Digital technologies key to modernization of farm ecosystem
Farmers play a vital role in the global community, because their hard work and dedication produce the food and other necessities that we all need.
Agriculture is the most basic priority of a successful society. As the famous agronomist, Nobel Peace Prize winner and “father of the green revolution” Normal Borlaug said, “Everything else can wait; agriculture can’t.”
Among all the nations in the world, China has the largest population and thus the most mouths to feed. The well-being of our own people depends on our ability to feed ourselves with safe, nutritious food that is grown sustainably. This is not easy, given that we have 20 percent of the world population but only 7 percent of arable land.
China has successfully developed its agricultural sector over past decades but such development has also contributed to a shortage of good farmland as well as a strain on water supplies. Beyond our borders, the whole world faces an urgent need to collaborate on climate change and environmental protection.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted farming, reminding us of the fragility of food supply chains and their critical importance to people everywhere. Holistically, it’s plain to see that a strategic approach to farming is a key route to human well-being and stability.
China’s leaders are meeting these challenges head on. Today, food security is the government’s primary agricultural agenda. Advancing agricultural modernization, especially agricultural technology modernization, and strengthening the integration of agriculture and technology were incorporated in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).
This year marks the start of the 14th FiveYear Plan. The newly released No 1 document of 2021 highlighted the need for rural revitalization and the importance of modernizing agriculture. The central government pledged again it will ensure adequate grain output and improve agricultural products’ quality and food safety, which will be the top goals for this year.
While Chinese consumers and society are increasingly paying attention to food quality and safety, improving the quality and nutrition of crops becomes equally important with agricultural product consumption confidence, which means teaching farmers how to maintain yields without overusing fertilizer and pesticides.
This is why building a modern agricultural ecosystem is important and where digital and technological platform can make a huge difference, one example being that we can now provide information on local weather patterns, and weed and insect threats, to enable farmers to confidently increase yields and reduce pesticide use.
With modern agriculture platforms, smart farming technology, including drone and satellite imagery and pattern modeling available now, we are able to provide farmers across the country the support they need, turning their mobile phones into intelligent environmental tools and resources.
These transformations are already taking place and will help Chinese farmers quickly leapfrog into modern, highly efficient agricultural techniques, while also reducing the use of fertilizers, pesticides and save water.
This is also in line with the guidelines from the latest No 1 document, which said “(China will help) expand specialized agriculture service providers and introduce advanced and suitable breeds, inputs, technologies and equipment to small-scale farmers.”
China’s plans to support market players to establish regional centers that provide comprehensive agricultural services covering the whole supply chain are also exciting for the entire industry and all market participants.
Despite all the attention on China’s urbanization, China has a large percentage of its population still living and working on farms. With the help of agri-tech and this new business model, small farmers can benefit from a huge and supportive ecosystem.
With modernized agriculture, income gap between rural and urban residents can be further narrowed and the poverty alleviation outcomes will be further consolidated. Creation of more jobs is also expected in rural regions as the entire industry value chain develops further.
All these will help ensure that, by 2025, China will see substantial progress in the modernization of agriculture and the countryside and then achieve by 2035 the goal of making “decisive” progress for basic modernization of agriculture and rural areas, a timeline outlined in the No 1 document.
And for the consumers they ultimately serve, smart farming and digitalization can also solve their pain points — for example, tools are already available on the market that enable full product traceability, giving consumers the ability to scan a code to see information on farm location, harvest date and sustainability.
Making agricultural production more sustainable and environmentally friendly, while digitally connecting farmers to the consumers who consume their food, not only represents the trend for Chinese agriculture, but also the future of global agricultural development.
We have only one planet. We need to pay more attention to the protection of soil health and water resources, to help life on our planet co-exist with growth and to protect biodiversity.
The No 1 document emphasizes that the country must retain a “red line” of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land.
It is important to carry out and expand farmer training and capacity building projects all over the world, using scientific and technological research and development to help farmers quickly respond to the problems encountered in agricultural production, including how to combat climate change, abnormal weather, and other challenges.
For China’s and even the world’s agricultural sector, green production and quality improvement are possible through technological innovation.
By tracing and analyzing the data from across China, it would be possible to ensure farmers who have been trained, and are equipped with modern agriculture technologies and tools, produce better quality agricultural products with higher land utilization rate, improved fertilizer utilization rate, and reduced carbon emissions.
Agriculture plays an important role in tackling global climate change issues. Facing the ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality, the agricultural sector and leading companies shoulder great responsibilities and will also embrace great opportunities.
Enabling farmers worldwide to be more productive, more environmentally sustainable, more independent, and more risk-resilient in the face of extreme weather and disease is the key to feeding and protecting the whole planet.
