[practice Xi Jinping's Economic thought investigation] strengthen Agriculture and revitalize Sichuan Modernization | Live Pig | economy

Morning view of rice vegetable rotation industrial park in Miyi County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province. Photo by Wu Zhigen

Machine harvesting site at the modern grain and oil planting base in Longquan Village, Xiushui Town, Anzhou District, Mianyang City. Photo by Li Fushen

A land of abundance, with fertile fields spanning thousands of miles.

In March 2017, during the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, I emphasized during the deliberation of the Sichuan delegation that the golden signboard of Sichuan as a major agricultural province should not be lost; In February 2018, during an inspection in Sichuan, it was pointed out that the development of modern agriculture should be of utmost importance in implementing the rural revitalization strategy; In June 2022, during the inspection in Sichuan, it was emphasized to build a higher-level "Tianfu granary" in the new era.

What kind of answer sheet did Sichuan hand over?

Protecting farmland is protecting granaries

First, there was fertile land in Tianfu, and then there was the Tianfu granary. Farmland is the lifeblood of food production. The third national land survey showed that from 2009 to 2019, the country's arable land decreased by 113 million mu. Similar to the whole country, the cultivated land area in Sichuan Province has also decreased during the national land adjustment, with an additional 8.263 million mu of non-agricultural construction land added over the past 10 years.

The people do not eat unless they are in the valley, and the valley does not grow unless it is in the land.

Wu Xi, Deputy Director of the Farmland Protection Supervision Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Natural Resources, introduced that from 2020 to 2021, Sichuan has reversed the passive situation of continuous reduction in arable land area, achieved an increase in arable land area, and increased arable land by more than 200000 mu; From 2021 to 2022, we will continue to maintain a good momentum and increase arable land by over 200000 acres.

A sound system and strict responsibilities are the key to achieving only increasing but not decreasing arable land. Sichuan has implemented the party and government joint responsibility evaluation system for farmland protection earlier in the country. Last year, a new position was added - Tian Chang - from the provincial party secretary and governor to the village party branch secretary and village committee director. Since then, Sichuan has established a five level "field chief system" responsibility system at the provincial, municipal, county, township, and village levels, achieving full coverage of farmland protection responsibility from horizontal to edge and vertical to the bottom.

In Sichuan, Tian Chang is not a false title hanging on a brand. According to Luo Xugang, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources of Sichuan Province, Tian Chang has five major tasks: resolutely guarding the red line of farmland protection, strictly protecting permanent basic farmland, consolidating and improving farmland quality, strengthening farmland monitoring and supervision, and deepening farmland protection reform and innovation.

Only good farmland can produce good grain, and grassroots cadres and farmers feel the most genuine. What is Liangtian? It's just high standard farmland! At Dongwazi Family Farm in Luojiang District, Deyang City, Liu Xiaodong, the head of the farm, introduced that in 2021, after the 700 acres of land on the farm were converted into high standard farmland, Deyang City achieved "one increase and one decrease": an average increase of 300 kilograms of rice per mu, a cost reduction of 150 yuan, and a significant improvement in farm efficiency. The construction of high standard farmland has made infrastructure more perfect, and land has suddenly become a "hot commodity".

"Only with high standard farmland can there be high-income farmland," said Zhang Yu, chief agronomist of the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Dongpo District, Meishan City, when it comes to the development practice of Yongfeng Village. More than 3100 acres of high standard farmland have been built in Yongfeng Village, with crisscrossing paths, convenient mechanized farming, connected water channels, and guaranteed harvests during droughts and floods. The three crop rotation models of "rice melon medicine" and "rice vegetable vegetable" have been widely promoted, with an average income of up to 10000 yuan per mu. Grain cultivation is no longer a "loss making trade".

