied for 412 new variety protections, up 46% year on year, 14 percentage points higher than the share of scientific research institutes.
While enhancing their own scientific research and innovation capacity, seed enterprises are also working hard to improve seed production capacity. Denghai Seed Industry invested nearly 30 million yuan to renovate its Xinjiang seed production base, Golden Nonghua invested 60 million yuan to build a new rice processing center in Hubei, and Fengle Seed Industry invested 30 million yuan to establish a subsidiary in Xinjiang to improve seed production and processing capacity.
In recent years, mergers and reorganizations among domestic seed enterprises have continued to accelerate, and the number of seed enterprises has already fallen to more than 5,200. In addition to mergers and reorganizations among small and medium-sized seed enterprises, Longping High-Tech and Quanyin High-Tech plan to respectively introduce strategic investors such as CITIC Group and Zhongxin Rongchuang to substantially enhance their own capital strength; China National Seed Group increased capital to control Guangdong Jindao Seed Industry, Nongfa Seed Industry acquired Shanxi Luyu, and Longping High-Tech and Origen are planning strategic cooperation. The curtain has risen on mergers and reorganizations among China's top 50 seed enterprises.
“Cracking down on counterfeiting is a necessary guarantee for enterprises to become bigger and stronger!” Speaking about the development of domestic seed enterprises, Yu Xinrong stressed, “The practice of foreign seed industry development proves that the higher the level of intellectual property protection, the greater the enterprises' research and development investment, and the faster their innovation capacity improves.” A comparative analysis shows that the gap between China's seed enterprises and foreign seed enterprises is mainly manifested in research and development investment and innovation capacity. To make China's seed enterprises bigger and stronger, it is necessary to stimulate enterprises' enthusiasm for research and development investment and to protect enterprises' enthusiasm for innovation. At present, although enterprises' enthusiasm for investing in research and development has increased, many enterprises report that counterfeit labeling and infringement still leave them “lingering fears” about innovation investment. Therefore, to treat this “heartache,” we must persist in prescribing the right medicine, tackling both symptoms and root causes, and severely cracking down on and focusing on treating counterfeiting.
As market-oriented reform of the seed industry has continued to deepen and seed management has gradually strengthened in recent years, the problems of “lack of seeds” and “inferior seeds” have basically been solved, but counterfeit labeling and infringement are now rampant, and cracking down on “fake seeds” and infringing acts has become the main task of current market regulation. “Varieties rely on copying, bases rely on poaching, seeds rely on counterfeiting” - although this is not the whole picture of the seed market, it still reflects where the problems lie. Building a strong seed industry power depends on innovation-driven development, which requires a development environment that respects knowledge, talent and creation.