The well-being of our own people depends on our ability to feed ourselves with safe, nutritious food that is grown sustainably. This is not easy, given that we have 20 percent of the world population but only 7 percent of arable land.
Beijing has made headway in building a comprehensive transport system during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which has helped improve urban management and cross-regional coordinated development.
In the past five years, the city started the construction of nine urban rail sections. Eleven sections totaling 160.6 kilometers have come into service, according to Zhao Hong, a senior official of the Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office.
By the end of 2020, the length of Beijing’s urban rail transit network reached 727 km, ranking second among China’s cities.
The capital has built an extensive rail network consisting of 23 lines that cover 13 of the city’s 16 districts, Zhao said. “Rail transit has become a main form of urban public transportation.”
According to data from the Ministry of Transport, Beijing ranks third in annual passenger volume for urban rail transit, with 229 million passenger trips completed last year.
Zhao added that a series of advanced technologies have been used in the rail lines’ construction.
The Yanfang Line, which started operation in 2017, is China’s first domestically developed driverless subway. Meanwhile, the Daxing Airport Line with a maximum speed of 160 km per hour is the fastest metro route in the country.
All rail stations are equipped with mobile payment systems and QR code check-in gates to ease congestion and offer convenience to passengers, said Rong Jun, deputy director of the Beijing Commission of Transport.
The urban bus system has also been improved over the past five years.
Authorities have optimized the bus route network, reducing overlapping routes by 2,078 km and adding bus services to 430 km of roads.
Passengers are offered real-time information of nearly all bus routes, including distance, arrival time and how busy they are. “This allows commuters to plan their trip more efficiently,” Rong said.
The city’s expressway network continued to expand with eight, including those linking the capital and Hebei province, opened. By the end of last year, Beijing registered a total expressway mileage of more than 1,170 km.
The local government has launched six rail projects in the past five years. One was the BeijingXiong’an intercity railway, which began operation in December 2020. The high-speed rail line cut the journey time from Beijing West Railway Station to the Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province to 50 minutes.
A one-hour traffic circle in the core area of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and a 1.5-hour traffic circle among neighboring cities have basically been formed, which will provide support for the integrated development of the region, Rong said.
For the 14th Five-Year Plan (202125), Beijing will build a large-scale transport hub in its subcity center of Tongzhou district.
The hub will connect three railways and three subways. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, according to the city government.
HANGZHOU — Fluent in Chinese, Dmitry Doronin, a doctoral student from Russia, is keen to share his experience in rural villages in East China’s Zhejiang province with his 1.4 million followers online.
Having settled in the countryside last August, the 32-year-old has since created hundreds of video clips that record the leisurely rural lifestyle in Hengzhang village, Songyang county, Lishui city.
“The rice is grown in the terraced fields together with fish, which helps minimize pest damage, thus contributing to increased yield,” said Dmitry, while introducing local agricultural products on the popular Chinese short-video platform Douyin.
Apart from filming videos, Dmitry also enjoys working with farmers in the fields, doing activities such as planting and harvesting vegetables, feeding buffalo and reaping rice.
Living in a rural area provides him with unique and charming experiences, he says, quite different from the hustle and bustle of big cities, such as Shanghai, where he studies.
And he has been a pleasant surprise to the villagers as well.
Villager Bao Mingyue, 76, says: “To our surprise, the young Russian not only knows how to cook Chinese food but is interested in working in the fields.”
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the sales of local agricultural products had dropped significantly, so Dmitry volunteered to promote the products in his videos.
In a few months, 10,000 kilograms of oranges, 4,000 kg of dried sweet potatoes and 300 kg of honey had been sold, thanks to his help.
“After his arrival, and benefiting from his livestreams, it seems that more tourists have come to visit our village,” says 72-year-old Pan Xiannyu, who is delighted to see the positive changes in her hometown.
One comment under Dmitry’s post reads: “Thanks to your videos, I learned how beautiful the countryside life can be.”
Dmitry loves his country life. “In the countryside, you can immerse yourself in the traditional way of life and understand this country better,” he says.
According to him, the impressions of China among some Russians are still outdated, despite the fact that China has progressed in leaps and bounds.
“I would like to become a peopleto-people envoy of friendship between the two countries by using the internet,” he adds.
Dmitry has been living in China for over seven years. After seeing how rapidly rural areas in China have developed, he plans to stay in the countryside after completing his doctorate.
“Every village in China is unique in its own way, and there is a lot to explore,” he says.
I would like to become a peopleto-people envoy of friendship between the two countries... Every village in China is unique in its own way, and there is a lot to explore.”
Dmitry Doronin, a doctoral student from Russia