To change the grain increase method we must first
carry out reform, optimize the industrial structure and farming system, stress scientific
management, enhance the level of intensive farming in grain production and raise the
utilization rate of agricultural resources. The most important thing is to rely on
progress in science and technology, step up efforts to develop grain production by relying
on science, technology and education and concentrate on high yields, high quality, high
efficiency and low consumption. Since the birth of the People's Republic, China has made
over 30,000 major agricultural scientific and technological achievements, of which over
6,000 have won awards from the state or ministries, and some of them have reached the
international advanced level. The va"iriety of the most important grain crops has
been renewed three to five times, each time resulting in increased yields of 10 percent or
more. In the past decade the total area sown to hybrid rice has reached 160 million ha,
with an increased output of 240 million tons; the large-scale popularization of various
comprehensive cultivation technologies has played an important role in grain production
increase; and in the hi-tech sphere, including bioengineering, a number of important
technologies, such as the new combination of two-line hybrid rice, have shown favorable
development prospects. But, as compared with countries with advanced agriculture, China's
agricultural science and technology lags fairly far behind. Hence, the Chinese government
has chosen and put into practice the strategy of developing agriculture by relying on
science, technology and education. It will adopt a series of measures to enable science
and technology to play a greater role in increased grain production.
-- Speeding up the implementation of the ``Seed Project.'' China
will perfect the breeding, import, processing, marketing and extension system of improved
varieties. By 2000 seeds of all main grain crops will be renewed; 50 percent of commodity
seeds will be coated; and the unified seed supply rate and the coverage rate of improved
varieties of rice, corn and wheat will be raised. China's advantages of rich germplasm
resources and a good seed-breeding basis will be brought into full play. In addition,
China will strengthen the cultivation of new varieties of rice, wheat and corn, and speed
up the replacement of the older generations of varieties by new ones.
-- Quickening the transfer of existing scientific and technological
achievements into productivity, and the scientific research and importation of key
technologies concerning grain production. In the next few years China will concentrate on
spreading the following important agricultural techniques: improved new varieties, paddy
rice nurture in dry nursery and thin planting by throwing rice seedlings, plastic
mulching, precise and semi-precise mechanical seeding, the integrated pest management,
scientific fertilization, water-saving irrigation, and dry land farming. Efforts will be
continued to be made to tap the potential of traditional agricultural technologies for
increasing output, such as intensive cultivation, increased amounts of organic
fertilizers, and the combination of utilizing land with maintaining it, to form a
technical application system integrating traditional and modern agriculture. In addition,
the country will perfect the three-level (county, township and village) agrotechnique
popularization network step by step, support the development of various non-governmental
special technical organizations and form a service system for popularizing agricultural
technologies in which the state, collectives and various non-governmental technical
organizations will work in coordination and complement each other. Scientific research
projects with special influence on grain production will be given extra support and the
import of a number of important grain production technologies will be speeded up.
-- Reinforcing vocational training among the farmers. China will
make full use of its existing 500-odd agricultural and forestry polytechnical schools,
more than 2,000 county-level agricultural broadcasting and TV schools and grass-roots
agrotechnology popularization organs to improve farmers' abilities to accept and apply new
agrotechnologies through extensive vocational training, especially through the ``Green
Certificate'' project. By 2000, ten million farmers will have obtained such certificates
and large numbers of grain-growing experts will have emerged.
-- Deepening reform of the system for agricultural
science-technology and education. China will improve its agricultural scientific research
structure and set up a new scientific research system featuring advanced disciplines and
the close integration of scientific research with production. The state and local
governments will selectively support leading agricultural scientific research and
education institutions to foster a capable contingent of scientists for important basic
practical technology and new- and hi-tech research. Some people engaged in scientific
research and education will be encouraged in an active way to go deep into the countryside
to spread technology and train farmers. The government's unified plan for agricultural
science and technology and relevant education should be strengthened to speed up the
integration of agricultural scientific research and education, and popularization of
agrotechnologies to improve grain production.
-- Efforts will also be made to raise the utilization rate of
resources and reduce the loss of grain. Concrete steps will be taken as follows: Operation
of scale in an appropriate degree will be carried out gradually and the intensification
level of grain production raised where possible. Technologies will be actively popularized
to lower grain production costs, reduce the waste of materials and improve grain
production efficiency. The management of all grain production links -- sowing, harvesting,
storage, transportation and processing -- will be improved and energy-saving machinery
widely applied along with methods to prevent wastage. The quality of seeds will be
improved and the quantity of seeds used will be reduced through selection, processing and
coating. Harvesting should be further mechanized. Advanced grain-protection technology
should be applied and new packaging technology and materials adopted for grain storage.
Traditional transportation methods should be improved with the modernization of railways,
highways and waterways. New technologies and equipment should be adopted to improve the
technical properties of grain-processing machines. |