In order to build high standard farmland, Sichuan has increased investment and has been advancing at a rate of about 4.5 million mu per year in recent years. As of the end of 2022, the province has built a total of over 54 million mu of high standard farmland; Combining with high standard farmland construction projects, integrating projects such as organic fertilizer substitution for chemical fertilizers, resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure, and comprehensive utilization of crop straw, we continue to improve farmland production capacity, providing support for building a higher level "Tianfu granary" in the new era. Sichuan has introduced a new ten-year plan for the construction of high standard farmland, with the goal of building 18.57 million mu of high standard farmland and upgrading 15.94 million mu by 2030.

The large-scale reclamation of abandoned land is a landmark transformation in strengthening the protection and utilization of arable land. In 2020, the reclamation area of abandoned land in Sichuan exceeded 1 million mu for the first time, reaching 2.17 million mu by 2022, becoming a key factor in the province's grain production exceeding 70 billion jin for three consecutive years.

How did the transformation occur? The key is to identify the root cause and treat it accordingly. According to the investigation and analysis conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Sichuan Province, there are multiple factors contributing to the abandonment of abandoned land, mainly due to labor shortages, poor farming conditions, and low comparative benefits. The severe shortage of labor is the first to bear the brunt.

For Sichuan Province, which exports over 20 million rural laborers annually, scientific exploration of the relationship between humans and land is the core.

In Anzishan Village, Longpan Town, Jialing District, two professional cooperatives are reclaiming 1590 acres of abandoned land, which can increase grain production by over 2 million kilograms annually.

Zhongjiang County in Deyang City is a major county for labor force export, but Zhongjiang still bears the heavy responsibility of being a major grain producing county. The entire county's arable land should be fully planted, with high and abundant yields. The key to solving the problem of labor shortage is "mechanical replacement". Chen Jian, the chairman of Zhongyuhui Rice Professional Cooperative, told reporters that the cooperative currently manages over 6000 acres of arable land and only requires a dozen or so people.

"The agricultural machinery professional cooperative we established completed 63000 mu of machine farming services last year, saving tens of thousands of labor." Yang Xiaoling, Chairman of Guang'an Huimin Agricultural Machinery and Agronomy Professional Cooperative, said that not only that, but it can also achieve an average increase of over 200 kilograms per mu and an average household income of over 300 yuan.

Young people in rural areas "pick the big beam"

The statement that "post-70s generation" are unwilling to farm, "post-80s generation" cannot farm, and "post-90s generation" do not mention farming highlights the hidden concerns of China's agriculture: the agricultural labor force is aging, feminization, and low education level. According to the results of the seventh national population census, the proportion of rural residents aged 65 and above in Sichuan province has reached 21.92%, and has entered a super aging society. As a major province for the export of migrant workers, Sichuan Province saw 26.82 million rural labor force transfers and employment in 2021, with many young and middle-aged people working outside and settling in cities.

Changes are happening quietly.

Standing in front of us is Wang Lingli, who is petite in stature. When it comes to farming and purchasing agricultural materials, she is very skilled in accounting. She manages four farmer cooperatives and contracts 5600 acres of fertile land. Among them, Yangliu Land Co., Ltd. is managed by her as a professional manager, achieving large-scale operation. In 2022, Yangliu Cooperative Society alone planted 1223 acres of grain and oil, and farmers received 1.54 million yuan in dividends by investing. Her management income was 440000 yuan, and both the investing farmers and professional managers achieved "earning money by planting grain".

Eight years ago, Wang Lingli chose to return to rural areas to work as an agricultural professional manager after graduating from university. She said that with the continuous improvement of agricultural co operation system, agricultural professional manager system, and the support of various support policies and new technologies and tools, the past "finding people to farm" has become the current "competing for farming". She set a small goal for herself to increase the managed grain field area to 10000 acres within three years.

Who will cultivate the land, what kind of land to cultivate, and how to cultivate it are old topics. In Sichuan, we have found new answers.

