The output value of grassland industry in China has exceeded 300 billion yuan

At present, it is the most beautiful season on the prairie. Grass can not only conserve an increasingly fragile ecosystem, but also give rise to large industries. "Grass is a great cause, and China's grass industry has entered a new period of historical opportunity." Yu Kangzhen, vice minister of agriculture, said that the annual output value of China's grass industry has exceeded 300 billion yuan.

Statistics show that at present, the artificial recommended area in China has reached 280 million mu, with a theoretical annual output of 45 million tons of grass; three types of forage planting and processing industries have been formed: self-production type, ecological function type and commodity production type; and there are more than 300 grass product processing enterprises registered in the country. distributed in 21 provinces and regions, mainly concentrated in Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Ningxia, Henan and other places.

China has natural advantages in developing grass industry: it has nearly 400 million hectares of all kinds of grasslands, accounting for about 2/5 of the land area. Experts said that if the rich natural grasslands are used to vigorously develop ecological grass industry, on the one hand, the amount of feed grain can be reduced and the grain structure can be optimized; on the other hand, grassland ecology can be restored and farmland quality can be improved.

At present, the relevant departments have increased their support for the development of grass industry from the aspects of policy, capital, technology and so on. Starting from 2011, the state has decided to implement the subsidy and incentive policy for grassland ecological protection in major grassland pastoral provinces across the country. In 2014, the central government increased funding by 300 million yuan and launched a campaign to promote modern grassland animal husbandry in the south in 10 provinces and autonomous regions. Moreover, policy projects such as revitalization of dairy alfalfa development action, forage conservation, aerial sowing recommendation, grass seed breeding base and duty-free import of grass seed continued to be implemented. At present, the scientific and technological support capacity for the development of the grass industry has been further enhanced, and new varieties and technologies have been adopted for more than 90% of the new forage planting area each year.

More importantly, there is room for further release of the market potential of the grass industry. Statistics show that China's per capita direct consumption of grain dropped from 207 kg in 1986 to 148 kg in 2010, a decrease of 28.5%. The proportion of food in food continues to decline, while the proportion of animal food increases all the way. It is expected that in the next 15 years, the per capita consumption of animal food in China will maintain a rapid growth, and then there will be a long period of slow growth, which means that the demand for forage will continue to grow.

Experts say that in order to adapt to the changes in people's diet, more attention should be paid to the development of high-quality forage industry. The crude protein content of high-quality forage is between 16% and 20%, compared with 12% for wheat and 8% for rice. Experts predict that grassland agriculture will be vigorously developed in the future on the basis of making full use of the grassland, which accounts for 41% of the land area. It is expected that by 2020, with the supplement of the grass industry, China will enter a new period of feed export.

Yu Kangzhen said that at present, China's grass industry as a whole is still in the initial stage, facing outstanding problems such as weak foundation, unclear positioning and weak innovation ability. He stressed that in the future, the main battlefield of ecological work should be placed on the grasslands, the focus of the development of herbivorous animal husbandry on grass industry, and efforts should be made to create modern grass industry characterized by ecological friendship, combination of agriculture and animal husbandry, high quality and safety, integrated innovation, strengthening animal husbandry and enriching people, and inheriting culture.