How does the great granary implement the strategy of storing grain in the land?
Faced with increasingly thinning black soil, Heilongjiang has stepped up land consolidation and farmland water conservancy facility construction, reduced chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and chemical herbicides, and improved farmland quality and comprehensive grain production capacity.
"All things are born from the soil, and where there is land, there is grain." Land is the foundation of survival and the essence of development. The black soil that once "bloomed even when firewood was planted in it" is now facing the problem of soil erosion. Against this backdrop, Heilongjiang Province has carried out land consolidation, continuously improved farmland quality and output capacity, implemented the "three reductions" action, reduced soil pollution, and gradually realized "storing grain in the land," continuously improving farmland quality and comprehensive grain production capacity.
Land consolidation improves utilization efficiency
Heilongjiang Province is located on the Northeast Plain, one of the world's three major black soil belts, with natural black soil as fertile as oil. But in recent years, the increasingly prominent contradiction between development and protection and tightening natural constraints have been eroding the black soil, and the organic matter in the black soil plow layer is decreasing. To this end, Heilongjiang has made land consolidation an important means of improving the quantity and quality of farmland, proposed the idea of implementing large-scale land consolidation construction, and carried out a number of high-standard, high-quality modern land consolidation demonstration projects.
At the ten-thousand-mu rice demonstration base in Fujin City, Heilongjiang Province, following the gravel roads between the fields, the reporter came to the rice fields of the Northeast Paddy Field Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, where the paddy fields had been built into large ponds and the field ridges were straight as a line. In earlier years, however, the paddy fields had many small ponds, many irrigation ditches, and many ridges; when it rained in autumn, the uneven muddy field roads made it impossible for vehicles to enter or for grain to be hauled out, and only after the winter freeze could the grain be transported out.
The changes in the rice field infrastructure of the Northeast Paddy Field Agricultural Machinery Cooperative in Fujin City benefited from the land consolidation project carried out in Heilongjiang Province. Liu Chun, chairman of the cooperative, said that previously one mu of land required one pond, but now it has become standardized square fields, and one hectare of paddy field requires only one pond.
With larger ponds and fewer ridges, this alone added 400 mu of effective sowing area for the Northeast Paddy Field Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, and the larger ponds made mechanized transplanting and mechanized harvesting easier. Cai Yuanjun, director of the Fujin City Land and Resources Bureau, said that repairing field roads improved the efficiency of farmers' production and transportation, reduced energy consumption, and ensured farming seasons. Liu Chun did the accounts: after land consolidation, each mu on average reduced fuel consumption by 3 liters, saved 15 yuan in costs, and reduced the cost of hiring large vehicles by 200 yuan.
In the Third Management District of Qianjin Farm under the Heilongjiang Agricultural Reclamation Jiansanjiang Administration, the 400 mu of paddy fields of large grower Sheng Jun formed one continuous stretch and were growing well. In previous years, however, Sheng Jun's plots included four or five mu of waterlogged patches, and the whole plot could not be connected into one piece.
Since 2008, Qianjin Farm has completed 3 land consolidation projects. The waterlogged patches in Sheng Jun's plots were filled in, and Qianjin Farm added 8,400 mu of farmland. Li Zhi, head of the Qianjin Farm Land Consolidation Office, said that after consolidation, the goals of level land, connected ditches, linked roads, and a network of shelterbelts were achieved.
Sun Heng, chief planner of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Land and Resources, said that since the implementation of land consolidation in 2001, Heilongjiang Province has invested a cumulative total of 29 billion yuan, consolidated 34.05 million mu of land, added 1.76 million mu of farmland, and achieved a land increase ratio of more than 6%, more than twice the standard stipulated by the state, while grain production capacity has continued to improve.
Water conservancy projects improve grain production capacity
In carrying out land consolidation, Heilongjiang Province has also combined land consolidation with water conservancy projects. Wherever key water conservancy projects are built, supporting field projects for land consolidation are built there, realizing "one-map" planning for land consolidation and water conservancy projects, thereby improving water resource utilization efficiency and enhancing farmland quality and output capacity.
