Our reporter Liu Qunsheng is an expert Bian Yousheng.
Dialogue background
In recent years, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, with Scientific Outlook on Development as the overall situation of economic and social development, have adopted a series of major policies to support agriculture and benefit farmers in accordance with the requirements of coordinating urban and rural development. All localities and departments have conscientiously implemented the central arrangements and earnestly strengthened the work concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers. The development of agriculture and rural areas has undergone positive changes and ushered in new development opportunities. However, it must be noted that the current agricultural and rural development is still in a difficult climbing stage, and the contradiction between the fragile agricultural infrastructure, the lagging development of rural social undertakings and the widening income gap between urban and rural residents is still outstanding. Solving the "three rural issues" is still a major and arduous historical task in the process of industrialization and urbanization. Only by building a new socialist countryside can we achieve the grand goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way. Building a new socialist countryside is a major and urgent strategic task facing the whole party and society at present.
What should we do to make the rural economy develop and the farmers’ lives rich while protecting the environment? Bian Yousheng, a researcher at Beijing Academy of Environmental Sciences, put forward the idea of building ecological agriculture and started the research on the construction of ecological agriculture in the 1980s, which was highly valued by the state and formally established as a scientific research topic. Over the past 20 years, the construction of ecological agriculture has won the hearts of the people and achieved fruitful results. Recently, our reporter interviewed Professor Bian Yousheng and had a conversation on the topic of ecological agriculture.
Ecological agriculture is imperative.
Reporter: What is the basic connotation of eco-agriculture?
Bian Yousheng: What is ecological agriculture? It is to plan, organize and carry out agricultural production according to ecological principles. It must meet the following basic ecological requirements: first, the determination of production structure and the arrangement of product layout must be adapted to local conditions and matched with local environmental conditions; Second, the utilization of natural resources cannot exceed the renewable capacity of resources; Third, in the use of energy and materials, we should take what we have and make up for it, and maintain the ecological balance; Fourth, while using renewable natural resources, we should pay attention to cultivating and multiplying natural resources, so that the development of the whole production will move towards a virtuous circle.
Eco-agriculture is a comprehensive and coordinated whole agriculture. The starting point and the end result of ecological agriculture are all focused on the overall function of the system. There are three most important standards to measure the overall function: first, economic benefits, that is, production should be developed and farmers should be rich; Second, social benefits, to meet the people’s growing social needs for agricultural products; The third is ecological benefit, that is, maintaining a good ecological environment. Eco-agriculture should consider the rational utilization of all resources in the system, make a comprehensive plan for human resources, land resources, biological resources and other natural resources, make overall consideration, adjust measures to local conditions, make a reasonable layout, and constantly optimize its structure to make it coordinate and develop synergistically, so as to improve the overall function of the system.
Ecological agriculture is the concrete embodiment of generalized agriculture. The difference between it and narrow-sense agriculture (or small-scale agriculture) lies in: in terms of production content, it is not limited to planting, but diversified management and all-round development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and fishing. From the production area, it is not limited to cultivated land, on the one hand, based on cultivated land, and strive to improve unit yield; On the other hand, treat all the land as their own production sites. From the concept of food, it mainly depends on food, but it is not limited to food. It is based on nutrition science, and scientifically arranges and plans agricultural production according to the quantity and proportion of heat energy, protein, multivitamins and various minerals required by human nutrition.
In a sense, ecological agriculture is a combination of traditional organic agriculture and modern inorganic agriculture, and it is a benign circular agriculture with expanding energy flow and material circulation. Organic agriculture and inorganic agriculture have their own advantages and disadvantages. The former is beneficial to increasing soil fertility, while the latter is due to the addition of energy and material, which increases the circulation of material flow and energy flow. The best combination of the two, each promoting its strengths, each avoiding its weaknesses, taking its advantages and abandoning its disadvantages, is ecological agriculture. In this way, the energy and substances that accompany the goods flowing out of the system are constantly compensated and increased by supplementing from outside the system, maintaining nutrient balance, maintaining a good agricultural ecological environment, and continuously improving soil productivity.
