After my country's grain output has stabilized at more than 1.3 trillion jin for 10 consecutive years and the grain output has reached a new level of 1.4 trillion jin in 2024, this year's government work report has put forward a new goal of about 1.4 trillion jin for grain output.

At the second "Minister's Channel" of the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress, Han Jun, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that the goal of about 1.4 trillion jin this year can be achieved through strict scientific demonstration and efforts. At the National Two Sessions, representatives and deputies also actively made suggestions for achieving new goals in grain production.

Storing grain in the land and promoting the construction of high-standard farmland

Storing grain in the land is a key measure to ensure national food security. This year's government work report proposes to promote the construction of high-standard farmland with high quality.

"The key to storing grain in the land lies in the construction of high-standard farmland, which is the basis for ensuring food security." In the view of representative Zhao Wanping, vice president of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the construction of high-standard farmland must not only ensure the harvest of drought and flood, but also maintain and improve the terrestrial capacity for a long time.

In 2024, a total of more than 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland will be built nationwide, which will be able to stably ensure more than 1 trillion jin of grain production capacity.

As for how to continue to promote the construction of high-standard farmland, member Wang Hongling, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, believes that the construction of high-standard farmland should be coordinated with comprehensive land improvement in the entire region, the construction of large and medium-sized irrigation areas, and the development of agricultural cultural and tourism industries, and organically combine it with the cultivation and introduction of leading agricultural enterprises and the promotion of efficient production models, and innovate construction models to guide social capital and new business entities to invest in construction.

Black soil is known as the "giant panda in cultivated land". Regarding how to improve the fertility of black soil, Representative Leng Youbin, Chairman of Feihe Dairy, suggested that a new round of national black soil protection projects be implemented and a major project of the 15th Five-Year Plan will be used, and investment will be increased, and efforts will be made to achieve full coverage of black soil protection and vigorously promote the organic manure return model in black soil areas.

"The crushed straw is deeply turned back to the field, which can better improve the soil structure, improve soil fertility, and further improve the grain output and quality of black soil." Representative Qiao Wenzhi, chairman of Qiaofu Dayuan Agricultural Co., Ltd., Wuchang City, Heilongjiang Province, believes that straw return to the field is one of the effective measures to increase the organic matter content of black soil. It is recommended that policy support be provided to cooperatives or large farmers to configure crushed straw agricultural machinery and equipment.

Storing grain in technology and giving full play to the role of agricultural science and technology innovation

"Only by giving agriculture the wings of science and technology can we achieve the transformation from a major agricultural country to an agricultural power." Representative Zhao Wanping said. It is understood that my country's overall strength of agricultural science and technology innovation has entered the world's first echelon, and the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology innovation exceeds 63%.

Commissioner Yan Jianbing, President of Central China Agricultural University, gave an example to introduce the new progress in promoting agricultural scientific and technological innovation and increasing grain output in recent years. "With the improvement of living standards, people's demand for meat, eggs and milk is increasing, which raises a new topic, which is how to ensure the supply of feed grain." Member Yan Jianbing introduced that traditionally, feed grain mainly uses corn as the energy source and soybean meal as the protein source. In the past few years, he and his team have aimed at increasing the protein content in corn, cultivated multiple varieties with a protein content of more than 10%, and promoted more than 10 million mu, so that corn can be used for both purposes and reduced soybean imports.

Representative Leng Youbin introduced that by implementing the "livestock and poultry manure + corn stalk" model to produce organic manure and return it to the field, the organic matter content of black soil increased by an average of 1%, while reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to curb soil sandification. He said that in the future, intelligent production technology and artificial intelligence will be combined to achieve accurate docking from the consumer end to the production end, and further promote the deep integration of the industrial chain.

"Agricultural productivity is no longer limited to traditional agricultural means of production, land and labor, but also includes biobreeding technology, smart agricultural big data technology, drone technology, unmanned farms, and modern intelligent large-horsepower agricultural machinery, etc.." Representative Zhao Wanping said that these technologies together constitute the core content of modern agricultural productivity. Only by achieving systematic linkage and integration can they play their full role.

Storage grain for the people and enhance farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain

Farmers are direct participants in grain production. This year's government work report proposes to launch inter-provincial horizontal interest compensation for grain production and sales areas under the central government's coordination, increase support for major grain-producing counties, and protect the enthusiasm of grain-growing farmers and major grain-producing areas.

"Agriculture is special and faces dual risks of market and climate. It is a weak industry and a production department for primary products. It is external and public. It requires the government to further increase its support and protection." Representative Zhao Wanping said that only by not suffering losses in growing grain can we fully mobilize the enthusiasm of grain-growing farmers and major grain-producing areas to grow grain, thereby ensuring national food security.

How to strengthen the cultivation of agricultural talents so that more farmers can understand technology and farming is also the focus of the representatives and deputies.

Messenger Wang Hongling pointed out that in the process of promoting the development of new agricultural productive forces, there are still many challenges, and the shortage of agricultural science and technology talents is one of them. In the future, it is necessary to further increase support for agricultural scientific and technological innovation, strengthen the deep integration of industry, academia and research, improve the transformation mechanism of agricultural scientific and technological achievements, strengthen rural infrastructure construction, and cultivate and attract more agricultural scientific and technological talents.

"New farmers should not only know how to farm, but also know how to operate drones, operate and understand e-commerce. The country should give priority to the cultivation of professional skills talents, so that new farmers can truly become the main body of development in the future agriculture and rural areas." Representative Zhao Wanping said.

(Workers Daily, Beijing, March 9, Reporter Shi Lanna)