Rice Farmers Seek Development while Focusing on Refined Planting Management

According to the 2016-2020 National Planting Structure Adjustment Plan (the “Plan”) compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, the top 10 countries with the largest harvested areas of rice in the world are India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia and Pakistan.

 

China has a rice cultivation area of 450 million mu (30 million hectares), which is lower than India (43 million hectares), but its total production ranks first in the world. China’s rice-cultivation area accounts for some 32% of its cereal crops, and according to the Plan, and this area will be maintained at 30 million hectares by 2020. 

 

In recent years, in the context of circulation of rural land right to use promoted by the government, is the rice production still dominated by small farmers? How much planting cost can farmers bear? What professional competence do Chinese farmers have today? Is the Chinese pesticide market still dominated by foreign brands? To find the answers to these questions, we made an indepth survey in the rice growing regions in Hefei and Chaohu of Anhui province and Xinhua and Gaoyou of Jiangsu province of China at the end of 2019. 

 

South-central Anhui and Jiangsu are typical single and doubleharvest rice cropping regions in Central China, accounting for about 59% of the country’s total rice cropping area. According to the survey, there are a few relatively large-scale growers in this region with an average age of 45 to 60 years old. These producers have a certain level of professional cultivation knowledge and are willing to invest in agricultural inputs and implement refined field management techniques. This year, the two regions welcomed their highest grain yields in 20 years. However, the predicament of a high yield combined with low income for some rice varieties, especially japonica rice, depressed the farmers. After interviews with the farmers, we learned about some issues that troubled them.

 

 

Almost all farmers in the surveyed regions stated that they were troubled by herbicide-resistant Leptochloa chinensis, barnyard grass, and herbicide-resistant barnyard grass. They said that penoxsulam, once the best herbicide for use on paddy fields, has lost its effectiveness due to resistance issues. Some farmers stressed that they became desperate because they had to spend some thirty thousand yuan to control weeds, such as Leptochloa chinensis and Eragrostis japonica. In some regions, barnyard grass have mutated and become difficult to eradicate. Feedback from farmers interviewed regarding the issue of herbicide-resistant weeds is summarized as follows (according to the continuous cropping of rice and wheat in some regions, which exposes the issue of weeding in wheat fields):

 

For weeds in paddy fields: As a general rule, treat paddy fields with pretilachlor once before transplanting and half a month after mechanical transplanting when the rice is at its tillering stage. Then, apply penoxsulam + pretilachlor, or single formulation of pyrazosulfuron with water and fertilizer, or treat the soil with pyrazosulfuron + clomazone and the plants by splashing butachlor 60 EC of Sinon Corporation. In general, common weeds can be killed after the mentioned treatments. After that, if tough herbicide-resistant weeds persist, some commercially available conventional pesticides, such as Metamifop + Cyhalofop-butyl can be used with Propanil to control herbicideresistant Leptochloa chinensis, but there is still the risk of compromising safety and the fact that repeated applications can kill both rice and grass. The cutting-edge herbicide, 3% Florpyrauxifen-benzyl EC, is highly effective but needs high use rate (80g/mu) to suppress barnyard grass and mutated barnyard grass, and care must be taken to avoid harming rice. However, the product has an extra advantage as it is also effective on broadleaf weeds. Ratoon rice is the most troublesome grassy weed in the regions surveyed, because it grows earlier than rice as an outbreak and farmers have no special herbicide to control it and have to eliminate of it manually. 40% Cyhalofop-butyl DSC, produced by Qingdao Kingagroot Resistant Weed Management Co., Ltd. (KingAgroot), can act on barnyard grass and herbicideresistant barnyard grass, but in some regions surveyed, its actual application rate must be as high as four times the level recommended on the label for it to work. It is also not permitted to be used as a broadleaf weed herbicide. It is proven that 20% Cyhalofop-butyl DSC + Metamifop 10% EC (2:1) could work on herbicide-resistant barnyard grass. This year, some farmers tried the herbicide, Daoyu (Tripyrasulfone), produced by KingAgroot to control herbicide-resistant barnyard grass, achieving an effectiveness of up to 80%.

 

For weeds in wheat fields: The main weed affecting wheat fields is black grass, and the main herbicides for it are Syngenta’s Axial (5% Pinoxaden EC) and KingAgroot’s Pucaoke (3% Cypyrafluone + Isoproturon % OD). For Beckmannia eruciformis , KingAgroot’s Jujishou (0.25% Florasulam + 0.75% Mesosulfuronmethyl) and Isoproturon can be used, and Syngenta’s adjuvant may be combined to prevent freezing damage, if any. Another common herbicide is Bayer’s Sigma (Mesosulfuron). ADAMA is promoting its combination of Diflufenican and Isoproturon. Most farmers stated that if the soil in wheat fields is well treated with herbicides, no further applications are needed. Otherwise, pesticides must be applied, which will depend on the weather, as they are not appropriate in cold weather. However, when spring comes, weeds are difficult to control with ordinary pesticides.

