Farm mechanization takes hold in China, improving lives, accelerating urbanization

CHANGZHOU, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The combine harvested five mu (0.33 hectare) of wheat within an hour while Yang Shan, a farmer from eastern China's Jiangsu Province, talked with friends on his mobile phone.

The farmer in his seventies paid only 250 yuan (37 U.S. dollars) to the local machinery cooperative for the combine's services, equivalent to the daily income of his son who works in the town.

"In the past, my son would work in the sun dripping with sweat for one day to harvest one mu of wheat. Now machines do the farm work much quicker," said the farmer from Changzhou City.

Yang Shan's son Yang Fagui did not return to the village to do the farm work for his father -- he was too busy running his farm-machinery maintenance store in a nearby town.

"I started my business in 2008. When the busy farming season comes, my schedule is full. More and more farmers in Changzhou are using machinery, and this means increased market potential. I guess I can make 20,000 yuan this June," said Yang Fagui.

Yang's family is only one example of how rural households are benefiting from the increased application of farming machinery in China.

Figures from the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery reveal about 49.13 percent of China's farmland was plowed, planted and harvested by machinery by the end of 2009, nearly 7 percentage points higher than in 2007.

"The ratio is forecast to surpass 50 percent by the end of this year, and it might exceed 60 percent by 2015," said Bai Renpu, a renowned Chinese agriculture expert.

China had 1.826 billion mu of farmland at the end of 2009, according to China's Vice Agriculture Minister, Wei Chaoan.

Improved agricultural mechanization has eliminated the annual need for around 10 million farm labors in China's rural areas, Bai, a professor with Beijing-based China Agricultural University, told Xinhua in an interview.

"Agricultural machinery has not only greatly improved the productivity of China's farming sector, but also supported to the country's ongoing urbanization and industrialization processes, with increasing numbers of farmers landing jobs in secondary and tertiary industries," Bai said.

China's primary-industry productivity nearly tripled over the past decade, increasing from 4,146 yuan per capita in 2000 to about 12,000 yuan in 2009, according to Bai.

"I can make several hundred yuan each day mending wheat harvesters during the peak farming season, so it's understandable why I do not return home to help my father harvest the wheat. It's cheaper for him to use a combine harvester rather than hire someone to do work," added Yang Fagui.

Official figures revealed nearly 98 percent of the wheat in Changzhou was combine-harvested while 80 percent of the rice was transplanted by machine.

China's rural population will shrink from 900 million to 400 million over the next 30 years as farmers migrate to cities, Han Jun, a rural economist with the State Council's Development Research Center, a leading governmental think tank, has forecast.

In Yang's home city of Changzhou, nearly 300,000 farmers have landed jobs in secondary and tertiary industries since 1999.

Yang Fagui's younger brother, Yang Changgui, employs more than 50 farmers to run a dumpling restaurant in town.

"He makes about 60,000 yuan every year, much more than he could by planting rice or wheat. He doesn't have the time to return home to do farm work, either, but we are glad as the quality of life of our families has improved greatly in recent years," Yang Fagui said.