While Wang Lingli was still thinking about how to expand the scale of farming, Zhang Yifan opened his mouth in Deyang, over 100 kilometers away: "The current rural areas lack young labor force, and more importantly, young agricultural talents."

The "post-90s" Sichuan sister returned to her hometown to start her own business after graduating from university. "In 2015, I used 50000 yuan of dowry money as the principal to establish a family farm and plant morel mushrooms. Later, with the guarantee policy of the agricultural and commercial company, I borrowed 2 million yuan, giving me the confidence to expand production. With government support, I built facilities such as cold storage and processing workshops, gradually achieving scale. In 2019, the revenue reached the level of millions of yuan," said Zhang Yifan.

He Jun, the founder of the 80s generation family farm in Luojiang District, has thoughts on introducing and retaining talents in rural areas: "If we want talents to enter and stay, we need to enhance our sense of identity and gain." He Jun said, "I am not only a senior professional farmer, but also a family farmer and a university teacher. What makes me most proud is my identity as a senior professional farmer. Luojiang has long introduced professional farmer certification and rating policies, and subsidized social security, housing provident fund, etc., which allows young farmers to have no worries and have more motivation."

Focusing on "who will cultivate the land" and "how to retain people", Sichuan has introduced multiple measures to encourage young talents to go to rural areas and villages through staffing management, professional title evaluation, etc. At the same time, increase provincial-level agricultural subsidies. Zhang Lingling, Director of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Ministry of Finance, introduced that Sichuan has increased the subsidy for major grain growers, raising the subsidy standard for Chengdu's plain areas to 90 yuan per acre and for hilly and mountainous areas to 100 yuan. By 2025, the relevant subsidies will reach 100 yuan per mu, and 150 yuan per mu in hilly and mountainous areas.

Policy support, financial subsidies, identity recognition, conceptual transformation, and flexible methods for attracting and retaining talents in rural areas of Sichuan have achieved significant results. But in the long run, if we want people to stay and develop in rural areas, we still need to start with innovation in the agricultural management system.

Various regions in Sichuan have been exploring ways to address issues such as industrial hollowing out and land fragmentation, establish an agricultural professional manager evaluation committee, build a new type of vocational farmer education and training system, establish an agricultural professional manager talent resource information database and classification management service platform... to make young people feel motivated to engage in agriculture. "We have established a mechanism of 'council+professional manager+supervisory board'. The council represents the members to make decisions on 'what to plant', agricultural professional managers are responsible for 'how to plant', and the supervisory board represents all members to supervise the work of the council and professional managers." Liu Bo, Minister of the Rural Revitalization Research Department of Chengdu Chongzhou Tianfu Granary National Modern Agriculture Industrial Park, introduced that the dividend distribution method is negotiated between agricultural professional managers and cooperative members, mainly in the form of pure income proportional dividends. "The agricultural co operation system has achieved the goal of 'making money by growing grain' and is the key to attracting talent."

Xu Zhiwen, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Sichuan Province, stated that in the future, we should further focus on "people" and attract and retain rural talents. Cultivate local talents in rural areas, annually cultivate more than 500 leading figures in rural wealth creation, more than 1000 leading geese in rural industrial revitalization, and more than 20000 high-quality farmers; Guide professional and technical talents to serve rural areas, promote the "moderate separation of positions and positions" mechanism of staffing in county towns and serving rural areas, and promote the gathering of scientific and technological talents in rural areas; Encourage and support migrant workers to return to their hometowns for entrepreneurship, and provide service guarantees in areas such as certificate processing, land support, platform construction, and financial guarantees.

High tech output with high efficiency

The wheat seedlings are the essence, and the wheat ears are also straightened. In early spring, in the wheat experimental field of Mianyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Sichuan, the reporter met with experts from Mianyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences who were conducting breeding experiments in the field.

