The National Agricultural Technology Center responded that "rice climbing the mountains" has caused controversy in the hills | Internet users | Rice
Recently, reporters interviewed the heads of the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center and the Farmland Quality Monitoring and Protection Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on issues such as "rice climbing mountains".
Question: Academician Zhu Youyong's "Rice Climbing the Mountain" has sparked heated discussions among netizens. Many people do not understand and question whether planting rice on the mountain is unrealistic and the yield cannot be as high. Can you introduce the relevant situation?
Answer: Academician Zhu Youyong's concept of "rice climbing the mountain" is actually a cultivation technique for hybrid rice that is rain fed and drought cultivated. It refers to the introduction of hybrid rice varieties from the "paddy fields below the mountain" to the "dry land above the mountain" for cultivation, planting rice like corn, without soaking in the field, raising seedlings or transplanting them, and basically without watering or irrigation. Local farmers vividly refer to it as "rice climbing the mountain". These fields are already there, and there is no questioning from netizens about the situation of mountain cultivation or deforestation, nor will they damage the ecology. Of course, this cultivation model has certain limitations and is mainly suitable for mountainous drylands in Yunnan with abundant rainfall and heat resources below an altitude of 1700 meters and rainfall of over 1200 millimeters. It cannot be promoted everywhere.
Academician Zhu Youyong, during his poverty alleviation work in Haozhiba Village, Lancang County, Yunnan Province, discovered that local farmers like to eat rice, but the area is mostly dry land, mainly growing corn, and rice cannot be self-sufficient. To solve this problem, Academician Zhu Youyong's team demonstrated and promoted the hybrid rice dry planting technology in the local area, creatively solving two difficulties of this technology: one is to screen suitable varieties such as "Dianhe You 615" for dry planting, solve the problem of rice tillering in dry land, and achieve vigorous tillering of rice in dry land conditions like in paddy fields; Another approach is to promote the application of pre sprouting weed sealing technology, which solves the problem of weed overgrowth in dryland rice fields. In 2022, this technology has been promoted to 531200 mu, with an average rice yield of 350-400 kilograms per mu, which is about 100 kilograms lower than that of paddy fields below the mountain. However, it has a higher yield and better benefits than planting corn. The yield per mu introduced by Academician Zhu Youyong is 788 kilograms, which was obtained under the condition of one additional application of fertilizer and two additional watering on a small area of 0.52 acres. It is an expert's research field yield, not a farmer's field yield. This small-scale research and development has positive significance for exploring the dry cultivation mode of rice in the local area, providing theoretical and practical support for screening varieties and integrating technologies, and improving the technical system.
Q: People generally think that rice is grown on plains. In fact, when we interviewed at the grassroots level, we also saw many rice fields on the mountains. What is the proportion? How is the yield?
Answer: Rice is the largest grain crop in China, accounting for 60% of the total grain consumption. China has a long history of rice cultivation, with a wide distribution area. It is planted from south to north and from east to west, with a perennial rice planting area of about 450 million acres. Rice fields can be divided into plain rice fields, hilly rice fields, and mountainous rice fields based on their terrain and topography. As you said, most rice is grown in plain areas. Plain rice fields account for nearly 60% of China's rice field area, hilly rice fields account for about 25%, and mountainous rice fields account for about 15%. They are mainly distributed in the southwest region, with Guizhou and Yunnan provinces having the largest area, accounting for more than 40%. This is also determined by our country's resource conditions. In order to ensure food security, many hills and mountains in history have been planted with crops that can be grown. For example, the the Hani terraced fields of Honghe State in Yunnan, which has been included in the The World Heritage List, is a wonder of agricultural civilization created based on the unique geographical and climatic conditions of the region.
