The transformation of agricultural development mode and the rise of circular agriculture to a national strategy

On November 10, at the "Symposium on the implementation effect of small-scale Farmers' Recycling Agriculture" jointly organized by the School of Humanities and Development of China Agricultural University and Action Aid (China), Sun Yufang, director of the Resource Protection Department of the Agricultural Ecology and Resources Protection Station of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the development of ecological circular agriculture must be based on local realities, actively explore different models, give full play to comparative advantages, and highlight the focus of construction. We cannot simply set up a model in one size fits all.

For thousands of years, small farmers in East Asia, represented by China, have been following the law of circular agriculture, making full use of water, light and heat resources, making a living through the recycling of agricultural resources, and maintaining the harmony between man and nature, for example, a good ecosystem has been formed between "fish-mulberry-rice" in the Pearl River Delta.

Dr. Wang Zhen, School of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University, said that in the "fish-mulberry-rice" model, all kinds of agricultural life grow together, and in such a production system, farmers can not only make full use of the resources in various production links, but also reasonably arrange farming, and give full play to the use of labor.

Although circular agriculture is not a new thing, it is the need of agricultural transformation and development to upgrade it to the national strategy in recent years.

After the reform and opening up, China took the early industrialization road of the West, resulting in serious waste of resources and environmental pollution. This brings a series of problems to the already fragile agro-ecosystem. And in China, which has increased the total grain output for more than a decade, due to the shortage of agricultural resources due to excessive development and consumption of resources, and the discharge of a large number of pollutants lead to environmental pollution and ecological destruction, agriculture is facing serious challenges of sustainable development.

Sun Yufang said, for example, the average annual water use for agricultural irrigation in China is 330 billion cubic meters, but the utilization rate is only 52%, which is 23% lower than the average 75% in developed countries; the annual application rate of chemical fertilizer is 59.12 million tons, and the utilization rate is 33%; the annual use of pesticides is 311000 tons (net), the utilization rate is 35%, and the utilization rate is generally 20 percentage points lower than the average level of developed countries. The annual output of livestock and poultry manure is 3.8 billion tons, and the effective treatment rate is less than 50%; in 2013, the total output of straw is 964 million tons, the collectable capacity is about 819 million tons, and the comprehensive utilization rate is 76%; the amount of agricultural film is 2.493 million tons, but the recovery rate is less than 60%. Among them, 10% of the 20% remained in the soil.

The result is that excessive application of chemical fertilizers, spraying pesticides, and the use of agricultural film cause water pollution and soil quality decline; pesticide residues in agricultural products increase, so that food safety is threatened; agricultural machinery and tools, fossil fuels are widely used, increased energy consumption, aggravated air pollution; the rapid development of large-scale aquaculture industry caused livestock and poultry manure can not be absorbed in time, resulting in environmental pollution problem has become increasingly prominent.

In 2005, the State Council issued some opinions on speeding up the development of circular economy. In 2006, circular agriculture entered the No. 1 document of the Central Committee for the first time as a separate part. Subsequently, documents No. 1 of 2007 and 2008 are also described. By 2012, the expression of circular agriculture has shifted to a specific technical level. In 2013, it was mentioned that attention should be paid to the sustainable use of biogas, which is an important link in the development of circular agriculture.

By this year, the No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee proposed to "vigorously promote the development of agricultural circular economy." Subsequently, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "opinions on accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization" similar to the expression of the first document, referring to "the development of agricultural circular economy." This shows that the thinking of policy makers has changed, jumping out of the understanding of "talking about agriculture on agriculture" in the past, which is broader and more comprehensive, and pays more attention to the links between industry, agriculture and other industries and the recycling of resources.

In terms of local pilot construction, in December 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture identified 10 cities (autonomous prefectures) to carry out the construction of circular agricultural demonstration cities. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Zhejiang Province have jointly built a pilot site for modern ecological circular agriculture. As the only pilot province of modern ecological circular agriculture in China, the Ministry of Agriculture will support it in terms of policies, funds, technology, and so on. We will strive to form a modern ecological circular agricultural development system and a long-term mechanism for agricultural sustainable development through a period of about three years (2015-2017).

From the effect of the development of circular agriculture, the ecological, economic and social benefits are better. It has a positive impact on reducing agricultural non-point source pollution, protecting cultivated land and water resources, increasing farmers' income and rebuilding the trust relationship between food producers and consumers.

Sun Yufang said: due to the differences in natural conditions, resource endowments, degree of development, and cultural customs in different parts of our country, agricultural development in different regions presents multiple levels and imbalances, and the outstanding environmental problems we are facing are also different. this makes the development of circular agriculture must be based on local realities, actively explore different models, give full play to comparative advantages, highlight the focus of construction, and cannot simply adopt a model in an across-the-board manner.

In China, although circular agriculture has a long history, the time of industrialization is relatively short. At the seminar, Dr. Wang Zhen mentioned that at present, there is no specific policy for the development of circular agriculture, and policy formulation is scattered in national strategies and local economic and social planning, which restricts the development of circular agriculture to a certain extent.