Li Daoliang： How to build a digital village in China？

"1.0 is traditional agriculture, 2.0 is mechanized agriculture, 3.0 is digital agriculture or smart agriculture we are talking about today, and 4.0 refers to smart agriculture or unmanned operation in the future." At the Summer Summit of the Beijing News held on the 6th, Li Daoliang, deputy director of the Expert Advisory Committee on Agricultural and Rural Informatization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and professor of China Agricultural University, delivered a keynote speech on "Looking at the Development of Digital Villages in China from a Global Perspective". He introduced that today, digital technology is rapidly changing the traditional agricultural production, rural ecology and farmers’ lives. In the future, unmanned farms and digital villages are not only the trend of social development, but also an important help to ensure food security and promote rural revitalization.

Li Daoliang, Vice Chairman of the Expert Advisory Committee on Agricultural and Rural Informatization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Professor of China Agricultural University.

Global trend, digital technology changes agricultural model

Beijing News:Digital technology is developing rapidly. From the agricultural point of view, what is the current development trend?

Li Daoliang:From a global perspective, there are several main trends. First, the number of agricultural employees is declining. In the United States, the number of agricultural employees has dropped from 70% of the total population to 2% in 100 years. The same is true in other countries. In Israel, the least, the number of agricultural employees is only 0.5%. The number of agricultural employees in China is currently 20%. Second, the proportion of agricultural output value to GDP is also declining. The more developed the society, the smaller the proportion of agricultural output value. At the same time, crop output and agricultural output value will increase, but the proportion will become smaller and smaller. Third, agriculture-related industries have risen rapidly. At the beginning, agriculture was an industry specializing in the production of agricultural products such as grain, meat, eggs, milk and tea. After development, it will develop into new formats such as processing, circulation and tourism, and integrate the first, second and third industries. There is also a trend that machines are gradually replacing people.

Beijing News:What is the relationship between machines replacing people and digital technology?

Li Daoliang:In the past, when it came to agriculture, everyone knew that it was bitter, dirty, tired and poor, but this mode of production was constantly changing. From a global perspective, agricultural production has undergone several important changes. The first is scale, which inevitably requires mechanization to complete labor operations, so mechanization has been realized. After the completion of mechanization, the machine began to be digitally transformed, and then developed into precision agriculture. Through the precise use of water, fertilizer, medicine and bait, the cost was reduced and the maximum profit was obtained. With the development of the Internet, an interconnected system has gradually formed between agricultural equipment, realizing the digitalization and networking of equipment. Later, based on big data, artificial intelligence began to come in handy, and machine substitution became possible, making it possible for fewer people to undertake more agricultural production work.

New farm tools, computers are indispensable tools.

Beijing News:How much does digital technology help agricultural production?

Li Daoliang:Through the transformation of digitalization, networking and equipment, the agricultural production efficiency in some developed countries has undergone major changes. For example, if a farmer employs three to five workers, he can plant 5,000 to 10,000 mu of cultivated land. In terms of facility agriculture, a family of three, employing 30 laborers, can produce 70 tons of tomatoes a day and manage about 200 acres of greenhouses. From the perspective of facility animal husbandry, husband and wife raise 20,000 pigs, and if they raise chickens, they can raise 200,000 chickens, which basically realizes unmanned management. It does not need human participation in chicken feeding, environmental control of henhouse, and egg collection. There is also fish farming, and husband and wife can raise 500 tons of fish a year.　　

Beijing News:How is digital technology reflected in rural construction and rural life?

Li Daoliang:The change of production mode has promoted the change of lifestyle. First of all, in Europe, the United States and other places, computers have become an indispensable tool for farmers’ production and life, and the proportion of families using computers to surf the Internet is close to 100%. China’s mobile phone penetration rate is very high. In rural areas, smart phones and mobile Internet have long been popular, but the use of computers is still relatively low, which is an important difference. Second, data resources have become an important factor of production. For example, in agricultural production, land, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, production technology, prices, various management and decision-making are all based on data, while our country is still based on experience at present.

Beijing News:What role does digital technology play in daily life outside agricultural production?

Li Daoliang:Digital technology plays an important role in the integration of rural and urban areas. The more developed countries are, the smaller the gap between urban and rural areas is. Living in rural areas can also enjoy various services similar to those in cities. Therefore, cities and villages are essentially just two different lives, and there is no great difference in other aspects.

Problems to be Solved There are still challenges in China’s digital villages.

