Sichuan: Writing "Land Articles" Tailored to Local Conditions to Build a Higher Level "Tianfu Granary" Farmland in the New Era | Tianfu | Era

Chengdu, June 7th (Xinhua) - In June, in the high standard farmland of Yongfeng Village, Dongpo District, Meishan City, Sichuan Province, green seedlings thrived in the sunlight. Digital equipment that automatically monitors weather, soil, diseases and pests will collect data in real time and transmit it to an intelligent platform, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of crop conditions.

"Worry free! The entire process of rice cultivation, planting, sowing, and harvesting is mechanized. We only need to do a good job in field management according to expert guidance, and we can wait for a good harvest with peace of mind." Wang Yuanwei, a grain grower who has contracted about 3000 acres of land in the Yongfeng area of Dongpo District, commented on today's agricultural production, "This year we are planting high-yield varieties selected by experts, and the yield will definitely be higher than last year."

Aerial photography yongfeng village high standard farmland. Photo by Tang Lu

Harvest stories similar to Yongfeng Village are constantly happening on the vast land of Sichuan. This western province, known as the "Land of Abundance", is one of the 13 major grain producing provinces in China, and also undertakes the new mission of building a higher level "Tianfu granary" in the new era.

How can Sichuan base itself on reality, implement precise policies, target efforts, and make targeted efforts to fill the gaps and weaknesses, so that the "Tianfu granary" can load more and better grain? In the Action Plan for Building a Higher Level "Tianfu Granary" issued by Sichuan Province at the beginning of this year, ten key tasks were proposed according to regional differences in climate, terrain, and development level, including guarding and building good Tianfu farmland, deepening the implementation of seed industry revitalization action, and accelerating the modernization of agricultural equipment.

"Only with good farmland in the world can there be a granary." At a press conference held in February this year, Xu Zhiwen, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Sichuan Province, stated that Sichuan attaches great importance to farmland construction and lists "guarding and building good farmland in Tianfu" as the top ten tasks of the "Tianfu granary" action to build a higher level in the new era.

Xu Zhiwen introduced that as of 2022, Sichuan has built a total of over 54 million mu of high standard farmland. This year, 4.25 million mu of farmland will be newly built and renovated with high quality. The plan is to build all 63.08 million mu of permanent basic farmland in the province into high standard farmland in stages over a ten-year period.

Aerial photography yongfeng village high standard farmland. Photo by Tang Lu

Good farmland cannot be separated from irrigation. Although Sichuan is a province with a thousand rivers and abundant water resources, its spatial and temporal distribution is uneven. The effective utilization of water resources mainly relies on large and medium-sized water conservancy projects to achieve spatial balance. How to effectively safeguard the "water conservancy lifeline" of grain production, introduced by Quan Yan, Deputy Director of the Water Resources Department of Sichuan Province, is the key to building a modern water network system that "takes advantage of the situation, adapts to the times, uses high water, uses low water, self flows and transports water, and is interconnected".

It is understood that this year, Sichuan will make every effort to promote the construction of the "No.1 Project" of diverting water from Da to Min. The project diverts water from the reservoir area of the Dadu River and Luding Hydropower Station, leading it to the Minjiang River. The total length of the water diversion line is 305 kilometers, and the water supply area includes 8 cities and 43 counties, including Chengdu and Deyang. It has added 2.44 million mu of irrigation surface, improved 5.26 million mu of irrigation surface, and benefited a population of 36 million. "We will also classify and promote the water resource allocation project in the Anning River Basin, accelerate the construction of 43 large and medium-sized water conservancy projects under construction in the province, and effectively enhance the ability of cross regional and cross basin water resource allocation." Quan Yan said.

The utilization of agricultural machinery is the key to improving agricultural production efficiency and also a key focus of modern agricultural development. For Sichuan, where hilly and mountainous areas account for more than 80% of the province's arable land, although the total power of agricultural machinery has reached 49.17 million kilowatts and the number of agricultural machinery owned is 4 million, the comprehensive mechanization rate for the cultivation and harvesting of major crops is only 67%.

Liu Yonghong, Vice President of Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told reporters that there are still problems in Sichuan, such as slow progress in agricultural mechanization transformation, difficulty in developing agricultural machinery suitable for hilly and mountainous areas, and limited availability of small machinery. "To further enhance the level of agricultural mechanization in the hilly areas of Sichuan, it is necessary to adopt a technical route that combines introduction, improvement, and creation."

Agricultural mechanization sowing in hilly areas of sichuan. Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Liu Yonghong stated that talent is the "key" to scientific research breakthroughs. Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences attaches great importance to the construction of collaborative teams and looks forward to working together with research institutes and enterprises to integrate advantageous resources, establish innovation alliances, and work together to overcome obstacles. In addition, agricultural machinery and agronomy integration technology service teams should be established for different regions to strengthen supporting technology services.

The seed industry is the "chip" of modern agriculture, and matching good fields with good varieties is one of the main means to build a higher level "Tianfu granary" in the new era. It is understood that Sichuan is accelerating the construction of the only provincial-level comprehensive germplasm resource library in China - the Sichuan Germplasm Resource Center Library and the Tianfu Seed Industry Laboratory Innovation Platform, with the aim of concentrating resources to carry out scientific and technological research in the seed industry.

Liu Yonghong believes that in addition to building platforms and integrating resources, talent is also the key to the revitalization of Sichuan seed industry. He gave an example that Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences is increasing the construction of advantageous disciplines such as crop germplasm resources and crop genetics and breeding, and vigorously cultivating emerging disciplines such as biosynthesis, gene editing, and intelligent breeding. "I believe that through talent introduction and cultivation, the strength of Sichuan seed industry's scientific and technological breakthroughs will become increasingly strong."

On the fertile land thousands of miles away from the land of abundance, where water and drought coexist, hardworking workers are writing the "land article" of sowing and harvesting with the help of advanced agricultural technology. In order to fulfill the mission of building a higher level "Tianfu granary" in the new era, Sichuan is steadily moving forward.

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