"On this side is' Mianmai 827 ', a new variety of specialized noodle wheat; on that side is' Mianmai 907', a new variety rich in selenium and zinc; and this is our star product 'Mianmai 902', which has the characteristics of high yield, short stem resistance, and good raw grain quality..." Walking on the field ridge, Ren Yong, a small wheat breeding expert and deputy dean of Mianyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, was very familiar with the wheat fields.

Good seeds and good technology are essential elements of modern agriculture.

From the preparation of hybrid combinations in 2008 to the approval and promotion in 2020, Mianyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences has cultivated a new dwarf, multi resistant, and high-yield wheat variety "Mianmai 902", with a cumulative promotion area of over 1 million acres. "'Mianmai 902 'can increase production by more than 30 kilograms per mu, and based on the total promotion area, the annual output value is estimated to be over 90 million yuan. At the same time, due to its outstanding disease resistance, it can save 20 yuan in pesticide and labor costs per mu, a total of 20 million yuan. The total cost savings and income increase of the two items are more than 110 million yuan. Ren Yong calculated to reporters the huge benefits that the new variety can create.".

It takes ten years to cultivate a seed, and the Ren Yong team spent 13 years and invested a lot of manpower and material resources to cultivate only one variety, "Mianmai 902". "In recent years, the government's support for the seed industry has been increasing, and we have made significant progress in team building, infrastructure, research equipment, and other aspects. Next, we need to explore ways to improve research enthusiasm and accelerate the transformation of achievements." Ren Yong said.

"Sichuan is one of the four major seed production bases in China, with the second largest number of agricultural germplasm resources and the first largest number of national seed production counties. However, there is still a certain gap compared to a strong seed industry province. Among the top ten enterprises in China in terms of total sales of commodity seeds, there is no Sichuan enterprise, and the total assets of crop seed industry enterprises in the province are less than 13 billion yuan. In the future, modern seed industry improvement projects will be implemented around the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, seed industry innovation, enterprise support, base improvement, and market purification, and a number of seed industry groups and seed industry parks will be built." Yang Linling, Deputy Director of the Seed Industry Development Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that this year, joint breeding research will be carried out to cultivate 10 breeding and promotion innovations. The consortium will implement post subsidy policies for major promoted varieties to improve the conversion rate and efficiency of achievements.

Stable production and increased production are fundamentally based on technology. Although Sichuan has abundant agricultural science and technology resources, the shortcomings of insufficient technology transformation and utilization are still prominent. In 2021, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress in Sichuan was 60%, lower than some major agricultural provinces such as Jiangsu and Shandong.

Building a collaborative innovation system for agricultural technology innovation entities, service entities, and application entities has become an important direction for the modernization of agriculture in Sichuan. To promote the application of applicable agricultural technologies, Sichuan has released 50 annual agricultural leading varieties and 111 annual agricultural leading technologies this year; In order to improve the mechanization rate of agriculture, the "Evaluation and Monitoring Measures for Provincial Key Service Organizations of Agricultural Production Socialization Services" have been formulated. In the unfavorable situation where mountainous areas account for 77.1% of arable land, the comprehensive mechanization rate of main crop cultivation and harvest has reached 67%; In the research and promotion of high-quality rice varieties, the new rice variety "Pinxiang Youzhen" has achieved a good result of producing 950.3 kilograms per mu, breaking a high yield record... The "granary" of high-quality varieties, good techniques, and good opportunities has laid a solid scientific and technological foundation for building a higher-level "Tianfu granary".

Farmers become more specialized. "I am here to participate in citrus planting training. The 'college' has organized many training sessions, and I have never missed them." Yang Jie, a citrus grower, said at the entrance of the Rural Revitalization Talent College in Luojiang District, Deyang City. This "college" is not simple. It is a citrus expert courtyard in northwest Sichuan, with experts stationed every year; It is also a high-quality farmer training base in Luojiang District, holding hundreds of various agricultural technology training sessions every year. "With the help of the expert team, the land has increased fertilizer, the fruit quality has improved, and the quality of citrus has also improved, earning over 100000 yuan per year," said Yang Jie.

