Cultivating New Agricultural Operators to Promote the Transformation and Upgrading of Traditional Agriculture
——A Case Study of Nanchong City

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1. Nanchong Soil and Fertilizer Station, Nanchong 637000, China; 2. Nanchong Plant Protection and Inspection Station, Nanchong 637000, China; 3. Nanchong Rural Cooperative Economy Management Station, Nanchong 637000, China; 4. Nanchong Organic Agriculture Development Center, Nanchong 637000, China

Abstract In order to provide reference for cultivating new agricultural operators to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture, the main practices, achievements and problems of cultivating new agricultural operators to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture in Nanchong City, Sichuan Province were analyzed firstly, and then some measures were proposed.

Key words New agricultural operators, Cultivation, Traditional agriculture, Transformation and upgrading, Nanchong , Sichuan

1 Introduction

Domestic scholars have done a lot of research on agricultural operators. Zhang Yizhen, an scholar who studied agricultural operators in China earlier, believed that agricultural operators refer to any social groups and individuals who directly or indirectly engage in the production, processing, sales and service of agricultural products[1]. Agricultural operators in China have diversified features, which can be roughly divided into two basic categories, namely direct and indirect agricultural operators, and peasant household management has a prominent position[2].

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, with the development of rural division of labor in China, new agricultural operators such as tural companies, farmer cooperatives, family farms and large professional households have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, so that the production methods and management methods of national agriculture have undergone great changes, marking that China’s rural areas have entered a new stage of development[3]. Therefore, in the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Hu Jintao clearly pointed out that it was necessary to cultivate new types of operators and develop various forms of scale management, constitute a new type of agricultural operators combining intensification, specialization, organization and socialization[4]. To carry out this major deployment, it is necessary to accelerate the cultivation and expansion of new agricultural operators at first, continuously improve the development level of new agricultural management, and give full play to the important role of new agricultural operators in promoting the transformation and development of agriculture[5]. In this regard, a large number of explorations and practices have been carried out throughout the country. For instance, Kong Xiangzhietal. reported the cultivation experience, problems and countermeasures of new agricultural operators[6-25].

In recent years, Nanchong City has firmly grasped national agricultural supply-side structural reform and the opportunity to get rid of poverty. In accordance with the overall arrangement of new agricultural operators by the country and the province, through the construction of national parks and zones such as national modern agriculture demonstration zones, and agricultural reform and construction pilot demonstration areas, it has vigorously cultivated new operators of modern agriculture, promoted the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture, and achieved remarkable results. By the end of 2017, a total of 366 700 ha of characteristic leading industrial bases, 327 agricultural leading enterprises, 7 440 farmers’ special cooperatives, and 19 000 family farms (professional households) have been built in the city. A large number of agricultural leading enterprises in Nanchong such as Lvke Poultry Industry, Tianzhao Pig Industry and Xinghe Biology took lead at scale and scientific and technological level in China. Nanchong agriculture has gradually grown into the vanguard of agricultural modernization development in western hilly areas. In this paper, main practices and achievements, existing problems and countermeasures of cultivating new agricultural operators to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture in Nanchong City are discussed to provide reference for cultivating new agricultural operators to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture in Sichuan Province and even the whole country.

2 Main practices and achievements

Nanchong City persists in regional layout, park development, standardized production and integration promotion, uses reform and innovation as kinetic energy, vigorously aggregates resources, continuously strengthens protection, and creates conditions for the development of new business entities.

2.1ActivatingthreekindsofresourcestoattractthelivingwaterofdevelopmentThree key resources of land, capital and talents should be focused on to crack the bottlenecks of factors that affect the development and growth of new business entities.