 

 

This year, early indica rice in some double-cropping rice growing areas in Anhui Province failed to produce full grains, leading to lower quality and decreased yields. The yield of early indica rice per mu in Anhui was 439.62 kg, a decrease of 24.09 kg or 5.2% compared to the previous year. The overall average price of early indica rice sold by farmers was 112.82 yuan /50 kg, down 1.99 yuan or 1.73% from 114.81 yuan/50 kg last year.

 

The supply of japonica rice outstripped demand this year and the purchase price of japonica rice dropped by an average of 5 yuan/50 kg compared to last year. The average purchase price of dry rice in the regions surveyed was 125 yuan/50 kg, and rice at harvester with a 25% water content was 100 yuan/50 kg, as well as 110 yuan/50 kg for 20% water content. Compared to the same period last year, the average price drop was 4 yuan/50 kg. Although grain depots in these regions began to use private contracting, the sale of rice was not satisfactory. For example, the town of Feixi opened only one grain depot with a storage capacity of 2,000 tons, however, there are 10 to 20 large-scale growers in this region with a total of 20,000-30,000 mu of paddy fields. The year 2019 was a good harvest year. The average yield of japonica rice was 600-650 kg/mu and the highest yield reached 750 kg/ mu, meaning that the opened grain depot could be filled up with a yield of 1,000 mu from one large-scale grower. Total production in this region was conservatively estimated at 12,500 tons. Except for the 2,000 tons purchased by the local grain depot, remaining production had to be sold to grain dealers in other provinces, such as Shandong, or to rice processing factories and distilleries. Grain depots purchased japonica rice at a government-protected price of 1.3 yuan/kg this year, while the price of japonica rice sold in other outlets fluctuated according to the market. In a good harvest year, such as 2019, the unit price of 1.00 to 1.2 yuan/kg could be regarded as a good offer. For large-scale growers with 1,000 mu of paddy fields, if the grain price falls by 0.05 yuan/kg, they may suffer a net loss of at least 120,000 yuan.

 

Glutinous rice recorded a good selling price this year. Prices in planting regions of glutinous indica and japonica rice were generally between 0.85 yuan/kg and 0.925 yuan/kg, much better compared to indica rice and japonica rice. Glutinous rice is not a major grain variety and is not covered by any rice protection price policy. Consequently, it is greatly influenced by the demand from the glutinous rice processing industry. Glutinous rice is a main raw material for cake processing, brewing and food industries. Despite the fact that demand for glutinous rice has increased in recent years, such demand can hardly support large-scale production. The glutinous rice growers interviewed shared a common view that they tended to increase their growing areas in 2020. However, some farmers were worried that if all farmers went mad and increased their growing areas, the glutinous rice industry would meet the same fate as the japonica rice industry in 2019, in other words, high yields but low incomes. In our opinion, it is wise to limit the growing area of glutinous rice if no varieties with high yields and good disease resistance can be selected. If orders can be acquired from glutinous rice processing companies, the planting of glutinous rice can be adapted according to demand and orders, provided that quality meets the requirements of buyers.

 

 

According to our survey, the cost of land rental is generally between 500 yuan/mu and 1,200 yuan/mu, accounting for almost half or more of production cost. Other main costs include seeds at 40 yuan/mu, fertilizers at 400-500 yuan/mu (based on doubleharvest rice or single harvest rice and single harvest wheat), labor for pesticide application and weeding at 3,000 yuan/mu, herbicides at 150 yuan/mu. Based on a double-harvest, two soil treatments will also cost 30 yuan, and the additional application of stem and leaf applied herbicides for weeding is subject to the growing condition of weeds while fungicides and insecticides will cost 80 yuan/mu.

 

There is a trend of increasing investment in farming machinery. Many farmers, especially those in most areas of Jiangsu Province, bought drones, with some even buying four to five drones each at a unit price of 40,000 to 70,000 yuan using various government subsidies. Leading drone brands include DJI, XAG and Digital Eagle. Some farmers are equipped with machine rooms, warehouses, transplanters, direct seeding machines, and even grain drying equipment, and the cost of a complete set of mechanical equipment can reach 3 million yuan or more. Drone-aided plant protection is popular around the world and is welcomed by the farmers interviewed. However, they said that most drones on the market have a capacity of 10 kg, which is a bit small and should be upgraded. In the future, they will definitely need new models with larger capacities and stronger positioning functions.

 

 

The survey shows that China has many professional largescale growers, commonly known as professional farmers, who are proud of producing large quantities of high-quality agricultural products. China also produces local products at production capacities, and farmers always choose products carefully.

 

Currently, sales channels can change quickly. With the emergence of large-scale growers, the breathing space for small retailers is becoming smaller. The downward penetration of firsttier distribution platforms into retail has squeezed county-level distributors. Large-scale growers in many regions voluntarily establish new agricultural cooperatives to purchase agricultural inputs and sell grain in a centralized way, leading to shrinking space for distributors. In some regions, such as Chaohu, Anhui, professional farmers are farming in other provinces, even as far away as Yunnan, but they still purchase agricultural inputs through local channels in their hometowns, which affects local channels and challenges the ability of enterprises to manage these channels.

 

Agriculture is still an industry that largely depends on nature. Therefore, it is increasingly important to further optimize the allocation of agricultural inputs while helping farmers guarantee quality and quantity, through precision farming technology and offering quality agricultural input products.