SHANGHAI, Dec 13 (Reuters) - China will introduce new measures to speed up mechanisation in its huge farming sector, looking to revive the countryside, boost domestic demand and raise rural incomes, the government said late on Wednesday following a cabinet meeting.
China’s rural population has been steadily declining as a result of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, and it needs to encourage farmers to raise mechanisation rates to cover the labour shortfall and improve yields.
The cabinet said in a statement China would grant subsidies to encourage the use of deeper ploughing machines and also make it easier for farmers to borrow money to buy machinery.
Under the new rules, domestic and foreign agricultural machinery would be treated equally.
It said the first task was to raise mechanised harvesting rates for crops like rice, wheat, corn, potato, rapeseed, cotton and sugar cane.
The cabinet said it will also encourage technological advances in order to support the precision application of pesticides and boost the efficiency of fertilisers and irrigation.
Though China has been trying to encourage consolidation by making it easier for farmers to sell their land leases to agribusinesses, the country’s farming sector still consists of large numbers of small household farms, which has held back mechanisation.
To try to resolve the problem, China will support research into machinery that can be used in small-scale or remote mountain farms, and will also encourage the creation of professional service centres allowing small household farms to share agricultural equipment. (Reporting by David Stanway Editing by Sonali Paul)