Ecological agriculture is an efficient artificial ecosystem, and it is an efficient agriculture with coordinated structure and function. Different from the natural ecosystem, it adds human labor and intervention, so it is not only a simple natural reproduction process, but also an economic reproduction process. The two are intertwined, and through human labor and intervention, its structure and function are constantly adjusted and optimized, so that it can get greater output with less input and achieve better economic, social and ecological benefits.
Reporter: What are the characteristics of ecological agriculture?
Bian Yousheng: As an artificial ecosystem, eco-agricultural system has its own characteristics. On the other hand, the eco-agricultural system is an integral part of the biosphere, which has all the commonness of the biosphere, and these are the most basic conditions for the existence and continuous development of the eco-agricultural system. But on the other hand, as an artificial ecosystem, the eco-agricultural system is much smaller than the spatial scope of the biosphere, forming a more unique part, so it has its own characteristics. These characteristics are adaptability to local conditions, comprehensiveness, stability, sociality and selectivity.
First, adjust measures to local conditions. Compared with other sectors of the national economy, agriculture has one of the biggest differences, that is, agriculture is a category in which the natural reproduction process and the economic reproduction process are intertwined. Crops planted in agriculture, livestock raised in animal husbandry, trees planted in forestry and fish raised in aquaculture are all living things, all of which have their own growth laws and are all limited by natural conditions. Therefore, the production department of agriculture should pay special attention to respecting the laws of nature and social economy. The eco-agricultural system is based on the rational and full use of local natural conditions and natural resources.
But what is local conditions, the community has different understanding. Some people think that "land" is "soil", and adapting to local conditions means adapting to local conditions; Others believe that "land" refers to nature, and adapting to local conditions means adapting to natural conditions. In fact, these two understandings are not comprehensive enough, because they do not include socio-economic conditions with regional differences. The socio-economic conditions have a profound impact on the eco-agricultural system. Therefore, the correct understanding of adapting to local conditions should be based on natural conditions and socio-economic conditions, both of which are indispensable.
Second, comprehensiveness. What we call comprehensiveness has four meanings. First of all, the eco-agricultural system is a multi-factor and multi-level complex, and its structure and function are very complicated. Secondly, production measures and technical measures must also be integrated. Third, the development of production and the improvement of ecological conditions must also be considered comprehensively. The development of production must not be based on the excessive use of natural resources and the destruction of the ecological environment; On the other hand, we can’t unilaterally emphasize the protection of the ecological environment and affect the development of production. Fourth, the development of agricultural production must not be considered from only one sector of agriculture, but must be related to processing industry, transportation conditions, market needs and competitiveness. We should not be divorced from reality, but should comprehensively consider the relationship between needs and possibilities, current and long-term, and local and whole. Considering the suitability of natural conditions, the feasibility of technical conditions and the rationality of economic conditions.
Third, stability. The stability of eco-agricultural system not only means that the productivity of the system is not easily changed by external factors, but also includes two meanings: the dynamic stability of nutrient and energy balance and the stable growth of economic benefits of system output.
How can we ensure the stability of the system? Generally speaking, the stability of eco-agricultural system mainly depends on the complexity of system structure and the number and length of food chain in the system. The more complex the production structure and the more food chains, the more stable the system will be. If the production structure of an agricultural production system is very simple, such as only planting (or only raising), the system cannot be very stable, and the output of the system will be affected in the event of natural disasters, pests and diseases (or infectious diseases). However, if the structure of the system is complex and there are many food chains, then local changes will not have a great impact on the whole system. Therefore, when we consider, design and plan the production structure of an eco-agricultural system, we should consider its complexity.
Fourth, sociality. Eco-agricultural system can not be separated from social and economic conditions, it is a social-economic-natural composite ecosystem formed under human activities. This special artificial ecosystem changes frequently, and there are a lot of inputs and outputs of energy and materials. If it is not managed properly, the system will collapse. In other words, people can build an eco-agricultural system, but they can also destroy it. For example, human production activities, such as irrigation, drainage and fertilization, can affect the soil; Pesticides control pests and weeds, and herbicides can affect biological populations other than crops; Harvest, transportation, product processing and so on will affect the redistribution of products, and so on. These are all human factors that affect the eco-agricultural system.