Start operating the agricultural machinery. At the Smart Agricultural Machinery Service Center in the Yiqingguan Grain Modern Agriculture Park in Xichong County, Nanchong City, the screen is scrolling to broadcast information on the supply and demand of agricultural machinery operations. "Xichong County has integrated large-scale agricultural supply and sales outlets, agricultural machinery cooperatives, agricultural machinery maintenance and other business entities in the county, and established a smart agricultural machinery management platform. Both supply and demand sides publish information in real time through mobile apps, achieving seamless integration of business such as finding agricultural machinery, finding machine operators, and finding agricultural work." Liu Ziyi, director of Xichong County Rural Energy Service Center, said that in 2021 alone, the platform completed 1108 online agricultural services, with a service area of 98000 acres and a transaction amount of nearly 10 million yuan.

The service has sunk. In addition to establishing a service platform, Xichong County has also established an agricultural information release system, which summarizes information on climate, water sources, soil, etc., and pushes it to farmers and agricultural enterprises. "We didn't pay attention to this information system before and suffered a big loss. A while ago, the county pushed cooling information, but we didn't take it seriously. As a result, the frost caused us to lose more than 6 million yuan." Zhao Keju, the general manager of Sichuan Tianmashan Ecological Agriculture Co., Ltd., said, "Agricultural technology services are so useful!"

In Lueping Town, Luojiang, Deyang, Junming Agricultural Mechanized Service Professional Cooperative, managed by Peng Li, has utilized the smart field agricultural planting system, benefiting more than 5100 households. "Through intelligent systems, we can obtain real-time data and remotely manage agricultural machinery and operators. No matter what happens, we can make decisions quickly." Peng Li proudly said, fully utilizing modern agricultural technology achievements, greatly releasing rural labor resources.

In Sichuan, provinces, cities, counties, and villages are developing various agricultural technology service organizations, innovating market-oriented agricultural technology promotion models, and striving to connect the "last mile" of technology entering villages and households. There is a government enterprise cooperation project in Guang'an District, Guang'an City - the "Full Process Mechanization+Comprehensive Agriculture" Service Center, which integrates intelligent seedling cultivation, agricultural machinery services, grain processing, product packaging, expert services, and other functions. It radiates to 42 townships in 3 counties of Guang'an City, with a socialized service area of 123000 acres and can drive more than 50000 farmers. These projects are not simple, they connect small farmers with modern large-scale agriculture.

Modern pig farming has strong advantages

Twice cooked pork is the main dish of Sichuan cuisine. To make a plate of Twice cooked pork with fat and thin, fragrant, meat quality is very important. Research has found that pigs with a lean meat percentage of around 55% are more suitable. In 2014, the "Sichuan Tibet Black Pig" supporting line cultivated in Sichuan was approved by the state. In 2020, Sichuan issued the Plan for Promoting the Revitalization of Sichuan Pig Industry, which proposed to build Sichuan into the largest production base of characteristic flavor pigs in China and the national supply base of high-quality Twice cooked pork meat raw materials. In 2022, the number of Sichuan specialty flavored pigs sold reached 4 million. The market share of several Sichuan specialty pig brands, such as Chenghua Pig, Jialin Black Pig, and Sichuan Tibet Black Pig, which have a beautiful black taste, is gradually increasing.

Sichuan is a major producer of pigs in China. In 2022, 65.484 million pigs were sold, ranking first in the country. How to ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the pig industry, and how to achieve stable supply and price of pork, is a must answer question for Sichuan. In 2023, Sichuan will ensure an annual output of over 60 million pigs. From stable production and supply to polishing the "Sichuan Pig" brand, it is inseparable from building a modern pig industry system. Sichuan is striving to build a complete pig industry chain from the source to the dining table.

