High-efficiency mechanization of plant protection: bid farewell to the "human-backed medicine barrel", we are just on the road

Editor's note? Plant protection is an important and weak link in China's agricultural production, and plant protection machinery is the shortest one
.
According to estimates, through a series of plant protection actions such as pest monitoring, one spray and three prevention, and unified prevention and control, the annual loss that can be recovered accounts for about 17% of China's total grain output
.
However, China’s plant protection machinery is still at the level of developed countries around the 1950s.
There are about 58 million knapsack manual (electric) sprayers, accounting for 93.
5% of the social ownership of plant protection machinery
.
This large-capacity and extensive application technology not only caused excessive use of pesticides, low utilization rate, and poor effect, but also caused problems such as agricultural non-point source pollution and increased resistance to pests and diseases
.
The development of new high-efficiency plant protection machinery represented by self-propelled boom sprayers and plant protection drones has become the key to advancing the zero-growth action of pesticides and making up for the shortcomings of mechanization in the whole process of agricultural production
.
? How important? High-efficiency plant protection machinery is the key to the success of the zero-growth initiative? There are about 120 major agricultural pests and diseases in China, including 14 pests and 100 pests in the first category, with an area of ​​7 billion acres occurring every year, which is huge
.
"In recent years, the country has vigorously promoted plant protection actions such as pest monitoring, one spray and three prevention, and unified prevention and control.
The prevention and control area has reached 8 billion mu, and the annual loss that can be recovered accounts for about 17% of China's total grain output
.
" Plantation Management of the Ministry of Agriculture Zhang Lisheng, a researcher from the Division of Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine, said at the 3rd China Agricultural Machinery Competition·Precision Plant Protection Lecture
.
? The core of plant protection is the application of pesticides
.
Although China's pesticide production technology is at the world's advanced level, because China's plant protection machinery is still at a backward level in developed countries around the 1950s, there are about 58 million knapsack manual (electric) sprayers, accounting for 93.
5% of the social ownership of plant protection machinery.

.
This large-capacity and extensive application technology has caused excessive use and low utilization of pesticides.
The use of pesticides in my country has increased from 230,000 tons in 2000 to 320,000 tons in 2014, an average annual increase of 8%.

.
The amount of pesticides per unit area is 2.
3 times that of the United States and twice that of the European Union.
The amount of pesticides per unit area is 14.
7 times that of the United States and 9.
3 times that of the European Union.
The application of a large number of pesticides has also caused excessive pesticide residues, crop phytotoxicity and agricultural problems.
Source pollution and other issues have exacerbated the increase in resistance to pests and diseases and the decline in biodiversity
.
For example, the abuse of bisamide insecticides to control rice pests in Linchuan District of Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province is relatively common.
Since 2013, it has been found that Chilo suppressalis has increased resistance to bisamide insecticides and its control effect has declined
.
Especially in 2014, the Chilo suppressalis recurred in some areas, and it was found that bisamide agents could no longer control the damage of Chilo suppressalis
.
? "Therefore, the pesticide zero-growth initiative launched by the Ministry of Agriculture should focus on reducing the amount of pesticides through scientific application
.
" said Zhao Qing, a researcher from the Pharmaceutical and Machinery Division of the National Agricultural Technology Center.
The key to the technical path of "control, replacement, refinement, and integration" is high efficiency.
Large and medium-sized plant protection machinery replaces low-efficiency small-scale plant protection machinery
.
Because there is not much room for high-efficiency, low-toxicity and low-residue pesticides to replace high-toxicity and high-residue pesticides, China's pesticide research and development level has been relatively high, and the cost of developing a new pesticide is very high and the cycle is long, so the promotion of high-efficiency plant protection machinery to improve the use of pesticides There is more room for rate
.
This can also greatly improve the efficiency of plant protection operations, promote the promotion of unified prevention and control, change the chaotic situation of scattered pesticides from one household to one household, and improve the prevention and control of plant diseases and insect pests
.
? According to calculations, high-efficiency plant protection machinery can greatly increase the utilization rate of pesticides by improving the atomization effect, droplet size, penetration performance and distribution uniformity of the technical performance of the pesticide equipment.
The pesticide utilization rate of the self-propelled boom sprayer is 50% About 15% higher than the liquid pump sprayer, 20%-40% of the manual sprayer, 30%-50% of the knapsack motorized mist mister, and its operating efficiency (in a single unit) is 85 percent of the manual sprayer.
15 times that of a motorized sprayer
.
? Where is the difficulty? The farmers’ awareness is not enough, and the subsidy amount is not high? However, the reporter was surprised to find that the self-propelled boom sprayer with such good performance has not been widely used
.
The Huafeng Agricultural Specialized Cooperative in Tianmen City, Hubei Province transferred 86,000 acres of land, with 268 members, 460 agricultural machinery and equipment (sets), and an output value of 230 million yuan.
It is an out-and-out modern agricultural cooperative
.
"Our farming, planting, harvesting, and drying are all high-level large-scale machine operations.
Only plant protection machinery is a shortcoming
.
I have used plant protection drones but the effect is not good.
Basically, we still rely on people carrying a motorized sprayer to spray drugs.