According to our investigation, the yield of rice in mountainous areas is generally lower than that in plain and hilly areas, with an average yield of about 350 kilograms per mu, nearly 200 kilograms lower than that in plain areas, and about 100 kilograms lower than that in hilly areas. This is due to various reasons. For example, the effective accumulated temperature and light time in mountainous areas are relatively low, which requires high rice varieties. Improper selection can lead to shortened growth period, decreased seed setting rate and yield; The mountainous rice fields have undulating terrain, thin soil layers, and uneven soil fertility. The development of facilities such as agricultural water conservancy and mechanized roads lags behind, and their disaster resistance is weak. They are easily affected by drought and flood disasters, and their yield fluctuates greatly between years. This is also the direction for the next step of work efforts, which is to increase the yield level of mountainous rice by breeding suitable varieties, improving infrastructure conditions such as agricultural water conservancy.
Question: Some netizens question the ecological damage caused by the construction of high standard farmland in hilly and mountainous areas, which is costly and laborious, yet not pleasing. What do you think? What is the actual situation?
Answer: The construction of high standard farmland for eligible farmland in hilly and mountainous areas is determined by the actual national conditions and agricultural conditions. According to the national land survey, there are approximately 440 million mu of arable land with slopes above 6 ° in China, accounting for 22.74% of the total arable land area in the country. At present, in order to ensure national food security, these lands not only need to be planted, but also need to be planted well. It is necessary to improve the production capacity of these cultivated lands by transforming sloping farmland into horizontal terraced fields, supporting water conservancy facilities, and other measures.
The country has clear standards and regulations for the construction of high standard farmland on sloping farmland, and requires the standardized implementation of high standard farmland construction according to local conditions. For example, it is necessary to fully consider geological and geomorphic conditions, water resources, meteorological conditions, etc. Different conditions have different construction requirements and standards. For example, in areas with high rainfall, farmland protection measures such as slope protection and field ridges should be taken to avoid landslides and mudslides. The construction site selection should be reasonable, and it is prohibited to build high standard farmland on slopes above 25 ° or within ecological red line areas. Especially, it is not allowed to use the name of high standard farmland construction to cultivate mountains and open up land in areas where conditions are not met.
There are some pictures and videos circulating online of building terraced fields on the mountain, which are related to "rice climbing the mountain" and the construction of high standard farmland. After verification, most of them are Zhang Guanli Dai and transplant flowers and trees. For example, the most popular picture is actually the construction scene of a land improvement project in Yunnan in 2018, as well as the picture of farmland destroyed by rainstorm, which has nothing to do with growing rice in the mountains. In previous years, farmland was washed away during the flood season. We make arrangements for agricultural flood prevention and drainage every year, guiding affected areas to promptly repair flooded farmland and restore agricultural production. Every acre we can seize is one acre, and every season we can seize is one season.
Q: You just mentioned that "rice going up the mountain" is not "deforestation for farmland", but there are many online statements linking the two, reflecting the situation of "deforestation for farmland" in some places. What policies and regulations does the country have in this regard?
Answer: We have also taken note of the situation you mentioned. Cultivated land is the lifeblood of food production. To solve the food problem for 1.4 billion people, we must first firmly maintain the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land. In recent years, the country has introduced a series of strict institutional measures to protect arable land, but some places still engage in illegal use of arable land for "non agriculturalization" and "non grainification", such as greening and afforestation, digging lakes for landscaping, digging ponds for fish farming, planting seedlings and grass, etc., which must be rectified and re cultivated. However, in the process of rectification, it is necessary to distinguish situations and handle them in a classified manner, rather than simplifying or adopting a one size fits all approach. We must respect the laws of nature and the growth patterns of crops. It is strictly prohibited to forcefully pull out seedlings and cut down trees, fill pits and level ponds, regardless of the objective reality that fruit trees are in their prime fruit period, trees are in their mature forest period, and fish ponds are in their harvest season. We should reasonably grasp the pace of farmland restoration, leave enough time for the transition period, and give farmers and business entities reasonable preparation time.
It should be noted here that in some areas, the rectification and restoration of farmland involve the conversion of forest land to arable land. These "forests" are not the "forests" created to protect the ecology in the previous "returning farmland to forests", but the "forests" built on farmland in recent years that exceed plans, policies, and requirements. The rectification and restoration of these forest lands is not about "destroying forests for farmland", let alone the so-called "returning forests to farmland" by netizens.
