China's grain production must meet the challenge brought by high oil price

Introduction: on July 23, the national development and Reform Commission raised the price of gasoline and diesel for the fourth time in the year In recent week, the retail price of diesel in Northeast China has reached 4415 yuan per ton The continuous increase of domestic oil price directly restricts the popularization and use of agricultural machines and tools in China, which puts pressure on the normal development of China's grain production capacity China needs to implement the policy of agricultural oil subsidies to deal with this adverse situation -- farmers worry about the increase of production cost The reporter recently investigated in Heilongjiang, Hunan and other major grain producing provinces and learned that since this year, due to the continuous increase in the price of domestic oil products, in addition to the high prices of agricultural means of production such as pesticides and fertilizers, the promotion of agricultural mechanization has encountered great resistance, and farmers have complained about the increase in production costs caused by high oil prices Liu Chunyang, a farmer in Xinyuan village, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, said: "diesel oil is rising too fast In spring, it was more than 700 yuan a barrel (about 170 kg), and now it has risen to 860 yuan According to the past market, in addition to the cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and diesel oil, more than 60 mu of soybeans can earn more than 10000 yuan a year This year, the increase in the price of diesel has increased a lot of costs In addition to the loss of soybean flooded in the previous few days, and the cost of two barrels of diesel (more than 1700 yuan) drainage, the revenue is all over " Liu Weiyi, a farmer in Luohe village, Bayan County, told reporters that according to the yield of 650 kg per mu of rice, there is about 1200 yuan of income per mu After the other costs are removed, 600-700 yuan per barrel of oil (170 kg) can barely bear it, and then the price will rise Ren Haijiang, a farmer in Wanfa Town, Bayan County, said that because of the high oil price, production can't be guaranteed at present For land preparation in autumn, many farmers think that "they can't afford to hire large machinery, so they can simply use horses to complete it." Chen Xuechang, a villager in Daquan village, Yuejiaqiao Town, Heshan District, Yiyang City, Hunan Province, told reporters that the price of harvesting one mu of rice last year was more than 40 yuan, and this year it suddenly rose to 55 yuan -- the extension of agricultural machinery is blocked, threatening food production According to Li Guojun, director of Heilongjiang Agricultural Mechanization administration, the total amount of agricultural field mechanization in this province is about 600 million standard mu, with an average of 1.5 kg of agricultural diesel per standard mu, and the total oil consumption of agricultural production in the whole year is more than 800000 tons According to the calculation of the average increase of 250 yuan per ton of diesel price on July 23, the mechanization production cost of farmers will increase 125 million yuan in autumn, which is hard for farmers to bear It is reported that under the condition that the number of cultivated land is difficult to grow, only agricultural production standardization can be relied on to increase the unit yield per unit area, which means that efforts should be made to standardize food production, and the standardization of agriculture is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is the standardization of seeds, the other is the standardization of agricultural machinery field operation If standardized field operations are carried out and the combination of agricultural machinery and agronomy is realized, the general grain production increase will be about 20% Take soybean as an example Under the condition of standardized operation, the yield of one mu is about 170 kg, but if it can't reach the standard operation, the yield of one mu is only about 130 kg     According to the analysis, there are four aspects of the impact of the continuous rise of diesel price: first, the enthusiasm of farmers to raise machines will decline, and advanced machines and tools and farming technology will not be promoted and applied; second, a large number of agricultural machines and tools will not be used, and effective resources will not be utilized; third, the cattle and horse ploughs will reappear in the field, and the productivity will be seriously regressed; fourth, the lack of support for standardized operation of agricultural machinery, agricultural The quality of products will be greatly reduced Li Guojun said that due to the impact of higher diesel prices, the reduction of land preparation in Heilongjiang this autumn has become a foregone conclusion, which directly threatens the quality and output of grain production next spring "In the middle and late September, we will start to harvest and prepare the land This year, the rainfall is so large and the soil moisture is so high If farmers are unable to invest in mechanized operation and do not prepare the land in autumn, it will be even more difficult to plant the land next spring," he said -- the introduction