Don't let three roads obstruct the development of potato staple food.

Editor's note

Since the development and implementation of potato staple food for three years, the product research and development has been accelerated, the processing technology has been continuously improved, the processing enterprises have been growing, the market has been expanding, the mechanism has been continuously improved, and the culture of potato staple food has been constantly rooted in the hearts of the people. Potato staple food products are entering thousands of households. As an innovative system engineering, the development of potato staple food involves many links, such as production, processing, consumption and so on, in which there are many shortcomings in the whole mechanization of production, which has become the main factor restricting the progress of potato staple food development.

The first way is the lack of farmers' awareness of mechanized production.

"China is a big producer of potato crops. Potato crops, mainly potatoes, are important crops for both grain, feed, vegetables and energy, with a planting area of 11.6 million hectares, ranking first in the world." Yang Deqiu, director of the R & D center of China Machine Mino Technology Co., Ltd., said. However, the mechanization level of potato production does not match its planting area. "at present, the whole mechanization level of potato in our country has not yet reached 30%. Among them, the mechanized harvest level is only 17.7%, while in the main potato producing areas such as Yunnan and Guangxi, it is only about 1%, which is a far cry from the current mechanized level of 95% in developed countries. " Faced with such data, Yang Deqiu said with regret, "many potato farmers have not yet realized the significance of mechanization in increasing their yields."

Indeed, for a long time, potato has been regarded as one of the cash crops, and its mode of production is also labor-intensive, which requires a lot of manpower to complete every link from sowing to harvest. With the decline of the rural labor force, the traditional planting model is obviously out of line with the times. At the same time, the common way for farmers to increase potato production is to apply a lot of fertilizer. "the process of agricultural modernization in China is similar to that of the Japanese model, and Japanese agriculture has chosen the road of improving varieties and soil before mechanization. The specific path is land improvement-chemical-improved breed-mechanization. After going through the stage of 'chemization', we will pay more attention to the development of mechanization and improved breeds. " Zhang Huaguang, deputy secretary of China Agricultural Machinery Circulation Association, explained. It is obvious that at present, potato production is still in the chemical stage. In my research, I found that there are some local farmers in order to pursue the high yield of potatoes, fertilization can be called a 'bottomless', the amount of fertilizer per mu can reach 150 kg. The amount of fertilizer applied in Europe and the United States is only 30 kilograms per mu at most. " Yang Deqiu said. How to improve farmers' awareness and make farmers realize that mechanized production is the most effective means to improve the quality and yield of potatoes is the first step on the road of potato mechanization.

The second way-- the integration of regional machinery is even more difficult.

For a long time, the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy has been regarded as the most important bottleneck in the development of potato production mechanization. In this regard, Professor Li National of Heilongjiang Agricultural Machinery Engineering Research Institute said, "the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy is not only a national problem, but also a regional problem."

In China, the potato planting area is divided into the northeast and North China first season area, the northwest one season area, the southwest one season mixed area, the Central Plains second season area and the southern winter planting area. Different geographical characteristics, planting varieties and other factors make the specific problems that need to be solved in each region are also different. therefore, it is not to say that unilaterally solving the contradiction between agricultural machinery and agronomy in a certain place is equivalent to being applicable to the whole country. For example, the Northeast and North China have flat terrain, large plots, wide rows and ridges for planting, and the development of enterprise planting is fast, and the level of mechanization in the whole process is relatively high. More than 70% of the northwest region is sloping land, with small plots, poor farmland infrastructure, many planting patterns, extensive farming methods, and most of them need small and medium-sized machinery. Most of the mountainous areas in southwest China, the plots are small and scattered, some of the larger dam areas have rich planting patterns, extensive farming and low level of mechanization. In the southern winter farming area, potato is planted in winter fallow rice fields, the plot is small, the soil is heavy, and ridge or border cultivation is mostly used. at present, it is mainly manual work. " Yang Deqiu explained, "the same machine may not apply in different places." Take the potato harvest as an example, at present, there are mainly two ways: joint harvesting and segmented harvesting. Usually, joint harvesting is considered to be the most mechanized harvesting method. However, the joint harvest is not applicable in the northeast where the degree of mechanization is relatively high. Because of the sticky soil in the area, the vibrating device of the combine harvester could not shake the mud off the potato cubes. If the force is too strong, it will also cause the internal rupture of potato pieces, forming a water core, causing internal rot, which will quickly spread to other potatoes. Therefore, the specific problems in the development of potato mechanization are analyzed. "

"due to the great differences in geography and climate, the products adapted to one region are difficult to expand to other regions, and the products are highly personalized, so it is difficult to produce and sell in large quantities." Li Guomin added. Thus it can be seen that to improve the level of potato mechanization in the whole process, we should not blindly pursue the growth of numbers, but also improve the quality of mechanized production and develop and manufacture machines and tools suitable for potato production in different areas. let agricultural machinery agronomy really merge together.

The third way-- Potato Storage hasn't solved the problem yet.

"the whole process of potato mechanization involves ploughing, sowing, ploughing, plant protection, harvesting, and further extending to graded storage, so that the whole process of commercialization of potatoes can be realized." Li Guomin said. Indeed, the current storage problem of potatoes also needs to be solved urgently.

Wheat, corn and rice can be stored for a long time by drying and drying. Unlike these three staple grains, potatoes have their own "vegetable" properties, so their storage needs suitable constant temperature conditions. It is understood that the suitable temperature for storage of potatoes is about 5 ℃. Too high temperature will cause mildew and decay, and too low temperature will cause frostbite. If exposed to the sun, it will cause its skin to turn green and inedible. The demand for such high storage conditions has really posed a problem for potato farmers. "at present, potatoes in most parts of our country are selected by manual classification and then bagged and stored after harvest. On the one hand, this kind of storage consumes manpower and material resources, on the other hand, it is not suitable for long-term preservation of potatoes. " Yang Deqiu said.

If the problem of potato storage can not be well solved, it will also cause price fluctuations and affect the enthusiasm of farmers. "take Inner Mongolia, for example, because farmers have no place to store potatoes, potatoes will be concentrated on the market after the autumn harvest every year, and prices will naturally fall. If a large-scale warehousing base is built, its market circulation can be well regulated. " Li Guomin said.

It is understood that many foreign potato manufacturers, such as PepsiCo and Sinopoux, have very mature practical experience in warehousing, which is worth learning from our country. At present, some domestic agricultural machinery production enterprises have also noticed the problem of potato storage. Wu Hongzhu, general manager of Qingdao Hongzhu Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd., which has been committed to the research and development and production of potato machinery, has a very clear goal. He revealed that the next step of the company's research and development will focus on intelligent adjustable constant temperature storage of potatoes to give potatoes a nest as soon as possible.