2.1.1Activating land resources. The city solidly promotes the confirmation and certification of land rights, persists in the principle of "confirmation of land rights based on actual land area and confirmation of seven land rights", and establishes a rural property right system with clear ownership, complete power, smooth circulation and strict protection on the basis of fully respecting the wishes of the masses. In addition, the contractual management right of 479 300 ha of land has been confirmed, and the confirmation and certification of land rights have been fully completed in Shunqing District and other districts and counties. It sets up a rural property rights transfer and trading platform with "three-level network" of district (county)-township-village, establishes and improves land transfer dispute mediation mechanism, guides moderate scale circulation management of land, orderly transfers 111 300 ha of land, and ensures the demand for land for modern agricultural development.

2.1.2Activating capital resources. It has issuedGeneralPlanforRuralPropertyMortgageFinancing, formulates a series of supporting policies, promotes rural property rights, marketable securities, insurance policies and land income mortgage loans, innovates 37 agriculture-related financial products such as land expected income loans , live livestock and poultry pledge loans, and revitalizes rural property rights assets. For example, Lvke Poultry Industry, Zhongxin Agriculture, Kangjian Agriculture and other agricultural operators in Shunqing District mortgage orders, insurance policies and land transfer management rights to obtain more than 170 million yuan of loan. In accordance with the principle of "farmers are voluntary to drive the industry", Xichong County actively explores rural property mortgage financing pilot. It has issued 22 policy supporting documents likeImplementationPlanforRuralPropertyMortgageFinancingPilot, sets up risk compensation fund of 15 million yuan, and handled 65 mortgage loans like land contractual management rights (with loans of 370 million yuan in total). Focusing on the construction of large-scale planting and breeding bases for comprehensive development of modern agriculture, processing of agricultural and forestry products, and combination of agriculture and tourism, it carries out special investment activities for modern agriculture and introduces social capital. For instance, in the period of Western China International Fair held in Chengdu in 2017, 31 projects valued at 12.8 billion yuan, such as 2 000 ha tea mulberry base and construction of processing supporting facilities were signed. It has successfully built "a demonstration city to support agriculture and refinancing to support modern agriculture in Sichuan Province", and established 20 million yuan of agricultural loan risk compensation fund. Municipal agricultural guarantee investment limited company has a financing guarantee capacity of 10 billion yuan, and the comprehensive crediting of new operators is 40 billion yuan. For example, Baike Company in Xichong County obtained a loan of 76 million yuan through municipal agricultural guarantee investment limited company. In 2017, the city’s agricultural loan reached 81.803 billion yuan.

2.1.3Activating talent resources. Relying on the municipal "Jialing River Talent Project", the city attracts highly educated talent, introduces 48 agricultural graduates with master’s degree or above and 15 agricultural entrepreneurship teams, and recommends excellent talents to participate in appraisal of national and provincial awards. It deepens foreign cooperation, carries out agricultural science and technology cooperation with France Champagne-Ardenne to build China-French Agricultural Science and Technology Park, cooperates with Taiwan to build an agricultural science and technology incubation park, cooperates with 27 large (special) schools such as Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Sichuan Agricultural University, introduces Dangdang.com and other first-class marketing teams, and establishes 24 expert courtyards. Besides, it has engaged experts and scholars to hold 12 lectures, dispatched 142 personnel to study at colleges and universities in recent three years, organized personnel to survey and study in advanced areas 16 times, held more than 3 000 Yuanba lectures, used radio and television channels and other resources to open rural modern distance education, established QQ group "Modern Farmers" and WeChat official account "New Farmers of Nanchong", trained more than 20 000 new professional farmers.

2.2PromotingthreemodestostimulatetheinternaldynamicsofdevelopmentThe city promotes the construction of characteristic advantageous industrial bases and industrial integration bases in a contiguous area, and gathers farmers’ industrial parks in accordance with the model of "large parks+agricultural leading enterprises (farmers’ professional cooperatives)+farmers’ industrial parks", not only exerts the overall scale advantage of parks but also stimulates the enthusiasm of participants in modern agriculture, and makes effort to crack the bottleneck of the development of new business entities.

