Shouguang vegetable industry's second entrepreneurship puts quality and safety first
Original title: "Second entrepreneurship" speeds up the modernization of the vegetable industry
-- An investigation of Shouguang City's "five major systems" boosting the transformation of agricultural development mode
On March 4, on a piece of open land south of Banqiao Village in Hualong Town, accompanied by the sound of firecrackers, excavators and crawler vehicles roared into action, opening the curtain on Banqiao Village's "two transformations." (Network illustration: Shouguang Daily)
During the Qingming season, the weather is still chilly after a brief warm spell, and the land of Qilu has just begun to show a little green. However, in the vegetable greenhouses of Shouguang City, Shandong Province, there is the vigorous vitality that can only be seen in midsummer -- flowers in full bloom and abundant fruit.
In Houli Village, Luocheng Subdistrict, Shouguang City, vegetable farmer Li Xinglong looked quite pleased: "Last year I spent 180,000 yuan to rebuild the old greenhouse. The new greenhouse's interior area is 430 sq m larger than the old one, and it is also equipped with integrated water and fertilizer systems and automatic ventilation equipment. My wife and I can manage it by ourselves, which is much less trouble than before. This batch of cucumbers was planted in February and we have already harvested more than 10,000 jin. It is estimated that we can harvest 60,000 jin, with income of 200,000 yuan, about 80,000 yuan more than the old greenhouse."
Shouguang vegetables are a famous brand renowned both at home and abroad, with year-round planting of more than 600,000 mu, output of 4.5 million tons, and seedling capacity of 1.4 billion plants. At present, vegetable development across the country is spreading like a prairie fire, and Shouguang vegetables face challenges in scale, quality, brand, and sustainable development, while their original advantages are weakening. Zhu Lanxi, Secretary of the Shouguang Municipal Party Committee, said: "In order to maintain Shouguang vegetables' position as the national leader, Shouguang is making every effort to advance the transformation of the agricultural development mode, implementing the 'second entrepreneurship' of vegetable development, improving the 'five major systems' of the vegetable industry, and building an element center for protected vegetables with important influence at home and abroad in 'standard formation, model innovation, scientific research and promotion, breeding and seedling cultivation, logistics and distribution, and talent training,' so as to speed up the modernization of the vegetable industry."
"Two transformations project" builds a high-standard greenhouse vegetable production system
"In 2015, through unified planning and organization, our village adopted the method of reverse leasing and subcontracting, transferred 410 mu of contiguous land, invested 11.5 million yuan, implemented the 'two transformations project' for vegetable greenhouses, and developed 46 high-standard new greenhouses," said Wang Yanguo, Party branch secretary of Qianwang Village in Hualong Town.
In fact, the greenhouse reconstruction in Qianwang Village of Hualong Town is only a microcosm of Shouguang's "two transformations project" for greenhouse vegetables. Wang Huiling, member of the Standing Committee of the Shouguang Municipal Party Committee and vice mayor, said: "Now Shouguang is implementing the 'two transformations project' for greenhouse vegetables, that is, changing old greenhouses into new ones and changing open fields into greenhouses. The purpose is to promote the upgrading and replacement of greenhouse vegetables, expand the scale of high-standard greenhouses, improve the production mode of greenhouse vegetables, and build a high-standard greenhouse vegetable production system."
In order to advance the "two transformations project," Shouguang is making every effort to promote the construction of fifth-generation greenhouses. A fifth-generation greenhouse is 150 m long, 16-18 m wide, and more than 7.5 m high, with an interior area of more than 2,500 sq m, about 80% larger than an old greenhouse; in addition, by reducing the land occupied by the two north-south walls of the greenhouse, the land utilization rate can be increased by more than 40%. Electric rolling of insulation covers, electric ventilation, integrated water and fertilizer systems, and other equipment are installed at the same time. Such a greenhouse has a large structure, good lighting, fast warming, good insulation, and reduced pests and diseases. Moreover, with the expanded interior area and improved automation and technological content, it saves labor and effort. On the whole, it can increase annual income by more than 50% compared with old greenhouses.
At the Hualong Town (Luocheng) Greenhouse Vegetable Industrial Park, Li Weixiang, chairman of the town people's congress, introduced: This park adopted a mode of cross-location land transfer. Luocheng Subdistrict, which has advantages in greenhouse vegetable planting, organized more than 60 households from Tunxi Village and Shaojia Village, together with 65 households from Xinqiao Village, Xifeng Village, Lijia Village, and Jiajia Village in this town, to transfer 1,046 mu of land from three villages, Fengsan Village, Xifeng Village, and Xinqiao Village, for unified planning and design, with an investment of 37 million yuan, to intensively develop high-standard greenhouses.