At the Tenth Operation Station of the Fourth Management District of Heilongjiang 859 Farm, large grain grower Xiong Libo was inspecting the growth of rice seedlings, while two meters beneath his feet lay a 40-meter-wide covered canal. Sun Peng, Party secretary of 859 Farm, said that through the land consolidation project, concrete pipes were buried underground and a 40-meter-wide open canal was backfilled into fertile farmland, achieving rice planting above ground and canals below ground, directly reducing irrigation water loss by 15%.
"By burying the pipeline underground, I reduced 44 mu of farmland, and also reduced seepage loss and evaporation loss," Xiong Libo said.
Sun Heng said that over the past three years, within the scope of 55 large and medium-sized irrigation districts above designated scale in Heilongjiang Province, 156 land consolidation projects focusing on field water conservancy projects were implemented in 9 batches, with a total construction scale of 8.01 million mu, and 1.91 million mu of surface water replacing groundwater irrigation.
In Fujin City, the Xingfu Irrigation District renewal, supporting facilities, and water-saving renovation project was implemented. Li Yuanbo, mayor of Fujin City, said that since the implementation of high-standard farmland construction in 2011, the effective utilization rate of agricultural irrigation water has reached more than 70% to 80%. At present, Fujin City's water-saving irrigation area has reached 78,100 mu, which can save 4.1335 million cubic meters of water annually, save 710,500 kWh of energy, and increase grain production capacity by 1.55 billion kg. "By combining land consolidation and water conservancy projects, the efficiency of irrigation water use in the project area has been improved, the waste of agricultural irrigation water resources has been effectively reduced, and the sustainable utilization of water resources has been promoted."
Land consolidation not only built all the farmland in the project area into high-standard basic farmland that guarantees harvests despite drought or flood, is high and stable in yield, and is water-saving and efficient, but also promoted appropriately scaled concentrated land operation, increased overall agricultural machinery equipment, improved the level of agricultural machinery operations, consolidated the foundation for agricultural production development, and created favorable material conditions for advancing new rural construction.
Large grain growers such as Liu Chun and Xiong Libo said that after land consolidation, "water is connected, roads are connected, electricity is connected, there is more land, and people are full of energy." According to estimates by the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Land and Resources, after consolidation, grain output per mu increased by about 200 jin. From 2006 to 2014, Heilongjiang Province increased grain output by nearly 7.4 billion jin through land consolidation, and this alone increased farmers' grain-growing income by 8.12 billion yuan.
Implementing the "three reductions" to advance "storing grain in the land"
Sheng Jun is a worker at Shengli Farm in the Jiansanjiang reclamation area. Having farmed all his life, this year he contracted more than 400 mu of farm land and hired more than ten people to help with transplanting. "The black soil is our lifeline, and we must treat it well," Sheng Jun said. Now farms are promoting the use of new side-deep fertilization integrated machines. Their biggest feature is that while transplanting, granular compound fertilizer is applied deeply to the side, improving fertilizer utilization, reducing the amount of fertilizer applied, and achieving the effects of fertilizer control, efficiency improvement, and green planting.
"At present, the reclamation area is vigorously carrying out farmland fertility protection measures such as straw return, soil testing and formulated fertilization, and increased application of organic fertilizer, and is strengthening farmland quality testing, which not only effectively improves soil fertility but also effectively curbs the trend of declining soil quality," said Wang Xuguang, deputy director of the Jiansanjiang Reclamation Area Administration.
It is understood that in order to protect the black soil, support the development of modern ecological agriculture, and promote the transformation from a "great granary" into a green "great kitchen," Heilongjiang Province has in recent years deeply advanced the "three reductions" action of reducing chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and chemical herbicides in agriculture.