In the comprehensive ecological modern agricultural technology demonstration park in Chuanshan District, Suining City, a magnificent 8-story building stands out among the green mountains and waters. This is not an office building, it is a pig farm. "The total investment of the park is about 500 million yuan, with two 8-story 'building style' intelligent breeding farms distributed. Each building can accommodate more than 8000 live pigs, and the entire park has an annual inventory of 60000 sows and can sell more than 1.6 million pigs annually." Tong Qiquan, Chairman of Suining Quanquan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group Co., Ltd., told reporters that the 'building style' breeding farms only cover an area of 12 acres. ". Compared to flat farming, raising the same number of pigs in a building can save 90% of land, 70% of water, and nearly 60% of labor costs.

The "building style" intelligent breeding farm not only solves the pain points of traditional pig farming such as land use and environmental protection, but also improves technological content through intensive management, with obvious results. In fact, introducing modern breeding enterprises and emphasizing cluster development are also the experiences accumulated by Sichuan over the years in response to the "pig cycle" from passive to active. According to the plan, by 2025, the scale up rate of pig farming in Sichuan is expected to reach over 65%.

In 2020, in order to accelerate Sichuan's transition from a major province in pig production to a strong province in the pig industry, the Sichuan pig industry cluster was selected as one of the first 50 advantageous characteristic industry cluster projects in China. In 2022, the project area had a pig population of 2.8471 million, a sow population of 271800, and a total output of 4.4425 million, with year-on-year increases of 31.84%, 35.26%, and 31.62%, respectively.

In the process of cluster development, large-scale breeding farms have played a leading role. What changes have occurred to the free range breeders who used to focus on pig farming?

Tong Qiquan introduced that the company provides piglets, feed, and technology to 480 breeders, and the proceeds from selling finished pigs are divided into four to six parts. In 2022, the company achieved sales of over 387000 pigs, with a total dividend of over 90 million yuan, and an average increase of over 180000 yuan in income for each breeding household. Nanchong Gaoping Wenshi Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. adopts a "company+modern breeding community+farmers" model, including the recycling and sales of live pigs, ensuring the lowest income from breeding, driving 44 family farms, and an annual output scale of 146000 heads.

To develop pig production, Sichuan has always adhered to the principle of "focusing on the big and not letting go of the small". A large number of small and medium-sized pig farmers are accelerating their integration into modern pig production by relying on large-scale breeding farms to develop foster care. Conditional large-scale breeders are accelerating the development of family farming, while unconditional free range breeders are transforming dispersed farming into centralized farming through cooperation and joint construction of shared farms.

In 2023, Sichuan identified 493 pig farms as national pig production capacity control bases, with an increase of 100 compared to 2022; 2999 pig farms have been identified as provincial-level pig production capacity regulation bases, with an increase of 499 compared to 2022. Sichuan has accumulated over 17000 registered households specializing in pig production.

The large-scale breeding firmly grasps the "bull's nose" of production capacity, demonstrating the responsibility of pig farming provinces to take multiple measures to stabilize production and supply, and to steadily layout industrial transformation. As an important part of building a modern pig industry system, many regions in Sichuan are continuously strengthening their technological support for the pig industry.

Standing on the observation platform of Mingxing Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd., the epidemic free community and the national core pig breeding farm are all visible, and the construction of the pig breeding building is coming to an end. "For a long time, domestic pig breeding has relied on foreign pig breeds. To win the" turnaround battle "of the pig breeding industry, it is necessary to improve the self-sufficiency rate of core pig sources and increase the coverage of high-quality pig breeds." Zou Zhongyou, Chairman of Mianyang Mingxing Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd., told reporters that Mingxing Technology is collaborating with seven leading enterprises and social entities in the pig breeding industry to build a shared breeding boar station. After the project is put into use, it can achieve an average increase of more than 1000 yuan in the benefits of breeding female pig heads, and help promote an annual increase of more than 500 million yuan in the benefits of pig breeding in the province.

