A Major Grain-Producing County Stays Vigilant in Times of Peace to Safeguard Food Security

Nanbu County, situated in the hilly area of the northeastern Sichuan Basin, has a total population of over 1.3 million, of which 1.06 million are agricultural population, and a cultivated land area of over 800,000 mu. It has always been a major agricultural county in Sichuan Province.

Since 2003, Nanbu County has not only kept pace with the nation's “ten consecutive years of grain increase,” but also won the honor of “National Advanced County in Grain Production” for 6 consecutive years from 2008 to 2013.

In 2013, Nanbu County's grain sown area was 1.722 million mu, with a total grain output of 743,000 tons, an increase of 24,000 tons over the previous year, up 3.3% year-on-year. “This year we hope to achieve another increase in output,” said Liang Dehua, Director of the County Agriculture Bureau.

However, what worries Liang Dehua greatly is that as urbanization accelerates and the agricultural population shifts more rapidly to the secondary and tertiary industries, the question of who will farm the land in the future is becoming increasingly prominent. “How much longer can the honor of ‘National Advanced County in Grain Production’ be maintained?”

At present, the county is conducting exploratory trials in this regard. If the trials succeed and are further promoted throughout the county, these problems will be readily solved, and the honor of “National Advanced County in Grain Production” is expected to continue to be defended.

Working Hard to Win the National Title for 6 Consecutive Years

“Looking back over the past 10 years, especially the last 6 years, in order to ensure the steady improvement of grain production, we can say we have worked hard and achieved certain results,” Liang Dehua said.

For many years, Nanbu County has insisted on the county and township top leaders personally overseeing grain production. At the beginning of each year, grain production tasks are decomposed and assigned level by level, and target responsibility agreements are signed with county-level agricultural departments and townships, strictly implementing the elimination system for those at the bottom and the accountability system. For townships that fail to complete grain production tasks, a one-vote veto is applied; for townships where land is left abandoned, admonishment and accountability are enforced.

In terms of financial support, Nanbu County insists on integrating funds from major grain-producing counties and agricultural support funds into key areas, breaking through the bottlenecks restricting the improvement of per-unit yield and quality. In 2013, a total of 60 million yuan was invested in grain production development.

Agricultural service centers have been established in all 71 townships, and the center personnel are included in the full fiscal budget, which has led to a large number of agricultural technicians being enthusiastic about their work and the team continuously growing. To date, the total number of agricultural technicians in the county has reached 614, forming an integrated county-township agricultural technology extension network with orderly vertical and horizontal connections.

In managing agricultural technicians, Nanbu County, in conjunction with “Technology into Households” and “New-Type Farmer Training,” implements a “four-fixed” target management system for all agricultural technicians in the county -- fixing targets, tasks, areas, and rewards and penalties -- positioning all 614 agricultural technicians within each grain production grid so that they can fully play their role.

As a result, agricultural science and technology have been effectively extended, especially with increased efforts to promote high-yield and high-quality varieties. In 2013, the county built 170,000 mu of high-quality grain production bases and 80,000 mu of high-yield demonstration plots for eight major crops including rice. The combination of the two radiated and drove large-scale steady improvement in both yield and quality, with the average quality rate of grain production in the county exceeding 55%.

In cultivating new types of grain production operating entities, Nanbu County has also not fallen behind, actively supporting grain processing enterprises and distribution enterprises, improving the “company + base + farmers” organizational system, and powerfully promoting contract farming. In 2013, the county's contract farming area reached 150,000 mu.

Staying Vigilant in Times of Peace Requires Transforming the Land Management Model

Liang Dehua said that at present, agricultural production in the county is mainly decentralized family-based operation. As the agricultural population gradually shifts to cities and the secondary and tertiary industries, if the land management model is not changed, the problem of who will farm the land in the future will become increasingly severe.

To this end, Nanbu County conducted an exploratory trial in Hangkongqiao Village, Nianpan Township. Hangkongqiao Village currently has 326 farming households, with a total cultivated land area of 721 mu, including 548 mu of paddy fields and 173 mu of dry land. Although the county has implemented strict high-pressure management against land abandonment, the village's rice transplanting area last year was still only over 300 mu, and the dry land abandonment rate even reached 50%.

