Ministry of Agriculture: vigorously promote the protection and improvement of cultivated land quality

On October 29, the reporter learned from the National Cultivated Land Quality Construction Site Meeting held by the Ministry of Agriculture in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province that the Ministry of Agriculture will vigorously promote the protection and improvement of cultivated land quality next year, with fertility improvement, soil improvement, nutrient balance and quality restoration as the main contents, focusing on the implementation of high-standard farmland engineering built-up area, occupation and compensation balance cultivated land project area and cultivated land quality problem prominent area, striving to improve the inherent quality of cultivated land and lay a solid long-term foundation for grain and agricultural production.

The meeting pointed out that the root of food security lies in cultivated land and the key lies in the quality of cultivated land. Over the years, agricultural departments at all levels have actively promoted the construction of cultivated land quality while earnestly carrying out the construction of farmland infrastructure, providing strong support for promoting the continuous and stable development of grain production and planting industry, but the long-term mechanism for cultivated land quality protection has not yet been established. At present, the degraded cultivated land accounts for more than 40% of the total cultivated area. The black soil layer in Northeast China becomes thinner, the soil in South China becomes acidified, the cultivated layer in North China Plain becomes shallow, especially the problems of low quality grade of some supplementary cultivated land, which seriously affect the output of cultivated land. The cultivated land pollution and long-term high-intensity and overload utilization also threaten the quality safety of agricultural products and the sustainable development of agriculture.

The meeting stressed that in the current and future period of cultivated land quality construction work, in terms of development ideas, we should strengthen the concept of "paying equal attention to quantity and quality" of cultivated land resources and "quality red line" of cultivated land protection, improve the management mechanism and construction compensation mechanism, gradually realize the normalization, legalization and standardization of cultivated land quality management, explore and promote the establishment of cultivated land construction and protection compensation policies, and provide financial guarantee for the construction of cultivated land quality.

In terms of development goals, centering on the realization of agricultural product quantity safety, agricultural product quality safety and agricultural ecological safety, improve the level of field facilities and cultivated land basic fertility, improve the cultivated land quality environment, and ensure that 800 million mu of high-standard farmland with concentrated contiguous areas and drought and flood protection will be built by 2020; Cultivated land basic fertility will be increased by 0.5 grade, and soil organic matter content will be increased by 0.5 percentage point; The utilization rate of organic fertilizer resources increased by 20 percentage points, straw returned to the field reached 80%, zero growth of pesticide and chemical fertilizer consumption was realized, and problems such as acidification, salinization and pollution of cultivated land were effectively controlled.

On the development path, we should coordinate the current and long-term, production and ecology, engineering and technology, agricultural machinery and agronomy, highlight the four key points of "reform, cultivation, protection and control"."Reform" means improving soil, focusing on improving acidified and salinized soil and improving cultivation methods."Cultivate" means to improve soil fertility, focus on improving soil organic matter content and cultivated land basic fertility,"protect" means to keep water and fertilizer, focus on promoting soil testing formula fertilization and water and fertilizer integration, promote deep ploughing and deep loosening, and carry out contour planting;"control" means to control pollution and repair, focus on chemical fertilizer and pesticide application, prevent heavy metal and organic pollution, and control agricultural film residue.

The meeting requested that the task of cultivated land quality construction is long-term and arduous. Agricultural departments at all levels should promote the formulation of relevant plans for cultivated land quality construction, actively coordinate and strive for capital investment, do their best to demarcate permanent basic farmland and supplement cultivated land quality acceptance, earnestly strengthen the construction of cultivated land quality monitoring system, speed up the legislative process of cultivated land quality protection, and make greater contributions to promoting stable grain production, sustained income increase of farmers and sustainable and healthy development of agricultural and rural economy.