Agricultural Observation | Achievements and Future Prospects of Agricultural Technological Innovation in China

Technological innovation is a strategic support for improving social productivity and overall national strength, and must be placed at the core of national development. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China set the tone for innovation-driven and independent innovation strategies. In recent years, under the strong leadership and scientific planning of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, a series of deployments have been made to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and improve the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress. The efficiency of China's agricultural science and technology innovation system has been significantly improved, and the level of agricultural science and technology innovation has continued to rise. Overall, the great achievements of China's agricultural science and technology innovation in recent years can be summarized in the following aspects.

Great Achievements of China's Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation

(1) Continuous Improvement of Agricultural Science and Technology Level and Leap-forward Development of Agricultural Modernization

Since 2012, China has increased its emphasis on agricultural science and technology innovation, with new ideas and technologies constantly emerging, and the overall level has significantly improved. The utilization of plant and animal germplasm resources and molecular design breeding, resource-saving agricultural technologies such as land, water, and energy saving, agricultural production and food safety technologies, agricultural informatization and precision agriculture technologies have become the main directions of technological innovation; adhering to a green, ecological, and sustainable development orientation, high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, ecological, and safe agricultural technologies are constantly emerging. By 2022, the coverage rate of good crop varieties in China has exceeded 96%, and the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress has also risen to 62.4%, and agricultural science and technology innovation has gradually become the key core of agricultural and rural modernization. The level of agricultural mechanization has continuously improved, and the total amount of agricultural machinery equipment has reached a new level. In 2022, the total power of agricultural machinery nationwide reached 1.04 billion kilowatts, and the number of high-horsepower, high-efficiency, multi-functional, and compound operation machinery rapidly increased. The level of agricultural machinery operation has rapidly improved, and the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop planting and harvesting nationwide has reached 73%. In 2022, the national grain harvest was another bumper harvest, with a total grain output of 1.37 trillion jin, an increase of 0.5% compared with 2021, and a per unit yield of 386.8 kg/mu. Grain output has remained stable above 1.3 trillion jin for eight consecutive years.

(2) Continuous Optimization of Agricultural Science and Technology Policies and Deepening of Reforms

In recent years, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward a series of new concepts, ideas, and strategies to promote China's scientific and technological progress and innovation development, regarding science and technology as the primary driving force and fundamental support for building a modern economic system, and as the fundamental and decisive force supporting and leading the development of modern agriculture, emphasizing the need to equip agriculture with the wings of science and technology. The No. 1 Central Document of 2014 proposed deepening the reform of the agricultural science and technology system, innovating the mechanism for the transformation of achievements, promoting the development of national agricultural science and technology park collaborative innovation strategic alliances, and supporting the construction of modern agricultural industrial technology systems. The "National Innovation-Driven Development Strategy Outline" of 2016 pointed out the direction for the development of modern agricultural technology, emphasizing that modern agricultural technology should be low-carbon, green, efficient, and safe, so as to effectively guarantee national food security. The "13th Five-Year Plan for National Science and Technology Innovation" emphasized the development of efficient, safe, and ecological modern agricultural technologies, particularly emphasizing national seed security, focusing modern agricultural technologies on plant and animal genomics breeding technologies and cultivated land quality improvement technologies, aiming to break foreign technological blockade, increase grain production, and thus ensure national food security and sustainable development. The "13th Five-Year Plan for Agricultural and Rural Science and Technology Innovation" clearly pointed out the need to deepen the reform of the agricultural and rural science and technology system, and that the supply-side structural reform of agriculture should be led by agricultural science and technology innovation, with the main line of accelerating the cultivation of new driving forces for agricultural and rural development, and with the development of high-tech agricultural industries as the main direction of attack, focusing on improving the agricultural science and technology innovation system and improving the quality of agricultural science and technology innovation supply.