Fifth, selectivity. There are many internal contradictions in the eco-agricultural system, so it is necessary to distinguish priorities, make clear priorities, and choose appropriate measures and countermeasures to solve them. If the choice is improper, it will have the opposite effect. For example, the energy flow and material flow in the system circulate and circulate in a certain order, and must not be reversed. As we often say, there is more water, more grass, more grass, more insects, more insects and more fish, which is in line with the actual situation and correct; Another formulation, that is, more pigs, more fat, more fat and more grain, is wrong, and the order of circulation is reversed, because grain is the primary production here, and if there is not enough primary production, it is impossible to have more pigs. The correct formulation should be more grain, more pigs, more pigs, more fat, more fat and more food. Therefore, in agricultural production, we should first understand the objective law and flow order of material and energy flow before we can decide what to catch first and then what to catch. Only by grasping the primary production first can we open up a way for the secondary production. Therefore, when studying and solving the internal contradictions of the eco-agricultural system, we must understand the structure, function and evolution law of the system, so as to choose the most appropriate countermeasures and measures, so as not to get twice the result with half the effort and get good results.
Reporter: With the increase of population and the continuous expansion of agricultural production, what problems are China’s rural ecology facing?
Bian Yousheng: The government of China attaches great importance to the protection and construction of agro-ecology. As early as the early 1970s, it started the planned and organized protection and construction of agro-ecological environment all over the country and made great achievements. Especially since the reform and opening up, the state has successively implemented a series of forestry ecological construction projects, such as the "Three North" shelterbelt, the shelterbelt in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the coastal shelterbelt, and built key water and soil erosion control projects in seven major basins, such as the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, vigorously promoted the comprehensive management and comprehensive development of small watersheds, intensified desertification control, and strengthened the construction of grasslands and ecological agriculture, thus bringing China’s ecological environment, especially agricultural ecological environment, into a new historical stage. Various efforts made in the construction of ecological environment have an extremely important impact on China’s agricultural development and further on the sustainable development of the entire national economy and society.
On the other hand, from the requirements of development, the speed of agricultural ecological protection and construction in China is still very slow, especially with the development of economic construction, the further growth of population, the task of agricultural production is increasing day by day, and the agricultural ecological problems are becoming more acute. At present, there are still six major problems in China’s agricultural ecology.
First, serious soil erosion. One third of the country’s farmland suffers from different degrees of soil erosion, and the annual national topsoil loss is about 5 billion tons, resulting in the loss of more than 40 million tons of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium nutrients. According to the comparative analysis of soil erosion area and control area in China in recent years, the control area only accounts for 34%-38% of the lost area. According to the current trend, if fundamental control measures are not taken, the soil erosion area will increase greatly, which has become a key problem endangering the development of agricultural production.
Second, desertification continues to expand. At present, the desertification land in China is expanding at a rate of more than 1000 square kilometers every year. More than 50 million people are affected by desertification, and nearly 4 million hectares of farmland and 5 million hectares of grassland are threatened.
Third, the cultivated land area is decreasing and the soil quality is deteriorating. At present, China’s cultivated land area is only 98 million hectares, and the per capita cultivated land is less than 0.087 hectares, which is only 1/3 of the world average. Over the years, China’s construction land has been offset by newly reclaimed farmland, and the cultivated land is still reduced by 400,000 hectares every year. With the continuous decrease of cultivated land, the quality of soil is deteriorating, mainly manifested in soil salinization and fertility decline. At the same time, due to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the physical and chemical properties and ecological conditions of soil are declining day by day.
The fourth is the crisis of forest resources, which seriously threatens agricultural production. According to the results of the national forest resources survey in 1988-1992, the national forest area was l.31 million hectares, and the forest stock was 10.9 billion cubic meters, ranking fifth in the world. However, the per capita forest area is only 1/6 of the world’s per capita, ranking 121st in the world. China’s forest coverage rate is 13.96%, only 54.2% of the world average. Low forest coverage, vegetation destruction, ecological deterioration and frequent natural disasters have seriously threatened China’s agricultural production.
