"Machine substitution" accelerates in Zhejiang's agriculture

Does Zhejiang's agriculture need mechanization? What has agricultural mechanization achieved in Zhejiang? Isn't agricultural mechanization just a few tractors? When it comes to agricultural mechanization in Zhejiang, many people cannot help but reason along the lines of "if the skin is gone, what will the hair cling to?": in Zhejiang, severe land fragmentation determines that agricultural mechanization can hardly stretch its muscles; and the ever-shrinking share of agriculture in the province's GDP means all the more that the future of agricultural mechanization is no sunny avenue.

But now, through arduous practice, Zhejiang has rewritten this logic: it is precisely because of the vigorous advance of agricultural mechanization that problems such as labor shortages, insufficient scale operation, and slow technology promotion have been largely solved, labor productivity has been greatly raised, and Zhejiang's agricultural modernization has been able to break out of its cocoon and become a butterfly, writing a glorious chapter.

Statistics show that at present, Zhejiang ranks among the top three nationwide in agricultural machinery power per 100 mu of cultivated land, leads the rice-producing areas of southern China in the level of full-process rice mechanization, has basically achieved mechanization in the key links of tea production, and ranks fourth nationwide in the output value of the agricultural machinery equipment manufacturing industry...

Another set of data: grain production, which had declined for many consecutive years, has remained basically stable over the last 10 years thanks to the combined strength of policy subsidies and agricultural mechanization; the ten leading industries have each shown their own prowess, enabling Zhejiang farmers to earn handsomely from agriculture as well, with per capita net income leading the nation for more than 30 consecutive years.

In a developed coastal economic region where agricultural development could very well be marginalized, and in a province where agricultural mechanization faces numerous difficulties and challenges, Zhejiang's "agricultural machinery people" have overcome difficulties, broken through obstacles, and forged ahead with innovation, realizing a historic transformation of agricultural production methods from being based mainly on human and animal power to being based mainly on mechanized operations, and forming a mutually reinforcing and jointly advancing benign relationship between mechanization and agricultural modernization.

The fundamental way out for agriculture lies in mechanization

Zhao Jianyang is the chief expert of Zhejiang Province's vegetable industry, and not long ago he solemnly handed over more than 100 videos he had collected to the provincial agricultural machinery bureau, all of which were of the most advanced foreign fruit and vegetable agricultural machinery products. He said that he had spent a lifetime in agricultural technology promotion, and on the eve of retirement, his only regret was that compared with foreign countries and with other agricultural industries in Zhejiang, the mechanization of the vegetable industry was seriously lagging behind.

"Every step of social progress is a step in mechanization. Our varieties are very good, but without the support of mechanization, it is very difficult to achieve scale and industrialization."

Zhao Jianyang's deep concern typically illustrates the current situation in which agricultural mechanization in various industries cannot advance in step. In fact, if viewed from the height of Zhejiang's overall agricultural development, the challenges of agricultural mechanization are far sharper and more intense than he imagined.

The first is the "green" expectation in farmers' hearts: Zhejiang farmers have long been the wealthiest in the nation, and they have new and higher demands for dignified work, lighter labor, and increased income and prosperity. In the past, the most abundant thing in rural areas was labor power, and all field operations could be completed through a human-wave tactic; now farmers can work right at their doorstep, with stable income and no risk. Comparing the two, those who stay in rural areas to farm naturally have higher expectations.

The second is the "yellow" warning light for Zhejiang's agriculture: on the one hand, compared with foreign imports, Zhejiang's agricultural products no longer have an advantage in price; on the other hand, labor costs are still climbing steadily. Under this double pincer attack, if agricultural mechanization does not back it up, Zhejiang's agriculture will be in grave danger.

Finally, there is the "red" requirement of development: as early as 2003, Zhejiang put forward the concept of "high efficiency and ecology," but high efficiency means high yield, means heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and means damage to the ecological environment; while ecology means strict control of inputs, and means that output and benefits may decline as a result. How to have both the fish and the bear's paw? Agricultural mechanization is undoubtedly the "miracle cure."

The fundamental way out for Zhejiang's agriculture lies in mechanization, but how easy is that? In addition to the highly fragmented land brought about by contracted operation, the objective reality of "seven parts mountains, two parts water, and one part farmland" and "less than half a mu of cultivated land per capita" makes Zhejiang's agricultural mechanization even more difficult. For example, the boom sprayer commonly used in northern regions has very high work efficiency and is very popular with users, but when it arrives in Zhejiang it becomes "dizzy and disoriented," because Zhejiang has many mountainous areas, with no water where water is needed and no roads where roads are needed, and the sprayer has a relatively high center of gravity, so when it has to climb slopes and cross ridges, it often overturns before it can even begin working.

Zhejiang must explore a high-quality and efficient path of agricultural mechanization suited to its own objective reality. Vice Governor Huang Xuming has repeatedly called out on various occasions: "Despite numerous difficulties, both factor constraints and the industrial structure determine that to realize agricultural modernization, Zhejiang must advance agricultural mechanization. This is the only way, and even more so the fundamental way out!"

Zhejiang Provincial Governor Li Qiang, who comes from an agricultural machinery background, has stressed many times: "Machine substitution" can not only improve product quality, but is also of great significance for conserving factor resources intensively, optimizing the labor force structure, and raising product added value and industry competitiveness, and it must be comprehensively advanced in industry, agriculture, commerce, and other fields.

Entering a new era of "machine substitution"

Agricultural machinery departments originally only managed tractors, and their work was relatively simple. The development of modern agriculture pushed "agricultural mechanization" to the forefront. In 2004, Zhejiang sized up the situation and put forward the strategic thinking of "based on big agriculture, develop big agricultural machinery; cultivate big industries, expand big services," broke through restrictions, and began to extend into all fields and links of big agriculture.

"If we talk about the greatest characteristic of advancing Zhejiang's agricultural mechanization, I think it is planning the development of agricultural mechanization with a systematic perspective, an overall-coordination concept, and innovative measures, forming a big agricultural machinery pattern," said Yang Dahai, who has already worked continuously for 11 years as director of the Zhejiang Provincial Agricultural Machinery Bureau.

Food security is a political task, and also the "hardest bone to gnaw" in Zhejiang's agriculture. Therefore, Zhejiang's agricultural mechanization first made a breakthrough in grain production. Grasping the key links of rice transplanting, harvesting, and drying, it used mechanization to reduce labor intensity, expand production scale, and improve economic benefits, thereby mobilizing farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain; grain production, which had shrunk year after year, was finally curbed and has remained basically stable over the last 10 years.

In this regard, Sun Jian, chief expert on grain and oil of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Agriculture, said with emotion that for Zhejiang, without mechanization, stabilizing grain production would be almost a pipe dream.

In addition to grain, Zhejiang also has ten leading agricultural industries. These industries develop rapidly and have gratifying benefits, and are where its characteristics lie and its income depends; at the same time, most of these industries are labor-intensive, have an urgent demand for mechanization, and are especially difficult to develop and apply. In response, around these characteristic industries, Zhejiang has researched and developed, introduced, and promoted a large number of supporting and applicable facility equipment.