The construction of high-standard farmland across China is progressing smoothly, with more than 670, 000 hectares undergoing renovation and upgrading in the first quarter of this year, said an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
According to Chen Bangxun, director of the ministry's department of development and planning, by the end of March this year, around 670,000 hectares of farmland have been newly constructed and upgraded to meet high-standard criteria. Additionally, around 2.9 million hectares of farmland are undergoing construction and development.
In the next step, the ministry will collaborate with competent departments to promote high-standard farmland construction. It will also guide the localities to promote projects while elevating farmland facilities and digitization in line with local conditions, Chen said.
"We will renovate and upgrade the existing high-standard farmland featuring low construction standards, inadequate facilities, disrepair, serious damage, and grain production capacity that cannot meet national standards, to further improve the disaster prevention and reduction capabilities of the farmland. Meanwhile, we will urge all regions to actively organize the restoration of farmland damaged by disasters and speed up the repair of farmland infrastructure damaged by disasters," said Chen.
China makes steady progress in developing high-standard farmland: official
China’s first intelligent field plant phenotype precision identification platform went into operation recently in Sanya City, south China’s Hainan Province, which is a milestone in the country’s development of intelligent breeding.
The phenotype of a plant is a term used to describe observable characteristics of the plant, such as its appearance, and some inherent physiological characteristics, such as resistance to drought and diseases.
In an experimental field of the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a large piece of equipment is moving across the field. The equipment, called the field plant phenotype precision identification platform, can move according to the preset track and can be remotely controlled. While moving, the equipment can scan the plants with its six sensors, just like a CT machine for plants.
"The ultimate goal is to achieve high-throughput, large-scale, efficient and precise collection of germplasm resources, which can be four to five times higher than the efficiency of the traditional manual collection," said Jin Xiuliang, a researcher at the institute.
Although the equipment looks simple from the outside, it contains six high-precision image acquisition devices such as multi-spectral, thermal infrared, and chlorophyll fluorescence devices. Data can be collected at fixed times and points according to experimental needs, and the collection of a germplasm material can be completed within 30 seconds.
After the data collected through this platform is transmitted to the data analysis center, researchers can more quickly and accurately screen out germplasm resources with excellent traits, laying the foundation for subsequent crop breeding.
"The plant phenotype identification facility at the National Nanfan Research Institute is a milestone in the field of crop science in China. It can greatly enhance the independent innovation capabilities of germplasm innovation, gene mining, and variety breeding, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's seed industry," said Li Huihui, vice president of the institute.
China makes major progress in smart crop breeding
