|
Better Wheat, Cropping
Practices, and Markets
Benefit Small-scale
Farmers in China
It was round, white, steaming hot, and smelled like a dumpling, but spicier. One bite revealed why—inside were bits of meat and vegetables cooked with herbs. “People here in Shandong Province are fond of these ‘jiao zi,’ “ says Wang Fahong, Director of the Wheat Management Program, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Other diners were using chop sticks to lift noodles from bowls of chicken broth. “Wheat products like jiao zi or noodles are also popular in Guangdong Province in the South, but people there grow only rice,” Wang says.
In fact, wheat area and production are falling off throughout China, due partly to poor grain quality, water and fertilizer costs, and competing uses for land. Conversely, demand for wheat is climbing with rising incomes and population. The government has created special subsidies and cut agricultural taxes to boost wheat production. In early 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture named Wang chief promoter for wheat productivity in Shandong. Among the many ways he approaches his duty is serving as technical advisor to the Laizhou Grain Company. It was once part of the Laizhou County Grain Bureau, during the days of the planned economy. Now the company profits in the more market-oriented system by contracting and supporting a large cadre of Shandong wheat farmers and exporting the grain to southern China.
Helping Farmers to
Market
Wang explained that Shandong’s warm climate and Yellow River flood plains allow farmers to grow as much as 22 million tons of wheat on 4 million hectares each year, along with peanuts, maize, soybean, sweet potato, and regionally prized fruits and vegetables. But with the disappearance of large communal farms, many producers are struggling to make a living off the land. “One problem is that farmers are very small-scale—the average landholding across China is only 0.7 hectares per family,” says Wang. “They need help organizing.”
Organization is second nature to Yang Congshun, Deputy Director of the Laizhou Grain Company. Nearby, a whirring conveyer was pouring a steady stream of wheat grain into the open hold of a docked ship. Once the hold was filled, the grain would undertake a 1,800 kilometer trip along the Pacific coast to flour mills in Guangdong. The cargo represented a small part of the output from more than 10,000 Shandong farmers who produce high quality grain for the company. “Normal wheat grain sells for 1.6 yuan,” says Yang, “but superior quality grain goes for 1.8 yuan. We provide farmers with credit for seed of the highest-yielding, best quality wheat varieties, and give them training and other technical support. Finally, we buy their wheat at better than market prices.”
Full Grains and
Flowing Water
One practice Wang and the Laizhou Grain Company are assessing with farmers is growing wheat on raised soil beds. In 2003, the company bought 10 bed shaping/sowing implements and gave them to farmers for testing. “Bed planting increases wheat yields and grain quality,” says Wang. “The grain is more densely filled, probably because the leaves live and photosynthesize longer. And the humidity in plant canopies is lower than on conventional plots, so fungal diseases are reduced. Finally, fertilization is more effective, so the developing grain gets more nitrogen to make protein.”
Largely through Wang’s efforts, bed planting is being tested by farmers on 20,000 hectares in 30 counties of Shandong. He first heard of the practice in 1997, while translating for two CIMMYT scientists visiting the region. He took a course in Mexico the same year with Dr. Ken Sayre, CIMMYT wheat agronomist and promoter of bed planting. Afterwards he returned to Shandong to champion the approach, initially for its dramatic water savings. “In the midst of Shandong’s productivity, a water crisis is unfolding,” explains Wang. “Agriculture accounts for about 70% of water use in Shandong, so saving water on farm is a priority.” Because the furrows around beds channel water more efficiently than a flat field, as little as half the water is required per irrigation.
|
To farmers like Zhai Yongliang, of Chijia Village, the water crisis is still more a concept than a constraint. But Zhai and his peers can readily recognize savings in diesel for pumping and in time spent managing irrigation. He stood in a field of wheat he had sowed last October with a bed planting implement from Wang, and spoke of savings of more 25% in production costs. “I would like to use the money to plant a cash crop,” says Zhai.
Decades of Strong
Partnership
Chinese and CIMMYT wheat researchers have carried on joint research since the early 1970s, helping both parties to develop varieties with enhanced disease resistance and higher yields, among other traits. CIMMYT has contributed particularly to the quality of Chinese wheats. Leading varieties such as Jinan 17 and Jinmai 19, which between them are sown on more than 1 million hectares in China each year, were improved for grain quality during their development through crossbreeding with CIMMYT wheats. The breeder who developed them, Liu Jianjun, attended CIMMYT training courses and did his MSc thesis on noodle quality under the supervision of He Zhonghu, a CIMMYT breeder, and Roberto J. Peña, head of industrial quality at the center. Over the years, CIMMYT and China have jointly organized more than 10 training courses, workshops, and conferences involving at least 1,000 Chinese researchers.
Continuing in this tradition, CIMMYT and China held their
first joint wheat quality conference in Beijing in May 2004. Drawing more
than 150 participants from 20 countries, the conference focused on progress
in China’s wheat quality research, the quality needs of the milling
industry and consumers, and international collaboration. “The US,
Australia, Canada, and the EU see Asia as a good market for their wheat,”
says Peña. “Asian foods such as noodles are becoming more
popular in the West, while traditional western wheat-based foods have
been gaining popularity in Asia.” The conference was sponsored by
the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, the
National Nature Science Foundation of China, the Grains Research and Development
Corporation, and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
For more information: z.he@cgiar.org
Back to Contents
January, 2005