of agricultural oil subsidies to ensure food security is reported that before 1994, the state inclined to agricultural oil, and the provincial agricultural machinery department was responsible for allocating part of the planned agricultural diesel oil to the gas stations in the system, which was specially used for spring ploughing and autumn harvest agricultural busy season production After 1994, with the adjustment of national policies, the price of agricultural oil kept the same with the market price, no longer enjoying preferential policies, which made the gas stations of agricultural machinery system gradually shrink and close down The agricultural machinery sector has been calling for subsidies for agricultural oil, but it has not been activated [NextPage] Heilongjiang Province started the pilot work of agricultural machinery operation cooperatives in 2003 All cooperatives used large-scale and new-type machinery and equipment, and carried out alternative farming operations to serve agriculture While paying close attention to the growth of economic benefits, it also promoted the overall improvement of agricultural production level In 2004, the average per unit yield of the main crops in the village where the cooperative is located increased by more than 10%, with a total increase of 40 million kg of grain At present, there are 1.61 million mu of arable land in the operation service area of agricultural machinery operation cooperatives in the whole province, with the total cost saving and efficiency increasing to more than 100 million yuan, and the average household income increasing by 2654 yuan However, when the reporter came to Xinyuan agricultural machinery operation cooperative in Beilin District, Suihua City for an interview, Gao Fulin, general manager, was worried "If the oil price goes up like this, it will be difficult for us to continue to serve the farmers." According to Gao Fulin, the machinery of agricultural machinery cooperative charges 10 yuan per standard mu for serving farmers, which is calculated according to the level of 2550 yuan per ton of diesel oil in 1997 Eight years later, the retail price of diesel has risen to more than 4400 yuan per ton, but the charge for mechanical operation has not been increased "If prices rise, people will dig their own land in spring, let alone use machinery Next year's grain output and quality can be imagined." In Hunan Province, the situation is also not optimistic Before 1994, the index of agricultural oil allocated by the state to Hunan Province was 200000 tons At that time, the oil price per ton was about 1500 yuan lower than the market oil price, which was equivalent to 300 million yuan of subsidies to farmers At that time, the total power of agricultural machinery in Hunan Province was 14-15 million kilowatts This year, the total power of agricultural machinery in Hunan Province exceeded 30 million kilowatts, doubling The market price of oil has nearly doubled since 1994 Pan Xinchu, director of the office of Hunan Agricultural Mechanization administration, said that the current cultivation and harvesting of an mu of land consumes 2kg of oil, not including irrigation and drainage, transportation, etc., and the increase in oil prices will definitely increase the burden on farmers At present, although the state subsidizes the purchase of large-scale agricultural machinery in some project counties, with the rising oil price, for some farmers, the purchase of agricultural machinery is affordable, but it can not be supported, which inhibits the enthusiasm of farmers It is reported that the Agricultural Mechanization Department of the Ministry of agriculture has put forward 3 million yuan to implement the pilot of agricultural oil subsidies, and Hengdong County in Hunan Province is one of the six demonstration counties Liu Renqiu, director of Agricultural Machinery Bureau of Hengdong County, introduced that two pilot villages and towns signed fuel subsidy contracts with agricultural machinery stations, and signed agricultural machinery operation service contracts with farmers According to the principle of "more operation and more subsidies, less operation and less subsidies, and no operation and no subsidies", the agricultural machinery operators were subsidized This work makes farmers get benefits The charge price of agricultural machinery operation is reduced by 2-5 yuan per mu, which not only reduces the burden of farmers, but also promotes the development of agricultural mechanization, and stimulates the enthusiasm of farmers to purchase agricultural machinery In the implementation area of the project, the growth rate of agricultural machinery has reached 12%, twice that of the same period last year, and some large agricultural machinery households have begun to appear At present, some cities in China have begun to subsidize taxi and other industries in response to the high oil price The reporter believes that from the perspective of national food security, China should give more support to agricultural production It is suggested to increase the amount of subsidy for agricultural machinery in the major grain producing provinces, which is specially used for oil subsidy for machinery operation, so as to encourage farmers to use agricultural machinery and grow grain actively and stabilize grain production.