A symposium themed on the Sustainable Production Increase Strategy of Commodity Grain Base in Northeast China , hosted by the Agriculture Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and undertaken by the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was held in Changchun from November 30 to December 1, 2010.
The symposium was attended by seven CAE Members, namely Xia Xianzhu, Dai Jingrui, Gai Junyi, Jiang Yiyuan, Liu Xingtu, Chen Wenfu and Li Yu, together with more than 70 other representatives coming from the Science and Technology Departments of the three provinces in Northeast China, Academies of Agricultural Sciences, as well as certain universities and research institutes.
The Northeast China refers to Liaoning Province, Jilin Province, Heilongjiang Province and four cities in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, covering 1.244 million square kilometers, which is regarded as the most important commodity grain production base in China, thus assuming a crucial position in safeguarding the national food security.
The past 60 years has witnessed a rapid increase in the total grain output. Yet, as the agricultural infrastructure construction is still relatively weak, and food production is still largely influenced by natural disasters, therefore fluctuations in the total annual output are quite noticeable, and the growth of the per unit yield of grain in recent years has been slow.
As a result, how to further maintain the stability and sustainable increase of commodity grain production is of great significance to the national food security.
This symposium is, therefore, centered on researches and discussions related to this important issue, that is, the strategy on sustainable growth of commodity grain production in Northeast Commodity Grain Base. A total of 5 CAE Members and 9 experts made wonderful presentations, which covered a wide range of subjects, from Northeast agricultural cluster construction plans, characteristics and potential of the development of grain production in Northeast China, development strategies on dominant crops like corn, rice and soy beans, together with the approaches to increase their production, to the supporting role of agricultural mechanization to production increase, as well as the water and soil regulation technology in Northeast China, and the countermeasures handling low and middling yielding fields etc.
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After the academic presentation section, participating representatives gathered for a focused discussion. In the discussion section, they gave recognition to the strategic position of the commodity grain production base in Northeast China, pointing out that Northeast China is actually the district with the best potential for production increase in China.
They held that we should make full use of the natural conditions in Northeast China, combining all the agricultural production factors like soil, seeds, water and agricultural machinery reasonably and scientifically. In this way, the grain production capability of Northeast China will be further promoted, thus helping to guarantee the national food security, ecological security, as well as the implementation of the sustainable agricultural development strategy.
Some of the participants of the symposium are academicians and experts who have long been engaged in researches in high-yield techniques for dominant crops like corn, rice and soy beans, or agricultural water and soil regulation, as well as agricultural machinery. Still some are specialists and department officials who have been working on development strategy in food production, as well as agricultural science and technology management for a long time.
High-level academic presentations, along with in-depth discussion regarding the strategy on sustainable production growth of crops provided theoretical and technical support for the establishment of CAS Northeast Modern Agriculture Innovative Cluster, and the improvement in its implementation measures.
They also help enormously to lay significant scientific basis for government decision-making in related areas in the future. (By Luo Shasha, January 2011; translated by Liu Chang)