2.2.1Promoting the construction mode of industrial parks "one county, one industry, one business card". In accordance with the construction idea of industrial bases of "basic support, contiguous development, belt promotion, and construction branch parks", the city has strived to make special financial investment at the city, county (city, district) level reach more than 2.5 billion yuan, integrated agriculture-related project funds of 16.5 billion yuan, built 366 700 ha of various characteristic industrial bases and 866 large-scale livestock and poultry farms, and promoted the construction of a thousand-kilometer modern circular agricultural demonstration zone. For instance, Shunqing District insists on the development of vegetable sightseeing agriculture and comprehensively builds a 100-km suburban vegetable sightseeing tourism industrial belt. Gaoping District focuses on the development of citrus industry and comprehensively builds a citrus industrial belt with length of one hundred kilometers and an area of 16 700 ha in "Chinese sweet orange town". Jialing District focuses on the development of citrus and lemon industry and vigorously promotes the construction of a citrus industrial belt with length of one hundred kilometers; Xichong County vigorously develops organic agriculture and successfully builds an organic peach industry tourism tour corridor with length of one hundred kilometers and an area of 6 700 ha and a 100-km Xifeng navel orange industrial belt to form a favorable industrial pattern with distinct advantages and mismatched development.

2.2.2Promoting the construction model of polymorphic integration development in one industry. The city actively extends industrial chain, vigorously develops rural tourism and agricultural product processing industry, increases the supply form of modern agricultural products, and vigorously promotes the interaction of primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry. Xichong County has successfully established Sichuan rural tourism demonstration county and national leisure agriculture and rural tourism demonstration county. Qingshanhu Village of Banzeng Town of Shunqing District, Shuanglongqiao Village of Fengming Town of Xichong County, and other villages have built national and provincial top ten happy and beautiful villages. 208 agricultural and tourism demonstration sites such as the Jinfeng Mountains, Fengya Mountains and three modern agricultural tourist parks such as Baike organic life park, Datang happy farm have been built. Peach Blossom Festival, Orange Blossom Festival, Tulip Tourism Festival and Strawberry Picking Festival were successfully held. The annual average number of tourists received is 20 million, and the comprehensive income of tourism was over 15 billion yuan. The annual tourism revenue of agricultural enterprises such as Kangjian Agriculture in Shunqing District and Baike Company in Xichong County exceeds 100 million yuan. It supports agricultural processing enterprises to enlarge scale through technological transformation and capacity expansion, asset restructuring,etc., introduces and cultivates 138 agricultural product processing enterprises such as Huiyuan Juice and Guojianglong Beef, and realizes the total output value of agricultural processing industry of 87.4 billion yuan.

2.2.3Promoting the "Dalin model" of farmer industrial parks. In accordance with the principle of "government guidance, farmer autonomy, driving of leading enterprises, financial support, and association organization", the five parties were jointly developed. The government guides the formulation of industrial development plans, changes the concept of the masses, and do a good job in the support of public infrastructure in project areas. Leading enterprises attract investment from global modern agriculture, and enhance the brand added value and technical content of agricultural products in demonstration areas through brand participation, technology participation and sales participation. Financial funds provide loans for various new types of business entities through agricultural financing guarantee companies. Farmers’ cooperatives organize production, management and sales, and change traditional business model. With the support of all parties, farmers select industry, raise funds, build facilities, and manage parks by themselves, and their responsibility awareness, competition awareness and risk awareness have been greatly enhanced. The thinking of "wait, rely, and want" has been completely eliminated , and the change from "I have to do it" to "I want to do it" has been realized.

The city has built 850 peasant industrial parks, 98 college students’ entrepreneurial parks, 211 migrant workers’ industrial parks, and 208 agricultural and tourism industrial parks. It has cultivated a large number of leading enterprises having leading intelligence level and production scale in the country such as Tianzhao Pig Industry and Lvke Poultry Industry. It has built 132 national and provincial farmers’ cooperatives (such as Shixianglu laying hen breeding cooperative, Banzeng farmers’ professional cooperatives of vegetable production and marketing) and 44 provincial family demonstration farms (such as Daguan Baisheng breeding family farm, Jiawang farm and Yijia farm), which have driven 200 000 rural households to increase their income by more than 50 000 yuan, achieving a win-win situation for the government, farmers, agricultural leading enterprises, financial institutions and farmers’ cooperative organizations.