This year, Hangkongqiao Village not only achieved full rice transplanting but even the dry land will soon be fully utilized for planting Chinese medicinal herbs. The village will also develop fish farming, cattle raising, and other income-increasing projects. Why has there been such a big change in just one year? The reasons are:

Last year, the County Agriculture Bureau used national “Modern Agriculture Rice” project funds to carry out land improvement in Hangkongqiao Village. Following standards of making small plots large, thin soil thick, fields square, roads connected, canals linked, irrigable in drought, and drainable in flood, the village's 548 mu of paddy fields were built into high-standard farmland with high and stable yields.

In April this year, under the leadership of the village's “two committees,” 326 farming households invested their land contracted management rights, valued at a total of 5 million yuan, as shares to establish the Nanbu County Nianpan Township Xingfu Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative, implementing “six unified” and “two open” services, namely: unified procurement of production materials, unified use of various facilities, unified cultivation of fine seedlings, unified scientific production management, unified variety marketing, and unified technical training; financial openness and surplus return openness.

With the support of project funds, the cooperative is also equipped with 4 units (sets) of tillage machinery, 2 units (sets) of harvesting machinery, 1 set of drying machines, 3 sets of motorized sprayers, 3 rice transplanters, and 3 sets of water pumps. This year, rice transplanting was basically mechanized, achieving full rice transplanting for the entire village using only one-quarter of the manpower previously needed.

According to preliminary accounting, the cooperative can harvest 521,000 jin of grain for the whole year and is expected to sell 364,700 jin of unhusked rice. In order to further develop and strengthen the cooperative, the cooperative will distribute 60% of the distributable year-end surplus.

Whether It Can Be Replicated Requires Solving Several Key Problems

The exploration in Hangkongqiao Village shows that encouraging farmers to move from decentralized operation to centralized operation, accelerating land transfer, and establishing professional cooperatives should be a good way to solve the many problems facing rural areas.

The County Agriculture Bureau calculated the following: taking rice planting as an example, if relying entirely on manual decentralized operation as in the past, one mu of land can produce about 1,000 jin, with an output value of about 1,380 yuan. After deducting costs of 1,100 yuan, the net profit is only about 280 yuan; but with cooperative centralized operation relying on full mechanization, various costs are only about 650 yuan, and the net profit is at least over 730 yuan.

The cultivated land in Nanbu County's shallow hilly areas and flat dam areas can fully replicate the Hangkongqiao Village model, covering an area of about over 600,000 mu. If these over 600,000 mu of cultivated land are used for growing grain, the annual sown area can reach over 1.3 million mu. With this 1.3 million mu as a guarantee, the honor of “National Advanced County in Grain Production” can be maintained.

The direction is clear, but following it through is a challenge. Liang Dehua said several key problems need to be solved. First, a large amount of funds needs to be invested annually for land improvement and infrastructure construction. Calculating at 10,000 yuan per mu, 6 billion yuan would be needed. At the current level of investment by Nanbu County in this area, it would take decades to achieve.

Second, comprehensive mechanization also requires increased government financial support. Currently the state only subsidizes 30%, and local finance provides no subsidy. Calculating on the basis of three villages (cooperatives) purchasing one complete set of machinery, with each set costing 500,000 yuan and local finance subsidizing 20%, the county would still need to come up with 20 million yuan each year.

The third is the question of who will lead the cooperatives and how to mobilize the enthusiasm of cooperative leaders. “I am in favor of calculating a salary for cooperative leaders. If village ‘two committees’ cadres serve as cooperative leaders, their own salary plus the salary given by the cooperative would be a high income in rural areas, and that way they could go all out for the village's industrial development,” Liang Dehua said.

Fourth, while stabilizing grain production, income growth must also be considered. When planning industrial development, each cooperative must plan some high-efficiency, fast income-increasing economic projects while ensuring steady growth of grain production. Nanbu County's long-held approach of “putting a hat on the mountain top (afforestation), finding money on the mountainside (making money), and filling bellies at the mountain foot (growing grain)” still needs to be continued.