Anhui Province Plans to Build 67.5 Million Mu of Well-facilitated Farmland by 2030

Well-facilitated farmland is an important support and guarantee for food production capacity. Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Anhui Province issued "Anhui Province Well-facilitated Farmland Construction Plan (2021-2030) ", which proposes to ensure that 67.5 million mu (4.5 million hectares) of well-facilitated farmland will be built and 17.18 million mu will be upgraded by 2030 through new construction and renovation, so as to ensure a stable food production capacity of more than 68 billion jin (34 billion kg).

According to the plan, on the basis of permanent capital farmland, priority will be given to the construction of well-facilitated farmland in grain production functional areas and important agricultural products production protection areas, to build the Anhui Grain farmland and a supplying base for important agricultural products. The effective irrigation areas of large and medium-sized irrigation zones will be prioritized to built into well-facilitated farmland. Through new construction, renovation and upgrading, ensure that by 2022, 59.6 million mu of well-facilitated farmland will be built, so as to stabilize the grain production capacity of more than 60 billion; by 2025, 62.5 million mu of well-facilitated farmland will be built, and 6.3 million mu of well-facilitated farmland will be transformed and upgraded, in order to stably guarantee the grain production capacity of more than 63 billion jin. At the same time, high-efficiency water-saving irrigation and well-facilitated farmland construction will be planned and implemented simultaneously. During the planning period, 2.24 million mu of new high-efficiency water-saving irrigation construction tasks will be completed.

The construction of well-facilitated farmland mainly involves eight aspects: field, soil, water, road, forest, electricity, technology and management. Taking into account factors such as construction costs, price fluctuations, government investment capacity, and multiple financing channels, the financial investment in well-facilitated farmland construction of Anhui province should gradually reach more than 3,000 yuan (about 448 U.S. dollars) per mu. As for the management and protection mechanism, it will be in accordance with the principle of “the beneficiary and the user will be responsible for it”, improve and perfect the mechanism of post-construction management and protection where "the counties take overall responsibility, the townships supervise, and the villages are the main body", confirm the parties in charge and clarify the responsibilities.

After the completion of the well-facilitated farmland planning project, the newly built well-facilitated farmland is expected to increase the comprehensive grain production capacity by about 100 kg per mu, and the transformed and upgraded well-facilitated farmland is expected to increase the comprehensive grain production capacity by about 80 kg per mu. In addition, each mu can save more than 20% to 30% of water, more than 30% of electricity, more than 10% of fertilizer, and more than 15% of pesticide. Land will be utilized more intensively, the share of moderate-scale farming will be increased, and the average income per mu will be increased by about 500 yuan per year.