Fifth, grassland degradation is increasing. For a long time, grassland ecology has been deteriorating due to overgrazing, blind reclamation and neglect of management. At present, the area of degraded grassland in China is 87 million hectares, accounting for 32.6% of the area of temperate grassland in China, and the grass yield is only one-third of that in the 1950s, which greatly affects animal husbandry production and national economic construction.
Sixth, farmland pollution is getting worse and worse, and the ecological environment of farmland has been greatly damaged. With the rapid development of industrial and agricultural production and the rise of township industries, the discharge of industrial "three wastes" and urban domestic sewage and waste is increasing day by day, and farmland is forced to be used as a place to consume pollutants and is seriously polluted; Coupled with the sharp increase in the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural production itself, it also has a great impact on farmland ecosystems.
Ecological agriculture has broad prospects.
Reporter: In the early 1980s, the concept of ecological agriculture was put forward, and it was piloted in private villages in the suburbs of Beijing. More than 20 years have passed. What changes have taken place in Liumin Village?
Bian Yousheng: This is the first eco-village construction in China. With the support of the leadership of the State Environmental Protection Administration, according to the situation of slow economic development, increasing environmental pollution and ecological destruction and the shortage of land resources in suburban villages in Beijing, Liumin Village has carried out a series of environmental engineering construction: the industrial structure has been adjusted and completed, and the long-term single planting of rice has been changed to the all-round development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and by-fishing; Comprehensive utilization of agricultural wastes was carried out, and two recycling modes, the whole village type and the family size type, were established. Construction of new energy projects with biogas and solar energy as the main body; New waterworks and a series of municipal construction projects; Greening and beautifying landscape construction project.
After five years’ efforts, the total output of Liuminying Village increased from 620,000 yuan in 1982 to 16.4 million yuan in 1987, and the per capita net income reached 1,200 yuan, which was 27 times and 2.7 times higher than that in 1982, respectively, and the amount of chemical fertilizer was reduced by 45%. The whole village realized centralized biogas gas supply, reducing coal consumption by 3500 tons a year, and initially realized the coordinated development of economy and environment. In 1986, it was awarded the first batch of "Top 500 Global Environmental Protection" by the United Nations Environment Programme. His achievements won the first prize of the Ministry (1986) and the National Science and Technology Progress Award (1988) successively, and in 1997, he won the United Nations Science and Technology Star Award for invention and innovation, and his experience was popularized in 20 Yu Sheng cities nationwide.
After 1990, the private enterprises in Liuren further developed eco-economic construction, vigorously developed eco-industries, built pollution-free tourism products factories, built 800 mu of organic food production bases and 1,200 mu of water-saving farmland, developed agricultural sightseeing and picking tourism, developed service industries, and started driving schools and taxi companies. At the same time, they vigorously strengthened the construction of ecological environment, completed the biogas expansion project (a new 200m3 high-temperature biogas digester) and the renovation and expansion project of solar energy utilization, and completed greening. In 2006, the village’s GDP reached 263 million yuan, with a per capita output value of 310,000 yuan and a per capita net income of 10,000 yuan. Compared with 1982, the consumption of chemical fertilizer in the village decreased by 86.5%, and the forest coverage rate reached 40%. The successful construction and sustainable development of Liumin Village will play a good demonstration role in the construction of new countryside in Beijing and its surrounding areas.
Reporter: in addition to these ecological demonstration villages in the suburbs of Beijing, it is said that a series of ecological agriculture constructions have been carried out in some old revolutionary areas?
Bian Yousheng: Yes. For example, Xinxian County in Henan Province, located in the poor mountainous area of Dabie Mountain, was once a revolutionary base, the capital of Hubei, Henan and Anhui Soviet areas, and a well-known general county in China, but it has long been economically backward. Less arable land, barren land, complex natural conditions, frequent disasters, and difficult development and construction. Therefore, the construction and development of new counties can only develop ecological economy through environmental engineering construction according to local conditions, and improve and enhance their development capabilities. At the same time, we should strengthen the protection of resources, especially the protection of land and environmental resources. According to the actual situation of Xinxian County, combined with the relevant experience in the construction of national ecological demonstration zone, combined with the climate and resource characteristics of Xinxian County, the specific technical route was determined, that is, the economy of Xinxian County should be based on forestry and the comprehensive development model should focus on deep processing of forest products.
