With the increasing population, changing diet structure, decreasing area of farmland as well as the abandonment of farmland in China, food security has become an urgent and serious issue in China. And many professionals have proposed that ecological agriculture is an effective way to ease the pressure from food security in China, according to CCM’s October issue of AgriChina Investor.
As ecological farming is a key segment in ecological agriculture, only the effect of ecological farming on food security is discussed in this article.
Ecological farming could significantly improve the productivity in agricultural production, and further increase farmer's income and encourage their enthusiasm in ecological farming, thus avoiding farmland abandonment, increasing grain output and maintaining social stability in rural areas.
Ecological farming refers to farming in the way of mimicking natural processes, which could enhance beneficial biological interactions and synergies among the components of agricultural system. Because most of the components within the agricultural system are utilized in an economical and circular way, ecological farming could provide more products or calories than regular farming does.
Take the experience of Shandong Hongyi Organic Farm as an example, its agricultural production is a spatial cultivation and cyclical cultivation mode which could make full use of all the substances in the value chain of ecological farming system.
16.16 tonnes of crop straw can feed 12 head of cattle (equal to 1,082kg of beef), and these cattle can produce about 63 tonnes of cattle manure. Further, 1,575kg of earthworm can be yielded, which could be made into protein-contained earthworm powder to feed chicken (1,286kg of live chicken, or 759kg of chicken meat). The rest of cattle manure after earthworm activity, earthworm manure as well as the 50.4 tonnes of chicken manure can be used as organic fertilizers to fields.
The calorific value yielded by ecological farming mode is over 50% higher than that by regular farming mode.
The ecological farming in Shandong Hongyi Organic Farm is relatively complex and could not be easily mastered by individual farmers. There will be some easy modes such as traditional "rice–fish-duck" integrated cultivation, and "rice and aquatic products (shrimp and crab)" integrated cultivation mode.
It's reported that Jilin Province is promoting the integrated culture in paddy fields., namely raising crab and crayfish in paddy fields, which can eat some weeds and insects, thus reducing the use of insecticides and fertilizers. Moreover, farmers could get extra income from these aquatic products. The annual output of aquatic products in the paddy field is about 300kg per hectare. Rice produced in this mode could enjoy a higher price because of its "green" or "organic" features.
A research on the benefit analysis for the "rice–fish-duck" integrated cultivation, carried out in Liping County of Guizhou Province in 2009, has shown that this integrated cultivation could increase rice yield by 21.6kg, fish production by 22.8kg, and duck production by 25.92kg in one mu (1/15 hectare) of paddy filed, with total income increase of USD90 (RMB620). Furthermore, the soil fertility of paddy filed has been greatly improved.
Source: AgriChina Investor
http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_192.html
Content of AgriChina Investor 1210:
Legend Holdings deepens white wine business
Richlink Capital invests USD3.2 million in Banghao Seed
Longda Meat Foodstuff's IPO underway
Profit drop of relevant listed companies: pork price down Vs. feed price up
Agricultural produces options likely to be launched in China
Collective-owned rural land right confirmation to be completed by end of 2012
China increases agricultural insurance subsidy budget in 2013
Agricultural investment needs creativity and patience
Ecological agriculture contributes to China’s food security
Booming investment in blueberry in China
China's rural banks face challenges
Financial risks in China's agricultural investment
China's grain yield to achieve first nine-year continuous increase this year
Seed Technology Trading Platform of China founded in Changsha
China depends more heavily on imported soybean
CAFS sets up Fishery Development Strategy Research Center in Beijing
China's largest agricultural exhibition center to be built in Kaifeng
Wheat minimum purchasing price to increase by USD1.59/50kg in 2013
Jan.-Sept. 2012 Hainan agricultural investment grows by 1.3 times YoY
CNCRC's provisional cotton purchasing and stockpiling reaches 1.40 million tonnes
……
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