"Promoting orderly land transfer and realizing scale-based production is the prerequisite for implementing the 'two transformations project' for protected vegetables. For this reason, Shouguang has promoted 'four' land transfer models," Wang Huiling said. First, the village collective organizes planning in a unified way and carries out whole-village transfer. Second, guide household-to-household land exchange. Third, the village two committees adopt the method of reverse leasing and subcontracting for unified planning and transfer. Fourth, transfer across towns and villages. Organize farmers with vegetable-growing experience to group together and transfer land in towns and villages rich in land resources, complement each other's advantages, pair up for assistance, unify planning and design, and cooperatively build high-standard greenhouses.
In order to build a platform for the vegetable "second entrepreneurship," Shouguang has carried out unified planning and developed "three" roadside ecological agriculture corridors, with a regional area of 35,000 mu, guiding agricultural enterprises, cooperatives, and large growers to develop large-scale parks.
So far, 32 high-end agricultural projects have been introduced, and 137 large-scale vegetable parks have been built.
"Ministry-province joint construction" helps build a breeding and seedling industry system
"Since 2013, in order to strengthen the display and promotion of new protected vegetable varieties and promote the spread of fine vegetable varieties in our country, Shouguang has hosted the 'China (Shouguang) Protected Vegetable Variety Display Trial' for four consecutive years, attracting more than 200 agricultural research institutions and seed industry enterprises at home and abroad to participate in display trials, with more than 3,100 new vegetable varieties displayed intensively each year," introduced Guo Jiajin, director of Shouguang Vegetable Seed Industry Group.
Zhang Maohai, director of the Shouguang Municipal Agriculture Bureau, introduced that in 2013 the Ministry of Agriculture and the provincial government signed a "Memorandum of Cooperation on Jointly Building the National Modern Vegetable Seed Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base in Shouguang City," and Shouguang issued the "Policy Provisions on Supporting the Development of the Vegetable Seed Industry." Shouguang invested 300 million yuan and planned a 138-mu "National Modern Vegetable Seed Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base R&D Center," and built a 150-mu "National Modern Vegetable Seed Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base Demonstration Trial Zone," attracting 6 national and provincial agricultural R&D institutions including the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the National Vegetable Engineering Center, and China Agricultural University, enhancing the vegetable seed industry's innovation capacity and the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements.
"Ministry-province joint construction" has driven Shouguang to establish 13 vegetable R&D centers. Five enterprises including Shouguang Vegetable Seed Industry Group and New Century Seedlings have been recognized as Weifang City seed enterprises integrating breeding, propagation, and promotion, and 29 enterprises including Jinbaili and Lusheng have built standardized seedling breeding bases.
Now, Shouguang vegetable breeding has entered the stage of commercial cooperative breeding. Breeding enterprises such as Shouguang Vegetable Seed Industry Group and New Century Seedlings are cooperating with 13 institutions including the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China Agricultural University, and Northeast Agricultural University to carry out R&D of new varieties with their support. The Vegetable Seed Industry Group has cooperated with Huazhong Agricultural University and China Agricultural University to establish the only key laboratory of crop molecular breeding in the province. Through breeding cooperation, 46 new vegetable varieties in Shouguang have passed provincial-level examination and identification.
"Three major projects" explore a vegetable production area environment improvement system
In Dongzhenguan Village, Luocheng Subdistrict, branch secretary Li Xinsheng said: Our village began planting greenhouse vegetables in 1993, and they are the main source of income for farming households. However, due to continuous years of replanting, soil compaction and declining soil fertility in the greenhouses have been relatively serious. Starting in 2011, for 5 consecutive years the city and town supported more than 500,000 yuan to promote technologies such as the fertile soil project, formula fertilization, and integrated water and fertilizer systems, and carried out soil improvement in all greenhouses. Now the soil in the greenhouses has become a bit soft.
"In fact, the greenhouse soil improvement in Dongzhenguan Village is only a microcosm of Shouguang's vegetable fertile soil project." Chen Yongzhi of the Shouguang Municipal Agriculture Bureau said that starting in 2011, for 6 consecutive years, 40 million yuan was invested to implement the "Protected Vegetable Fertile Soil Project." By 2015, a total of 280,000 mu of greenhouses had been improved, the organic matter in greenhouse soil had increased by more than 0.8%, soil quality had improved significantly, and a basically fertile and safe soil environment had been formed. This year, the second round of the fertile soil project began, striving to use another 5 years, with annual financial investment of 8 million yuan, to improve all greenhouses once.