First, according to the characteristics and differences of the county’s ecological carrying capacity and resource distribution, the county is divided into six functional areas with different economic development directions; Second, according to the plan, the county has completed 86 projects in four years, covering economic development, environmental protection, urban and rural construction, farmland water conservancy construction, cultural industry construction and so on; Third, 13 typical models have been studied and summarized, and 19 ecological demonstration bases, 4 demonstration towns and 18 demonstration villages have been established.
After more than four years of hard work, the county’s economy has grown rapidly. Based on 1999 before the construction, from 2000 to 2003, the county’s total GDP reached 6.55 billion yuan (with a net increase of 3.15 billion yuan), with an average annual increase of 12.55%. The labor export income in four years totaled 600 million yuan (with a net increase of 340 million yuan), accounting for 9.2% of the county’s four-year GDP (with a net increase of labor income accounting for 10.7% of the net increase of the four-year GDP) The overall environment of Xinxian County has been further improved, with the environmental quality index increased by 6.3%, the disaster rate decreased by 11% and the land desertification rate decreased by 12%.
In recent years, Xinxian County has successively won six national honors, including National Ecological Demonstration Zone, National Sanitary County, and China Habitat Model Award. Its research achievements won the first prize of Xinyang City in Henan Province and the second prize of Beijing Science and Technology Progress in 2005, and its experience has been popularized and applied in more than 40 counties and districts in Henan, Beijing, Shandong and other provinces and cities.
Ecological agriculture benefits the country and the people.
Reporter: Can the successful pilot experience be popularized in the whole country, and what needs to be done?
Bian Yousheng: If China’s agriculture develops production in an extensive or predatory growth mode, its tremendous destructive power cannot be compensated by any powerful environmental protection work, let alone the sustainable development of agriculture. Practice since liberation has fully explained this point: on the one hand, it has made great achievements, fed 1.3 billion people and improved their lives, ensuring the needs of national economic construction; On the other hand, the cost is very huge, and the environment and resources have been greatly damaged. For example, soil erosion in mountainous areas is becoming more and more serious, desertification in the north, grassland desertification in the west and rocky desertification in limestone areas are increasing, and water resources are becoming increasingly scarce. In this regard, scientists have issued a warning of "unsustainable". There are also a series of problems such as pollution and acid rain caused by industrialization, which hinder the sustainable development of agriculture and even threaten the survival and development of the nation. The situation is very serious. In order to reverse the grim situation, China’s agriculture must solve the problems of self-protection and sustainable development. Therefore, China’s agriculture should seriously act according to the laws of eco-economy, realize the virtuous circle of production and pay equal attention to the three benefits, and achieve the unified and coordinated development of production, environmental protection and resources. Its successful experience and model is eco-agriculture.
Ecological agriculture is a long-term project, which benefits the country and the people. It is an effective means and main way to build a new socialist countryside and an inevitable choice for China’s economic development. Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council pointed out: "The 21st century is a key historical stage to realize China’s agricultural modernization, and modern agriculture should be efficient ecological agriculture." The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the protection of ecological environment construction, and clearly pointed out that the western region should speed up the pace of returning farmland to forests and promote the development of ecological agriculture and water-saving agriculture. Agricultural departments at all levels should further improve their understanding of the importance of ecological environment construction and protection and rural environmental protection, strengthen cooperation with environmental protection departments, vigorously promote ecological agriculture construction and rural environmental protection, improve the ecological environment and promote the sustainable development of agriculture. In 1990s, eco-agriculture was formally included in the Eighth Five-Year Plan of national economic development. In 1993, the construction of eco-agriculture demonstration counties began, and in 1999, the State Council issued the National Ecological Environment Construction Plan. At present, the construction of eco-agriculture is being promoted throughout the country, and 50 pilot counties, more than 2,000 demonstration sites and 111 pilot counties have been built. The reserved area for artificial grass planting and grassland improvement is 14.82 million hectares.