2.3BuildingthreetypesofplatformstooptimizethedevelopmentofsocialservicesThe city adheres to the combination of public welfare and business, coordination of special services and comprehensive services, builds a technology, production and market socialization service platform, and makes the effort to crack the bottleneck of development of new business entities.

2.3.1Building a technology service platform in the form of partnership service of party members, farmers and cadres. It carries out the new business main activity of party members, science and technology cadres in agriculture and animal husbandry, and sets up "12316" hotline servicing for agriculture to connect thousands of households, and sets up 10 city- and county-level expert service teams containing 373 experts. For difficulties in the development of new agricultural operators, if they can be solved in the first time, they are solved immediately. If they can be solved by telephone, they are solved within one hour. If they need to be solved on site, they are solved within 24 h. The number of assisted people is 2 900. In 2017, 3 650 problems related to agricultural development were solved.

2.3.2Building a production service platform with contents of trusteeship management and substitute farming. With professional cooperatives as the link, it innovates business models such as "labor contracting", "substitute farming" and "land trusteeship", and cultivates 678 service organizations such as agricultural technology, agricultural machinery and plant protection, and supports diversified package services. "Full trusteeship" package means farmers hand over land to a cooperative, and the cooperative pays 10 500 yuan/ha of income to farmers. "Nanny-style" package means farmers are responsible for field management, while an cooperative provides services such as ploughing, sowing and harvesting and charges the farmers for services according to the standard 30% below market price. "Order-based" package means cooperatives provide ten service items for farmers, such as replacing farmers to purchase agricultural materials, prevent pests and diseases, and invest in agricultural insurance. Farmers place orders on demand, and cooperatives provide services according to orders. In Gaoping District, "China’s Sweet Orange Township" base has introduced Leshan Weinong Plant Protection Co., Ltd. to carry out plant protection services of 0.33 million ha and paid commission of 1.5 million yuan, achieving an average annual income increase of 15 480-24 300 yuan/ha. The city has carried out 166 700 ha of comprehensive agricultural socialization services, and agricultural operations efficiency has increased significantly.

2.3.3Setting up a market service platform led by industry alliances. It guides new agricultural operators to form a number of industrial alliances such as citrus and vegetables, establishes a party branch of industry alliances, makes full use of advantages of alliance scale, buys agricultural materials and agricultural technology services, reduces production and operation cost, carries out standardized production, brand creation and maintenance, and expands market utterance right and game power. It has successfully built a regional brand "Gucheng Brand", and 285 products and 10 900 million ha of bases have passed organic certification. The regional public brand "Nanchong Jiazuo" has been registered and protected by intellectual property rights and was rated as the regional public brand of top ten agricultural products in Sichuan in 2018[26]. Xichong County has become "national organic product certification demonstration county" and "national agricultural product quality safety demonstration county". All nine counties (cities, districts) in the city have been certified as provincial agricultural product quality safety supervision demonstration counties (cities, districts). The quality image of agricultural products tends to be high-end, and the brand premium ability is steadily increasing. The organic rice produced by Hanglixiang Rice Industry and Guanglv Company in Xichong County is deeply trusted by the market with the market price above 30 yuan/kg.

3 Existing problems

3.1ThedevelopmentofagriculturalbrandslagsbehindThere are many agricultural brands and famous brands in Sichuan Province, but there are still problems such as lagging development of regional public brands, weak influence of featured brands, and weak premium ability of self-owned brands of most enterprises. The value of "Chuanzihao" agricultural products is generally moderate or low in the market, which restricts the improvement of agricultural efficiency. Among the regional public brands of 2017 China’s top 100 agricultural products sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Sichuan has only three regional brands, namely Sichuan pickle, Panzhihua mango and XinjinPelteobagrusfulvidraco. "Value Assessment of China Agricultural Products Regional Public Brands in 2017" shows that among the top 100 evaluated regional public brands of 374 agricultural products, Sichuan has only three brands. That is, Anyue lemon ranked 34th with a brand value of 3.979 billion yuan. Mengdingshan tea ranked 63rd with a brand value of 2.666 billion yuan and Liangshan silkworm cocoon ranked 87th with a brand value of 2.127 billion yuan[27].

