Technology raises farm productivity
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E-mail China Daily, June 4, 2013
Although the methods of industrial agriculture, such as techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, are common in developed economies and increasingly prevalent worldwide, China's agriculture remained "old-fashioned", Zhang said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 21,810 yuan ($3,520) in 2011, three times the rural per capita income of 6,977 yuan in the same year.
"The gap is much larger than the global average," Zhang said.
To make things worse, more and more farmers are leaving their land for the cities, causing labor shortages in rural areas. In 2012, China had 262.61 million migrant workers, according to the bureau.
"The most important thing is to train farmers who are capable of making money from agriculture," Zhang said.
Between 2009 and 2012, the ministry sent 240,800 science and technology specialists to rural regions.
Zhang Shengming, 48, was one.
In 2007, Zhang contracted 13.3 hectares of land in Ningxia for wolfberry plating.
He found that pesticide and fertilizer abuse was common.
Zhang established a group of farmers who set strict restrictions on the use of pesticide and fertilizers. It soon attracted 537 households.
By 2012, the number of households planting wolfberries in the town had increased from 80 (in 2007) to 1,050, producing a yearly income of 6,350 yuan per person.
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