China puts household farmers on road to modern agriculture
Chinese
small agricultural
households, the biggest part of the country’s agricultural population, are
joining a national drive to pursue modernized agriculture, with the help of new
technologies and better commercial services.
The
change comes as the accelerated pace of urbanization has resulted in a shift in distribution
of urban and rural population. China now has 564 million people living in the
countryside.
Before China attains its
goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the
toughest task it needs to conquer is rural issue, which constitutes the
shortest board blocking the way, said Chen Xiwen, chairperson of the
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the 13th National People's Congress
(NPC) of China.
China’s
agricultural sector is still dominated by the model of farming by small agricultural
households. According to the third national agricultural census, smallholders
took up more than 98 percent of the entities engaging in agriculture-related
work, and they cultivated 70 percent of the arable land nationwide.
In
order to bring these farmers onto the
track of modernized agriculture, some rural areas have adopted new technologies
to improve production efficiency. Drones, for instance, have been employed to
give a helpful hand.
Farmers
in Weinan, a city in northwest China’s Shaanxi province, are now assisted by
drones to remove weeds, sow seeds and splash pesticides, after they place an
order for the service via their mobile phones. The Internet Plus model and the
drones have accelerated the process of agricultural modernization there.
Commercial services were also optimized to speed up the
modernization pace. Jinxi county in east China’s Jiangxi province, in recent
years, devoted great energy to poverty alleviation through e-commerce.
So far, the county has established 10 large e-commerce trading
centers, 112 e-commerce service centers, 64 agricultural service stations and
17 express delivery centers at county- and village-level to help with the sales
of agricultural products.
By linking the businesses, agricultural cooperatives and farmers
together, the commercial services addressed their headaches in marketing
channel and led local residents to prosperity.
China’s
basic rural operation system is household-based, Chen said, adding that the
country’s national conditions and rural development status have decided that
large-scale agricultural operations are not necessarily the best mode.
Given
the backdrop, China, when making policies, has been improving supporting
policies for household farmers, bettering services for them and guiding them
towards modern agriculture, while encouraging moderate operations in various
forms, added the NPC deputy.
In
the future, the country will place priority on the cultivation of family
ranches and cooperatives as two new types of agribusiness, he said, suggesting
effective implementation of the policies to involve small agricultural
households into modernized agriculture system.
Chen
added that the mechanisms connecting household farmers with cooperatives or
companies need to be solidified, in a bid to foster a prosperous agricultural
industry and make farming a decent career.
Source:
People’s Daily
Photo
taken on March 3, 2019 shows technicians operating a drone to remove weeds in a
wheat field in Weinan, northwest China’s Shaanxi province. (Photo by Cui
Zhengbo from People’s Daily Online)
China puts household farmers on road to modern agriculture
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