The popularity, reputation and influence of Sichuan agricultural brands cannot be equal. The popularity of many agricultural brands in Sichuan is very good, but they have no reputation. Consumers don’t buy them. People tend to look more at the popularity of a brand and ignore its reputation, so that the market share of many brands in Sichuan is not high[27].

3.2AgriculturalindustrychainisincompleteThe development of "agritainment" in Sichuan Province is the first in China, but the new agricultural business mode based on sightseeing and leisure experience cannot meet the growing "new life" demand of urban and rural residents. The commodity rate and processing rate of agricultural products are still low, so it is needed to accelerate the deep integration of primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry. For a long time, the processing rate of agricultural products in Sichuan is relatively low, and more than 80% of processing is primary processing, while there is less intensive processing. The phenomenon of "not processing raw materials" is more common. In 2015, the ratio of the total output value of agricultural product processing industry in Sichuan to the total output value of agriculture was only 1.7∶1, lower than the national average of 2.1∶1[27]. The post-production processing and sales chain of agricultural products was incomplete.

3.3ThesustainabledevelopmentcapabilityofagricultureisweakSichuan, like the rest of the country, has a series of problems arising from over-exploitation of agricultural resources, excessive use of agricultural inputs, over-exploitation of groundwater, and superposition of non-point source pollution inside and outside agriculture, as well as the extensive management of agricultural development and imperfect institutional mechanisms. The sustainable development of agriculture faces major challenges[28].

3.4ThereexistbottlenecksrestrictingagriculturaldevelopmentThere is a shortage of land for agricultural supporting facilities. There is no strong guarantee for the property rights of agricultural assets arising from the investment of new business entities, and some new business entities have investment concerns. Agricultural financing channels are not smooth, and state-owned large commercial banks are almost not involved in agricultural loan projects. Channels of agricultural funds are limited, and there are few beneficiaries. Moreover, due to the high threshold of government subsidies, it is difficult for moderate-scale operators to enjoy interest-bearing support. The employment environment of agriculture is complicated. As rural hollowing, agricultural concurrent business[29]and peasant household concurrent business have become increasingly serious, the problems of difficult employment and high labor costs in agricultural development are more prominent. In addition, farmers’ legal consciousness is not strong in some areas, and agricultural employment is more difficult.

4 Countermeasures and suggestions

4.1HighlightingthedevelopmentofbrandagricultureIt is necessary to deeply dock market demand, fully take into account industrial base, always insist on dislocation development, focus on the optimization of industrial structure, highlight agricultural characteristics of Sichuan, and continue to cultivate and strengthen "Chuanzihao" brand such as Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan fruit, Sichuan tea and Sichuan pig. "Nanchong Jiazuo" should be built as a regional public brand of Nanchong agricultural products. Relying on the province’s modern agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry key counties, national modern agricultural demonstration zones, national modern agricultural demonstration zones, agricultural reform and construction pilot demonstration zones, national agricultural science and technology parks and China-French agricultural science and technology parks,etc., it should vigorously develop modern agricultural industrial bases to expand the scale of industry. It is necessary to vigorously implement agricultural standardization production, improve the traceability system of agricultural product quality, strengthen the quality safety supervision of agricultural products, and actively create a number of national agricultural product quality safety demonstration cities (counties). Meanwhile, it is needed to make efforts to develop agricultural products with pollution-free, green, organic and geographical indications, vigorously create regional public brands of agricultural products, strengthen advertising and marketing of agricultural brands, and enhance the popularity, reputation and market share of agricultural products in Sichuan. In the next few years, Nanchong will highlight the development of modern plantation parks with citrus as the focus, modern forestry comprehensive utilization economic parks based on woody oils, and modern animal husbandry industrial parks with high-quality livestock and poultry. By 2020, the number of modern agricultural recycling parks with an area of 666.7 ha will be up to more than 100 in the city, and the supply of high-quality specialty agricultural products will be increased. At the same time, it should focus on the construction of a strong city of organic agriculture.

