Carrying the heavy responsibility of stabilizing food security, Hunan is making multiple efforts to ensure the selection, cultivation, and planting of good seeds and grains
CCTV News: As a major grain producing province, how can Hunan shoulder the heavy responsibility of ensuring food security production? What are the pressures and challenges that autumn grain will face this year, and what are the corresponding measures? The reporter followed the Hunan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for a visit and research.
CCTV reporter Li Yanjun: How is the overall situation of rice cultivation in Hunan this year?
Gong Xin, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hunan Province: The early rice harvest has been abundant. This year, the completed sowing area of early rice in Hunan is 18.072 million mu, achieving a total production of 7.432 million tons, both ranking first in the country. Currently, 22.22 million acres of medium rice have been planted, and 19.07 million acres of late rice have been planted.
CCTV reporter Li Yanjun: What are the pressures and challenges we face in shouldering the responsibility of ensuring food security this year?
Gong Xin, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hunan Province: Currently, the main pressure is still on drought and pest problems. Hunan is mainly focused on improving yield, reducing disaster damage, and strengthening infrastructure. We have selected 48 scientific research teams and established a batch of demonstration plots for compound cultivation of rice oil, rice oil, and soybean corn, radiating and driving large-scale balanced yield increase in the province. At the same time, we will focus on the non agriculturalization, non grainification, and abandonment of arable land, and guide local governments to effectively carry out drought resistance, irrigation protection, emergency response, disaster relief, and other related work.
CCTV reporter Li Yanjun: Hunan has proposed to build a highland for agricultural machinery. How is it now to standardize and guide social services, integrate agricultural machinery, and improve agricultural production efficiency?
Gong Xin, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hunan Province: Hunan is a typical hilly and mountainous province. In recent years, 41 characteristic agricultural machinery suitable for the terrain, topography, and agricultural production characteristics of Hunan's hilly and mountainous areas have been innovatively developed. As of last year, the coverage rate of socialized agricultural machinery services has exceeded 50%, which has to some extent solved the problem of "inorganic availability" in agricultural production, and also solved the problems of "no good machinery to use" and "organic not good to use".
CCTV reporter Li Yanjun: Harvest year after year starts with seeds, and only when seeds are safe can food be safe. How to improve the level of seed industry and ensure abundant harvests year after year?
Gong Xin, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hunan Province: Hunan is the birthplace of hybrid rice and also a major province for hybrid rice seed production. At present, efforts are being made to build a large number of seed industry innovation bases represented by the Yuelu Mountain Laboratory, breeding more high-quality variety resources. The area of seed production in Hunan has been stable at around 400000 acres, and the annual production of hybrid rice seeds is about 80 million kilograms. A sound seed quality testing and supervision system has been established. Choose good seeds, cultivate good crops, and contribute to the construction of the seed industry nationwide.