Government support and guidance is the key to the development of ecological agriculture. In the construction of ecological agriculture, party and government departments at all levels should proceed from the overall situation and make long-term plans to actively carry out the construction of ecological agriculture. It is necessary to strengthen leadership, strengthen the awareness of eco-agriculture development, and actively formulate and introduce a series of incentive policies and support mechanisms to guide enterprises, farmers and all sectors of society to invest in eco-agriculture. Ecological agriculture is not an ideal slogan, but a realistic problem before us, which is the fundamental and real stamina of agricultural development. Whoever knows and starts early in this respect will take the initiative.
It is necessary to improve farmers’ ideological consciousness and cultivate new farmers with culture and technology. Eco-agriculture, as an agricultural ecosystem that promotes a virtuous ecological cycle and is conducive to the protection of resources and environment, has shown its rationality and scientificity in practice. However, from the specific work, some cadres and masses of governments at all levels and relevant departments do not understand the meaning of eco-agriculture, and some of them are even unfamiliar, and have not yet seen the importance of developing eco-agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to combine rural work, agricultural production and agricultural technology popularization, publicize and educate cadres and masses at all levels to raise their awareness level, and clearly realize environmental pollution and environmental ecological problems. Frequent disasters have become a major hidden danger for the sustained, rapid and healthy development of agriculture and even the national economy. Relying on industrial development, we should extensively carry out various forms of practical technical training and vocational training in rural areas, guide farmers to advocate science, accept new knowledge and methods, and advocate scientific production and lifestyle. The main body of ecological agriculture construction is farmers. Only when the overall quality of farmers is improved, the project of ecological agriculture construction, which benefits the country and the people, will get twice the result with half the effort.
Reporter: What are the positive significance of ecological agriculture construction to agricultural modernization?
Bian Yousheng: In a nutshell, the task of China’s agricultural modernization is to transform all agricultural departments with advanced science and technology, industrial means and scientific management, make a big fuss about 14.4 billion mu of land, make full and reasonable use of all agricultural resources, make the ecosystem more reasonable, and give full play to agricultural potential, so as to produce as many agricultural products as possible with as little labor as possible and meet the increasing demand of society for agricultural products to the maximum extent.
In order to achieve this goal, we must proceed from the actual situation of our country, conscientiously sum up our own experience, learn from the successful experience of foreign countries with an open mind, try our best to avoid the disadvantages that have appeared in developed countries and embark on a road suitable for our national conditions.
There are two basic situations in realizing agricultural modernization in China: first, there are many people and few land; Second, the level of science and technology is low, but the labor force is abundant. This determines that China’s agricultural modernization must adopt the strategy of sustainable development. The basic direction of this strategy is to explore and build on the basis of biotechnology, make full use of solar energy and water, make full use of China’s labor resources and agricultural resources, and make full use of all kinds of advanced science and technology and management methods to make the agricultural economy develop continuously and at the same time make the agricultural ecology in a virtuous circle.
Historical experience tells us that it is impossible to realize agricultural modernization without a systematic view and an ecological view. The rise of eco-agriculture and its successful practice give us new enlightenment: eco-agriculture does not need large-scale investment. By making full use of solar energy and water, it can promote the repeated use and recycling of materials in the system and obtain stable and long-term economic benefits, which is consistent with China’s current poor family and the strategy of sustainable development in agricultural development. Eco-agriculture can make full use of China’s rich human resources and 14.4 billion mu of land, and establish various types of eco-agricultural systems in a wide range of plains, mountains, grasslands, water surfaces and forests according to local conditions to provide a variety of agricultural and sideline products for the society, which is consistent with the spirit that the central government has repeatedly pointed out that the development policy of China’s agriculture must be "never relax grain production and actively carry out diversified management"; Ecological agriculture emphasizes the complex three-dimensional agricultural structure and requires diversified products, which is exactly the viewpoint of "big agriculture" and "big grain" that we advocate; Ecological agriculture takes protecting and improving the ecological environment as its guiding ideology and promoting the virtuous cycle of agriculture as its important condition, which is consistent with the requirement of "developing agricultural production, we must protect the agricultural ecological balance" in China. Traditional agriculture in China has the characteristics of organic agriculture, and many of them are in line with the principles of ecological agriculture. Therefore, the construction and popularization of ecological agriculture is not only suitable for China’s current national conditions and national strength, but also consistent with China’s traditional agricultural habits, and is an effective way to realize China’s agricultural modernization.
