Promoting Rapeseeds Industry Development by Transforming Mode of Development

General Information about Rapeseeds Production in China

Rapeseed is a major oil-bearing crop in China, the average sown area of which reaches nearly 7000 thousand hectares all through the years, with the total output amounting to more than 12 million tons and the per unit area yield being 1,800 kilograms per hectare. China ranks no. 1 in the world in terms of sown area and total output, and the per unit area yield is also above average.

Rapeseeds play an important role in people s life for the following reasons. First, rapeseed oil is a major type of edible oil in our nation, accounting for over 40% of the total consumption of vegetable cooking oil. Besides, rapeseed meal can not only provide edible protein but also act as animal feed. Also, flowering stalk is a tasty thus much-loved kind of vegetable. In addition, many important uses of rapeseeds have been found when they are applied to scientific fields like medicine, chemical engineering, steel casting etc. Last but not least, rapeseeds enjoy a pretty long flowering phase and cluster to form vast expanse when blooming, which could help to beautify our environment and boost the development of tourism.

Chart 1: total rapeseeds sown area in China in year 2008, and the total output and per unit area yield information for provinces whose sown area stands beyond 400,000 hectares

Major Problems with Rapeseeds Industry in China

1. Winter type Brassica napus (rape) coverage still small

Although the winter type rape coverage is more than 100 million mu (mu is another measurement unit for area, that is, 1 hectare is equal to 15 mu roughly), ranking no.1 in the world, it s still far from enough when compared with the total area of all fields suitable for winter type rape cultivation,. Around 150 million mu of farmland fail to be utilized in winters. Actually there are two ways to increase the total output of rapeseeds. One way is to enlarge sowing area, and the other is to raise the per unit area yield. It so turns out that the former is more effective to achieve the goal of increasing the total output when compared with the latter. In the past 20 years or so, the area yield has been increased by 7.5 kilograms per mu, while one more mu of sown area for rapeseeds will raise output by at least 50 kilograms.

2. Per unit area yield and oil production capacity still low

The average per unit area yield for rapeseeds in China is 20% to 50% less than that of European countries, which indicates a spacious room and great potential for further development in rapeseeds productivity.

Oil content in rapeseeds has been improved moderately over the years, with an average oil content being over 42% in most breeds of rapeseeds along Yangtze River. However, generally speaking, oil content of Chinese rapeseeds varieties is still 2% to 5% lower than that of Canadian, Australian and European varieties.

3. Cost of rapeseeds cultivation still high

Rapeseeds production in China is still operated mainly by human beings and this traditional method requires 12 to 14 workers for one mu of rape land. That is to say, the labor fees account for more than 60% of the cost for production. However, in countries like Canada, rape production is completely mechanized, which requires not even one worker per mu. In Australia, labor fees account for less than 3% of the overall cost.

Another point is that we employ a lot of chemical fertilizers in rape production in China. For example, an average of 10 to 15 kilograms of pure nitrogen and 3 to 5 kilograms of pure phosphorous will be used for one mu of rape land. Yet, much fewer chemical fertilizers are used per mu in Australia, with only 3 to 7 kilograms for pure nitrogen and 1 to 1.5 kilograms for pure phosphorous needed. The truth is, the excessive employment of chemical fertilizers will not only increase the cost for production, but also do great harm to the ecological balance of the earth.

4. Quality of rapeseeds still needs to be improved

After foreign countries have successfully developed and produced Double-Low rapeseeds, they aim at further reducing the content of both saturated fatty acid and linolenic acid, yet increasing the content of oleic acid at the same time, which will help rapeseeds to become a more competitive kind of edible oil in the market. Prices for rapeseeds that are high in oleic acid and low in linolenic acid are higher than those of ordinary double-low rapeseeds breeds by 40%. Nowadays, in Canada and Germany, new varieties of hybrid rapeseeds that are over 80% composed of oleic acid and only 2% to 3 % of linolenic acid have been successfully bred.

China is among the latecomers and still laggard in this field, but has made steady progress in it up to now.

Promoting Rapeseeds Industry Development by Transforming Mode of Development

1.Try to increase per unit area yield of rapeseeds, and enlarge sown area as well.

To broaden the cultivated area is to mainly make full use of the fields in southern China that sit idle during winter time. In this way, we can thoroughly utilize around one third of those natural resources like sunlight, temperature, water, soil per year.

Another thing we can do is to encourage the development of winter type rapeseeds in northern China. New varieties of rapeseeds that can agree with northern climate and grow well in northern parts of China have been bred, which can help to extend the sowing area by moving it northwards from 40 degrees north latitude to 50 degrees north latitude. It is estimated that, in this case, the total sown area of winter type rapeseeds in northern China will be expanded to more than ten million mu.

2.Try to promote the mechanization of winter type rapeseeds cultivation and reduce manual labor to its minimum amount.

Machinery can well replace human hands and save manual labor, thus reduce production costs, raise working efficiency and increase productivity, with a lot of rural labor force being able to be unleashed. For instance, if we adopt the mechanized sowing, mechanized harvesting, moderate administration cultivation model and use 2BYD-6 mode rapeseed shallow ploughing & direct seeding combined drill, one single move can accomplish six procedures like shallow ploughing, stubble ploughing, insemination, fertilization, ditching and earthing up, which can guarantee over 40 mu of farmland s sowing work being done. In the same manner, if we employ 4YC-200 rapeseeds combine harvester, one single move can accomplish four procedures such as cutting and mowing, threshing, cleaning and separating, and straw returning as well, which can also guarantee over 40 mu of farmland s harvesting work being done. In this way, only 2 to 3 workers are needed for each mu of field, with the labor fees or costs being around RMB 300 yuan. On the other hand, the mechanized cultivation model can increase the yield of rapeseeds per mu to 150 kilograms or so and the net income can reach more than RMB 300 yuan.

3. Try to select, breed and promote new varieties of rapeseeds that are highly productive, of good quality, with strong adaptability to various ecological conditions and exceptional ability to resist natural disasters and suitable for mechanized cultivation.

At present, the cultivated area for double-low rapeseeds varieties has reached 90% of all in China, with hybrid ones accounting for over 60% and oil content of seeds more than 40%. But their adaptability to different regions and ability to fight natural calamities are not satisfactory. Therefore, we should further improve the overall properties of new varieties. That is, we should try to select, breed and promote new varieties of rapeseeds that are highly productive (hybrid breeds that can increase production by 15%, with high luminous efficacy and ideal plant types at the same time), of good quality (oil content being over 45%, oleic acid content being about 80%), with strong adaptability to various ecological conditions and exceptional ability to fight natural disasters (esp. ability to resist cold, drought and extremely high and low temperatures etc.) and suitable for mechanized cultivation.

4. Try to boost large scale & standardized cultivation of rapeseeds.

Modern agriculture is characterized, to a large extent, by large scale and standardized production. Without large scale production, machinery could not be utilized in large quantities, thus working labor productivity could not be increased by a large margin. Likewise, without standardized production, production increase and good quality of products as well as products safety could not be guaranteed. In addition, apart from mechanized cultivation, more researches need to be initiated and conducted with regard to digital rapeseeds cultivation. After all, we should aim at achieving precision cultivation gradually.

5. Try every means to enhance fine and further processing of rapeseeds and raise their added value.