Looking at the Transformation of Small Fields into Large Fields to Improve the Working Conditions of Cultivated Land in Miluo, Hunan Province
Starting from 2022, Miluo City, Hunan Province, which is mainly characterized by hilly landforms, has promoted the "conversion of small fields to large fields" in 15 townships throughout the city, covering a total of more than 60000 acres. How is the harvest of these newly converted farmland this year? What changes have grain farmers felt?
Small fields to large fields
Comprehensive improvement of farmland operation conditions
In Yiren Village, Miluo City, grain grower Wu Bao'an is harvesting and bagging grains. This is the first harvest that the local area has received since the new farmland was renovated. The agricultural department has organized staff to conduct on-site inspections according to weighing, impurity removal, and other procedures.
The staff told reporters that recently, after the early rice in various parts of Miluo started to sickle, they conducted on-site inspections on all newly renovated farmland, providing reference basis for subsequent farmland improvement projects through yield comparison.
Grain grower Wu Bao'an: In the first year of the small-scale renovation, the yield of early rice increased by more than 100 kilograms per acre compared to previous years. This means that for us big households, it has increased by more than 100 yuan per acre. I estimate that based on this benefit, I can recover the cost in another 5 years.
The cost mentioned by Wu Bao'an is the funds he invested in land improvement. Because for plains, the cost of land reclamation in hilly areas is higher, in order to solve the problem of insufficient funds for land reclamation, Miluo has introduced social funds to participate together. Yiren Village concentrates and transfers farmland in a five year rent free manner to large households and new business entities in exchange for investment in land conversion.
During the interview, the reporter learned that before the renovation, Yiren Village had a total of 2865 acres of farmland, divided into 1004 plots. From planting to harvesting, the villagers feel tired the most. The cultivation efficiency is not high, and it is difficult to earn profits from the land. The first thing Wu Bao'an did after the transfer was to transform the entire village's 1004 small fragmented fields into 346 contiguous large fields, comprehensively improving and enhancing the working conditions of farmland.
Changing farmland also brought unexpected gains. Only Yiren Village has added 169 acres of effective cultivation area through the conversion of small fields to large fields, and this year, Miluo City has added nearly 3600 acres of effective cultivation area through this method. By converting small fields into large fields, farmers from each household will also receive higher income from the land.
Driven by "digital farmland"
Accelerating the convergence of various elements into rural areas
After the transformation of farmland, hilly land has become fertile land, increasing its attractiveness to various new business entities. Miluo, Hunan is also accelerating the aggregation of land, finance and other elements through digital construction. Currently, Miluo has added nearly 200000 acres of newly declared land for transfer.
At the Rural Property Rights Trading Center in Miluo City, a total of 32 large households from Jiangsu, Hubei, Zhejiang and other places have come to Miluo for inspection since the beginning of this year.
Attracting large farmers from other places to farm is not only because the land here is good, but also because it is convenient to "see and choose fields". Last October, the local rural property rights trading center was established, where you can clearly see a panoramic map of each piece of land that has been transferred and auctioned, as well as information such as area, price, and transfer period. After selecting the desired plot, you can directly place an order online. Here, land resources have become well documented digital commodities.
Cao Yuxia, the person in charge of the Rural Property Rights Trading Center in Miluo City: It is like buying things, like goods in other places. Large grain growers submit their application intentions, and after our trading center approves it, we can auction this piece of land.
While land transfer is accelerating, the local government is also exploring the development of financial services to support it. Many financial institutions have moved their counter windows to the property rights trading center, allowing large businesses to handle transactions in a one-stop manner.