Mingxing Agricultural Technology also takes the lead in collaborating with six leading pig enterprises in Sichuan to establish a regional joint breeding innovation center. While ensuring the completion of the national pig slaughter task, it strives to reduce the number of sows that can be bred in Sichuan from 4 million to 3 million, thereby directly reducing feed consumption by about 2 million tons.

"Santai has built 2 national level core breeding farms and all of them have been included in the national genome joint breeding plan. It has built 1 provincial-level regional breeding pig station, 2 regional breeding pig stations, 2 10000 head pig breeding farms, and 16 1000 head pig breeding farms, widely using digital facilities such as the Internet of Things, automatic temperature control, and intelligent feeding." Deng Zhangjun, then Deputy Secretary of Santai County Committee of Mianyang City, introduced that the county has settled in 5 national level leading enterprises in pig breeding, and multiple basic scientific research achievements have won the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

From pens to dining tables, Sichuan is focusing on improving the deep processing capacity of pork, cultivating a new industrial system that integrates breeding and slaughtering, and supporting processing and circulation. During the 13th Five Year Plan period, Sichuan had an annual slaughter and processing capacity of over 70 million pigs, a cold storage capacity of over 300000 tons, and a deep processing capacity of 500000 tons, both ranking among the top in the country.

What are the channels to increase the added value of the pig industry? Extending the processing industry chain is one of them. In the production workshop of Sichuan Stanrui Ecological Food Co., Ltd., from pig slaughter to cold chain pork or cured products, standardized and intelligent assembly lines operate in an orderly manner.

"The wholesale price of pork per kilogram is currently around 11 yuan, and the processed and packaged pork belly is sold for over 50 yuan per kilogram. The industrial chain is expanding, and the added value is also increasing." said He Yunqiang, General Manager of Sichuan Stanrui Ecological Food Co., Ltd. At the end of 2022, the company added an automatic packaging production line, which not only improved the production efficiency of the enterprise in the packaging process by 30%, but also reduced labor costs by 2%.

In addition, Sichuan is accelerating the development of a group of "Sichuan style" specialty pig brands. "This year, we have new initiatives." Wang Shilin, Director of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, introduced that he will formulate and introduce plans for the modernization of the pig industry and the development of the pig slaughtering industry. He will study and establish a technical standard system for the modernization of the pig industry in Sichuan Province, build a national regional innovation center for the pig breeding industry, and make every effort to stabilize production and ensure supply.

Local specialties perform on stage and sing big plays

Although Sichuan has made outstanding contributions to ensuring stable production and supply of grain and important agricultural products nationwide, it has always had a clear understanding of its own shortcomings and weaknesses: Sichuan's agriculture has long had a short industrial chain, low product added value, heavy production and light processing, heavy output and light market. Sichuan ranks first in the production of 15 agricultural products nationwide, but the initial processing rate of agricultural products is only 64%, which is 6 percentage points lower than the national average. There are over 1000 agricultural brands in Sichuan, but there are few well-known, highly recognized, and high premium products.

What should we do? The solution is to do everything possible to strengthen rural industries.

"This Ophiopogon is of good quality, priced at 20 yuan per kilogram." At Huasong Family Farm in Fucheng Village, Luxi Town, Santai County, Mianyang, farmer He Huarong just negotiated a batch of orders with the customer. He Huarong is a big grower of winter wheat and is particularly busy in spring. Maidong costs 10 yuan per kilogram all year round, but this year her family's over 80 acres of Maidong have sold for the best price in nearly 13 years. He Huarong said, "I grow both Ophiopogon japonicus and raise pigs and cows. Ophiopogon japonicus prefers water and fertilizer, and can absorb the manure of 6 to 8 pigs per acre. This is called the pig manure farming cycle. It can produce 3000 kilograms of Ophiopogon japonicus per acre, with a normal annual output value of 30000 yuan. After deducting 3000 yuan in fertilizer and 5000 yuan in labor costs, the rest is all profit.".