In the "three reductions" experimental field of Heilongjiang Chuangye Farm, the reporter saw that the display board showed a comparison between rice side-deep fertilization technology and ordinary fertilization. Bao Yong, section chief of the agriculture section of Chuangye Farm, introduced that rice side-deep fertilization technology reduced the amount of fertilizer applied, achieved high yield, cost savings, and efficiency gains, and reduced non-point source pollution.
"From actual measurements last autumn, compared with conventional fertilization, side-deep fertilization can increase yield by 53.5 kg per mu, raise output by 8.7%, and increase efficiency by 160 yuan per mu," Bao Yong said. Side-deep fertilization avoids the waste from fertilizer evaporation, leaching, and runoff caused by habitual fertilization, reduces pollution of water sources and other ecological environments, prevents excessive soil compaction and acidification, gradually realizes "storing grain in the land," and continuously improves farmland quality and comprehensive grain production capacity.
In 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed striving to achieve zero growth in chemical fertilizer use on major crops by 2020. Starting this year, each county (city, district) in Heilongjiang Province must have no less than 100,000 mu of agricultural "three reductions" experimental demonstration area, and strives by 2020 to reduce chemical fertilizer application per mu by more than 10%, reduce chemical pesticide use by more than 30% compared with years with the same level of pest and disease occurrence, and reduce herbicide use by more than 20%.
To achieve these goals, Heilongjiang is advancing technological innovation for the agricultural "three reductions." Means such as soil testing and formulated fertilization, increasing organic fertilizer application, improving pesticide application methods, enhancing monitoring and early warning capacity for major pests and diseases, and establishing a scientific farming system will all be applied in the practice of the "three reductions."
The strictest farmland management "responsibility statement"
Walking into the monitoring hall of the Qianjin Farm Land and Resources Office under the Heilongjiang Agricultural Reclamation Jiansanjiang Administration, with one click of the mouse, the crop growth on each piece of farmland and whether there is illegal land occupation or farmland destruction can all be seen through the high-definition video monitoring system.
The Heilongjiang Agricultural Reclamation Jiansanjiang Administration has more than 11 million mu of farmland. The farmland area is large, but land law enforcement personnel are few. Since 2013, the Jiansanjiang Land and Resources Bureau has built a high-definition monitoring system for farmland protection law enforcement and supervision, setting up monitoring points at 15 farm headquarters and key management districts under its jurisdiction, and 27 monitoring points have now been completed.
According to Yu Chuanwu, deputy director of the Jiansanjiang Land and Resources Bureau, the high-definition cameras at the system's monitoring points can rotate comprehensively 360 degrees horizontally and 90 degrees vertically, and can conduct real-time monitoring of land use within a 70-square-kilometer area around the monitoring points.
The application of this system has strengthened the means of farmland protection and the efficiency of dynamic patrol inspections. Yang Shuliang, director of the Qianjin Farm Land and Resources Office, said that in the past, patrolling farmland around the farm took one or two days, but now using the video monitoring system, it can be completed in just a few minutes.
Zhou Weijiang, director of the Jiansanjiang Land and Resources Bureau, said that through this system, it is equivalent to installing a "thousand-li eye" for farmland protection, strengthening farmland protection, and improving the land and resources department's ability to patrol and detect illegal acts. Last year alone, using this system, the Jiansanjiang Land and Resources Bureau discovered more than 20 illegal clues, including illegal soil extraction and construction of prefabricated houses, and stopped or demolished them at the first opportunity.
In addition, the top government official also signs a responsibility statement every year, clarifying the rigid tasks of the farmland retention amount and the basic farmland protection area. Yu Hongfeng, researcher at the Farmland Protection Division of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Land and Resources, said that Heilongjiang is an agricultural province. Some grassroots cadres are anxious about immediate development and believe that "planting enterprises" is more cost-effective than "planting grain," often seeking quick success and instant benefits without pursuing long-term goals. To change this understanding, since 2009, the Heilongjiang Provincial Government has signed farmland protection responsibility statements with each prefecture and city every year.