Development strategy for food security and modern agriculture in Anhui Province

Anhui Province, which was once poor and frequency hit by disasters, now produces 35 billion kg grains yearly through hard work for the past 60 years. This is 5.5 times of 6.39 billion kg grain produced in the early period of new China. Grain production in the province has increased greatly. The province has become one of the five largest grain export provinces in China and is being projected to export 40 billion kg grain by 2020. This will play an important role in food security and agricultural development in China. But in Anhui Province, construction of water conservancy is weak, with agriculture in more areas dependent on rainfed. Medium and low-yield fields account for about 60% of arable land in the province. The development of agricultural mechanization is slow, agricultural management is extensive, crop yield per unit area land is lower. Thus the endowed natural resources have failed to benefit agricultural production in the region. Anhui Province is a main area transformed from medium and low-yield fields to high-yield ones in future in China. This paper suggested a development strategy for food security and modern agriculture in Anhui Province to meet the agricultural transformation. Guided by overall policy of green development and enhancing quality, yield and benefit of agriculture, the regional governance should push for the improvement of medium and low-yield fields in lime concretion black soils area. Especially in the north of Huai River, this measure was in favor of developing more ‘Ton-Grain’ counties or cities in Huai River Basin. At regional scale, the emphases should be on grain products of rice-wheat cultivation region along Yangzi River and Huai River, and wheat-maize cultivation regions in the north of Huai River; as well as agricultural modernization in main functional areas of grain deep processing. There was also the need to expand economic forestry and fruits in hilly regions and characteristic fish breeding and poultry raising along Yangzi Rive and Huai River. The green ecology industry development in mountain areas in the south and west of Anhui also should be accelerated. In terms of agricultural infrastructure, the construction of water conservancy in farmlands should be highlighted and the investment in medium and large agricultural mechanization stressed. The province needed to establish disaster prevention and mitigation system to guarantee green agriculture development and enhance the quality and yield of agricultural production. In terms of crop production restructuring, sustainable rice production was required, high-yielding wheat and maize production should be promoted with oil plant (rape and soybean) production rational development. In term of optimization of crop variety layout, in Huainan area, the proper crop layout was reduction of indica rice, increase of japonica rice, and stabilization of rape plantation. Along Huaihe River and Huaibei area, it was more rational to reduce general winter wheat and increase good quality wheat plantation, and to replace middle and late maturity maize varieties with middle and early maturity ones. In conclusion, the developmental way of modern agriculture for food security in Anhui Province was high-efficient utilization of heat and water resources, less investment, rapid improvement of larger areas of low-medium-yield fields, and extension of green-high-efficient agricultural product industry chain.