1. Challenges
Grain loss in the production stage occurs mainly during sowing, harvesting and drying. Low germination rate of seeds, low quality of sowing machinery, poor operation techniques, inappropriate sowing date and overuse of seed with the traditional planting method are major factors in the loss of billions of kilograms of grain annually. During harvesting, outdated farmland infrastructure, unsuitable time of harvesting and improper operation of harvesting machinery are among the major causes of loss with the loss rate of manual harvest being about 10 percent. As much as 5 percent of the grain is also lost every year due to mildew and germination caused when grains retain excessive water or moisture in a damp environment.
2. Solutions
In order to improve the efficiency of mechanization on increasing grain output and reducing food loss, major mechanization measures in China are made to:
● Enhancement of standards
In recent years, the total loss rate index value in harvesting machinery product standard has become more rigorous in China. The Technical Conditions for Full-feed Combine Harvester (JB/T 5117-2017) were amended in 2017 to reduce the loss rate of rice harvester from 3 to less than 2.8 per cent, and that of wheat harvester to less than 1.2 percent. The newly amended standard of Corn Harvester (GB/T 21962-2020) has reduced the index of total loss rate of corn ear from 4 to less than 3.5 percent and that of corn kernel from 5 to less than 4 percent. The indices in national or industry standards, which take into account the entire industry, have a relatively less stringent value, which is the minimum industry requirement. In actual practice, internal control standards in most enterprises are stricter than the set value.
● Research and development to address key bottlenecks
Scientific research and development has been prioritized by the government and the agricultural machinery industry. In particular, state support has been increased for projects along with funding for the agricultural machinery industry from the National Agricultural Machinery Equipment Key Innovation Research and Development Plan and other scientific research projects. Relevant enterprises have also stepped up research and development in seed saving, efficient and low-loss harvesting and drying machinery. Studies have been conducted in technologies for high-speed, precision seeding and transplanting as well as for large-scale, intelligent and efficient grain harvesting. Studies on threshing and cleaning devices of harvesting machinery have been conducted to improve threshing quality and cleaning efficiency and reduce loss and impurity rates. Grain drying technologies such as online moisture measurement, vacuum low-temperature drying, hot air vacuum double-effect drying, infrared vacuum combination drying, solar grain drying, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) control, multi-fuel system development, and thermal efficiency improvement of moulding biomass fuel hot blast stove, have also been investigated.
● Improving machine operation skills
Agricultural machinery operator skill is an important factor in reducing food loss and waste. Government training has been organized to enhance operator awareness of loss reduction and mastery of loss reduction techniques, machine operation and maintenance. The training was funded by the High-Quality Farmers’ Training Programme and other projects for nurturing professional agricultural machine operation skills. Competitions in machine operation skills to reduce food loss were also organized for agricultural machinery operators. Moreover, agricultural machinery-related enterprises organize machine operation and maintenance training and demonstrations for customers.
3. Outcomes
Overall, the rates of growth of mechanical tillage, mechanical sowing, mechanical harvesting and comprehensive mechanization have increased significantly. In 2020, the comprehensive mechanization rate for wheat was stable at over 95 percent. The comprehensive mechanization rates for rice and corn exceeded 85 and 90 percent, respectively, increasing about 2 percent, respectively, compared with 2019. The overall comprehensive mechanization rate for crops nationwide reached 71 percent, an increase of 1 percent over 2019. In 2021, a weighted average loss rate of 0.85 percent. Out of 1,380 plots in the main wheat production counties, 75.6 percent were found to have a rate of loss of less than 1.2 percent related to mechanized harvesting and 19 per cent had a rate of loss of between 1.2 and 2 percent.
Source:
[1] Role of Mechanization in Reducing Food Loss and Waste in China.
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Role of Mechanization in Reducing Food Loss and Waste in China
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