Ministry of Agriculture: Agricultural Mechanization Development Ushers in Another Important Moment

At the recently held China Agricultural Mechanization Outlook Conference, Hu Leming, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Mechanization Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, delivered a speech summarizing the new circumstances encountered in China's agricultural mechanization development, stating that China's agricultural mechanization development once again faces an important moment.

Full text of the speech by Hu Leming, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Mechanization Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, at the China Agricultural Mechanization Outlook Conference:

I am very pleased to attend the “China Agricultural Mechanization Outlook Conference.” First of all, on behalf of the Agricultural Mechanization Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, I would like to extend warm congratulations on the successful holding of the conference.

Since 2004, China's agricultural mechanization has entered a track of rapid development, and the subsequent decade can be called the “golden decade” of agricultural mechanization. In recent years, as China's economy has entered the new normal in the new era, the growth rate of agricultural mechanization development has somewhat declined, and at the same time it faces some new problems and new situations that require careful study and scientific planning. These new situations mainly come from four aspects:

The first aspect: from the perspective of national support policies, the intensity has been continuously increasing, but the scale of funding cannot possibly grow by leaps and bounds as it did in previous years.

1. For agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, scrapping and renewal of agricultural machinery, and deep loosening and land preparation by agricultural machinery have also been included in the scope of subsidies. Next, while adhering to “narrowing the scope, lowering the quotas, and promoting openness,” pilot subsidies for new products will be carried out, and the special needs of border and ethnic minority areas will be studied.

In recent years, China's integration of agriculture-related projects has intensified year by year, and many projects have been integrated, such as the traditional three agricultural subsidies, but agricultural machinery subsidies have not been integrated, and in recent years they have maintained a scale of 23.75 billion yuan without reduction. This fully demonstrates the state's affirmation of the effectiveness of the agricultural machinery subsidy policy and its emphasis on agricultural mechanization. Next, how to further improve the design of the purchase subsidy policy system according to new circumstances requires continued study.

2. Last May, the State Council issued “Made in China 2025,” listing “agricultural machinery and equipment” together with “the new generation information and communication technology industry,” “aerospace and aviation equipment,” “rail transit equipment,” “energy-saving and new energy vehicles,” and others as ten major key areas. That “agricultural machinery and equipment” could be one of the ten major key areas makes those in the agricultural machinery field feel both honored and under pressure. Since last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have conducted multiple joint investigations and demonstrations, and drafted the “Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Action Plan 2016-2025” consultation draft. Next, opinions from all sides will continue to be widely solicited, measures will be made solid and implementable, and it will strive to be submitted to the State Council for approval within the year, after which it will be issued and organized for implementation by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Agriculture.

3. The “Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Development” attaches great importance to agricultural mechanization and expounds on it in many places. As a “major project for agricultural modernization,” agricultural mechanization is proposed to build 500 fully mechanized demonstration counties, with the comprehensive mechanization rate of cultivation, planting, and harvesting of major crops reaching 70%.

The state attaches great importance to agricultural mechanization. How to implement these support policies well requires study and the pooling of wisdom from all sides.

The second aspect: from the perspective of agricultural supply-side structural reform, new requirements have been put forward for the supply-side structural reform of agricultural machinery and equipment.

On July 30, the Ministry of Agriculture held a national agricultural structural adjustment symposium in Jilin. Minister Han Changfu proposed nine areas of key work, and the competent departments for agricultural mechanization, agricultural machinery research institutes, and entrepreneurs should earnestly study and comprehend them. Among the nine areas of key work, many require the support of agricultural machinery and equipment. This year, China's cotton planting area decreased by 5.3 million mu, corn decreased by 30 million mu, and the planting area of soybeans and forage crops increased. Agricultural structural adjustment has a great impact on agricultural machinery. The agricultural machinery industry needs to adapt to these new changes and provide equipment support for agricultural supply-side structural reform.

The third aspect: from the perspective of farmers' needs, these are increasingly showing characteristics of diversity.

With the acceleration of land transfer, large-scale growers, family farms, and cooperatives, these new types of entities, have emerged in large numbers. Some new professional farmers demand branding for traditional machinery and place more emphasis on the reliability of machinery, while price factors have receded to a secondary position. At the same time, with rising labor costs, machinery for cash crops and machinery suitable for hilly and mountainous areas urgently need to solve the predicament of having no machinery available.

The fourth aspect: from the perspective of ecological civilization construction, agricultural machinery products that meet green and environmental protection requirements should be the focus of support.

Machinery for saving water, fertilizer, and pesticides; machinery for the comprehensive utilization and harmless treatment of livestock and poultry manure, agricultural film, and crop straw; and machinery for energy conservation and emission reduction are in broad demand. I hope the vast number of researchers and entrepreneurs will attach great importance to this and make new contributions to ecological civilization construction.

Of course, there are many new situations. Due to time constraints, I will briefly mention four aspects.

I have come today mainly to learn, to earnestly listen to the valuable insights of academicians, experts, leaders of relevant departments, and entrepreneurs, so as to improve and perfect our work. At present, agricultural mechanization development once again faces an important moment. Competent departments for agricultural mechanization at all levels must implement existing policies well and at the same time plan and strive for new support policies. All of this requires studying new situations and new problems. A very important experience is to earnestly listen to the research results of experts and scholars, and to think about and plan agricultural mechanization by stepping outside of agricultural mechanization.

Finally, on behalf of competent departments for agricultural mechanization at all levels, I would like to express my high respect to the academicians, experts, and leaders who have always supported and cared about China's agricultural mechanization development over the years.

(Information source: 16-08-23 China Agricultural Mechanization Association)