Beijing News:What are the gaps in the development of digital villages in China?

Li Daoliang:First, the status of small farmers in China will exist for a long time, and there are still bottlenecks in the development of large-scale operation. At present, the average operating scale of each household in China is only 8 mu, so it is difficult to use modern technology on such a small scale. Second, the labor productivity, resource utilization rate and land output rate are relatively low. We need 100 farmers for the work completed by one farmer abroad through mechanization. Our resource utilization rate is only half that of developed countries abroad, that is to say, our output is only half that of others with the same resources. For example, one mu of water surface, traditional culture can only raise 1 ton of fish, but with advanced technology, the same area and depth, the output can reach 50 tons. Third, traditional agriculture, which relies on experience and physical strength, may also cause environmental burden. Some farmers always think that as long as more chemical fertilizers are used, they can get more grain, but this is not necessarily the case. And excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides may also lead to pollution of land, rivers and lakes. These are all problems to be solved in the future.

Beijing News:You mentioned the substitution of machines before. What are the prospects of digital technology in terms of people?

Li Daoliang:We are facing the problem of the aging of the agricultural labor force. At present, the average age of the front-line labor force is 55 years old, which is basically part of the post-50 s and post-60 s, and most of them are the main force. The post-80 s are less than 5%, and the post-90 s are less than 1%. In another 30 years, the post-80 s will be 70 years old. We must solve the problem of who will farm in the future. To solve this problem, we also need to rely on modern technology, especially digital technology and intelligent devices.

Future agriculture will move towards the era of agriculture 4.0.

Beijing News:How do you think these problems should be solved?

Li Daoliang:From the perspective of agricultural development, we must first achieve scale and organization in the future. As long as there is scale, farmers’ income will increase. For example, a person can grow 8 acres of land, and it is impossible to be rich by planting anything. But if a person plants 1000 mu of land, or at least 300 mu of land, the income will become relatively considerable at this time. Secondly, realize mechanization and carry out digital transformation on the basis of mechanization, so as to achieve the minimum cost and the highest efficiency. Then realize networking, after networking, data can be shared, and sharing between different data will make production more accurate. After the completion of networking, artificial intelligence based on data will become possible. At this time, agricultural intelligent equipment or robots may appear, and then machine substitution can be completely realized.

Beijing News:You have written about agriculture 4.0 and unmanned farms, and what is the relationship between agriculture 4.0 and unmanned farms?

Li Daoliang:If agriculture 1.0 is traditional agriculture, then 2.0 is mechanized agriculture, 3.0 is current digital agriculture or intelligent agriculture, and 4.0 refers to future intelligent agriculture, unmanned or unmanned production methods. Unmanned farm is a description of the agricultural production mode system in the case of 4.0. Unmanned farm is not that there is no one in this farm, but that there is no one in the production process, manual labor is replaced by machines, and there are still people in the management, sales and service.

Digital rural technology brings future life.

Beijing News:In your opinion, how to realize the vision of unmanned farms in the future?

Li Daoliang:First, the premise of digital village must have digital infrastructure, network access to villages, broadband access to households, and popularization of computers, so that farmers can make use of network and computer technology to carry out modern production, management and life. Second, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of agricultural data centers. Cultivated land, cultivated varieties, yields and various data should be mapped, and a big data platform for agriculture should be established to make data an important resource for agricultural decision-making. Third, strengthen the digital transformation of agricultural machinery, facilities and equipment. At present, the mechanization level of field planting in China has reached 70%, but facility agriculture, animal husbandry and aquatic products are still 50% and 30% respectively. Therefore, we should strengthen mechanization and carry out digital transformation on the basis of mechanization. Third, strongly encourage production and business units, such as family farms and cooperatives, to realize the networking of production units. Fourth, encourage new forms of rural economy. Promote the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture.

Beijing News:In addition to future agriculture, how can rural areas and farmers’ lives be modernized?

Li Daoliang:Digital technology also plays an important role in the modernization of rural areas and farmers. First, the modernization of rural governance is strengthened through digitalization. Secondly, through digital construction, we will promote the equalization of urban and rural public services, such as medical care, finance, payment, nutrition, health and sanitation in rural areas, and improve the service level in these areas through the construction of digital platforms and digital systems. Third, promote the green development of rural areas by informationization, such as strengthening the management of rural wastes, strengthening the reform and governance of rural toilets, and promoting the construction of beautiful countryside.

Beijing News reporter Zhou Huaizong

Beijing News Client August 6, 2022