"Wu Huaping, chairman of the cooperative, said that in 2014, he talked with Yongjia staff at the Wuhan Agricultural Machinery Expo for three hours before understanding what the large-scale plant protection machinery was.
It was not used until 2015
.
? The Yongjia mentioned by Lao Wu is Shandong Yongjia Power Co.
, Ltd.
, which is the earliest manufacturer of new high-efficiency self-propelled plant protection machinery in China
.
Although as the chairman unit of the Plant Protection and Cleaning Machinery Branch of the China Agricultural Machinery Industry Association and the leader unit of the National Agricultural Self-propelled Plant Protection Machinery Innovation Alliance, the company's general manager Chen Yulin talked about the road to product promotion
.
? "In 2009, we started to build self-propelled plant protection machines.
We sold 5 units in 2010, 35 units in 2011, 70 units in 2012, 100 units in 2013, 300 units in 2014, and 700 units in 2015.

" Chen Yulin said, yes.
It is said that we have been doing very hard over the years.
Without the company's original garden machinery business support, it would have collapsed long ago
.
Moreover, 70% of sales are government unified defense and governance projects, which is not a good thing, indicating that market recognition is still insufficient
.
? There are many reasons for this situation.
The most important factor is that farmers don't recognize or approve it
.
After the reform and opening up, knapsack-type manual (electric) sprayers have been widely used among farmers, and people are used to carrying medicine barrels to spray medicine
.
Self-propelled plant protection machines, as a new thing, allow farmers to accept the process of need, even the new agricultural business entities such as the chairman of cooperatives and large farmers
.
? "Just like when the wheat harvester was first used, farmers were worried about not cutting cleanly.
Now farmers are worried that such a large machine will crush the crops.

.
"Chen Yulin said, so we can only rely on field trials one after another to tell farmers that the pressure loss rate is very low and the effect of pesticide application is very good
.
In 6 years, we spent 60 million yuan to conduct 2,000 demonstrations.
The speed of market development is relatively slow
.
However, testing and demonstration have to be continued, and the awareness of new business entities must be gradually raised before they can be widely promoted
.
? "Another problem is the legacy of history
.
Because plant protection machinery has been mainly manual for a long time, it has no power system and is not considered as agricultural machinery
.
Therefore, the Department of Agricultural Mechanization of the Ministry of Agriculture is in charge of agricultural machinery, and the Department of Planting Industry is in charge of plant protection machinery
.
"Chen Yulin analyzed that although plant protection machinery is included in the agricultural machinery purchase subsidy catalog, farmers need to apply for cross-departmental purchases, first apply at the plant protection station, and then apply to the Agricultural Machinery Bureau
.
Moreover, the current subsidy lacks grading standards, which does not reflect the advanced level
.
Because the current market The good and bad products of self-propelled plant protection machines vary from 30,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan
.
In 2016, the national subsidy standard for self-propelled plant protection machines was 31,500 yuan.
If farmers want to buy high-quality products, they will be under greater pressure.

.
? How to break the situation? The rise of agricultural services is expected to open up a blue ocean? "Although it is difficult now, high-efficiency plant protection machinery will definitely be a blue ocean in the field of agricultural machinery in China
.
"Chen Yulin said optimistically, we want to use the China Agricultural Machinery Competition to enter the agricultural machinery industry this year, so that people realize that plant protection machinery is also agricultural machinery, and not ordinary agricultural machinery
.
High-efficiency plant protection machinery can be applied to all crops, and can even extend sowing, spreading, etc.
Function, unlike a wheat harvester that can only harvest wheat, a rice harvester can only harvest rice, it is not necessary to use it once a year
.
? "The high-efficiency plant protection machine has a wide range of applications and a long operation time, and it is very suitable for the development of agricultural services
.
"Zhu Qinghai, Chairman of Haifeng Plant Protection Co.
, Ltd.
of Linyi City, Shandong Province, said that I am going to order a batch of self-propelled boom sprayers from Yongjia, and set up a plant protection operation service team, that is, a drug-fighting team.

.
Linyi is a big agricultural city with a diverse planting structure, including wheat, corn, peanuts, and rice, with at least 100 days of operation a year
.
A high-efficiency plant protection machine can operate 200 acres a day.
According to the standard of 15-20 yuan per acre for prevention and control, earn 3,000-4,000 yuan per day.
Excluding fuel consumption and labor costs, the purchase cost of 150,000 yuan can be recovered within one year
.
? Zhu Qinghai was also forced to do agricultural plant protection services
.
He was originally a pesticide distributor in Linyi City, and he was very worried about the aggressive e-commerce of agricultural materials
.
High-efficiency plant protection machinery opened the way for him.
He integrated his original retailers in the county and villages, equipped them with self-propelled boom sprayers, and changed from selling pesticides to selling plant protection services
.
In the spare time, the retailers do their own work.
When there is information about the operation, the personnel combine to form a drug-fighting team.
They work a day and pay a day's money.
This solves the problem of high wages for the drug-fighters
.
? Pharmaceutical companies and fertilizer companies are also planning to transform through the development of agricultural services.
This year, Shandong Yongjia relies on 4S stores to cooperate with Shandong Binnong Technology Co.
, Ltd.
, Hebei Weiyuan Biochemical Pesticide Co.
, Ltd.
, and Shandong Jinzhengda Ecological Engineering Co.
, Ltd.
The service system has entered the cooperative implementation stage in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Heilongjiang and other places
.
? Making full use of high-efficiency plant protection machinery to develop agricultural services, changing from selling products to selling services is becoming a new hot spot in the field of agricultural materials in China
.
Although the high-efficiency mechanization of plant protection has just embarked on its journey, the comprehensive agricultural services it brings will reconstruct the ecology of the agricultural materials industry
.