4.2VigorouslypromotingindustrialintegrationIt is necessary to strengthen the construction of post-production commercialized processing facilities of agricultural products, actively develop intensive processing of agricultural products, and build a modern agricultural industrial park integrating research and development, production, technological innovation, characteristic processing and modern logistics. Meanwhile, it is needed to vigorously develop the construction of online and offline marketing systems such as Internet+ and rural information construction, expand various functions of agriculture, promote the deep integration of agricultural production with farming culture, sightseeing and tourism, health and wellness, actively develop leisure agriculture, and focus on exploring new forms and new models of agricultural development. In the next few years, Nanchong will vigorously implement "Three Hundred Demonstration Projects", promote the development of 100 billion industrial clusters of modern agriculture, introduce and cultivate a group of agricultural product processing enterprises. By 2020, the number of agricultural leading enterprises with an output value of over 100 million yuan in the city will be up to more than 100, and the number of new demonstration models focusing on agricultural socialization services, forest recreation, leisure and sightseeing agriculture will reach more than 100.

4.3ContinuingtopromotegreendevelopmentIt is necessary to vigorously develop water-saving agriculture, promote the zero growth of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the utilization of agricultural waste as resources, strengthen the protection of agricultural resources, practice the concept of green development, and build a number of national agricultural sustainable development pilot demonstration zones. Nanchong will vigorously implement the comprehensive protection and development of the Jialing River Basin, firmly seize the opportunity of building a national agricultural sustainable development pilot demonstration zone in Nanchong City, accelerate the construction of a number of modern agricultural industrial parks with sustainable development, study and apply a number of integrated technologies for sustainable development of agriculture, and form a number of sustainable development models of agriculture.

4.4CultivatingnewkineticenergyforagriculturaldevelopmentIt should deepen the reform of agriculture and rural areas and vigorously cultivate new types of agricultural operators. It is necessary to release land management rights, implement "separation of three rights", promote moderate scale operation of land, strengthen policy orientation, guide industrial and commercial capital, social capital and financial capital to gather towards agriculture and rural areas, and strive to improve agricultural land output rate, labor productivity and utilization rate of resources. It is needed to strengthen agricultural science and technology innovation and service system construction, and strengthen agricultural openness and cooperation, vigorously improve the environment for agricultural investment and financing, encourage financial institutions to innovate products, expand loan scale, and encourage high-quality agricultural enterprises to come into the market for direct financing, promote the construction of agricultural infrastructure such as high-standard farmland, agricultural machinery, and cold chain logistics, strengthen the cultivation of new professional farmers, and encourage college students and migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns.

5 Conclusions

In order to cultivate new agricultural operators to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture, it is needed to focus on three key resources of land, capital and talents. The job should link social profit and commercial, special services and comprehensive services, and set up a socialized service platform for science and technology, production and market to solve the problems about the development of new business. In addition, it is needed to highlight the development of agricultural brands, make efforts to develop agricultural products with pollution-free, green, organic and geographical indications, and enhance the popularity, reputation and market share of agricultural products in Sichuan. It is necessary to vigorously promote industrial integration, strengthen the construction of post-production commercialized processing facilities of agricultural products, actively develop intensive processing of agricultural products, and build a modern agricultural industrial park integrating research and development, production, technological innovation, characteristic processing and modern logistics. By 2020, the number of modern agricultural recycling parks with an area of 666.7 ha will be up to more than 100 in the city. It will vigorously implement "Three Hundred Demonstration Projects", promote the development of 100 billion industrial clusters of modern agriculture, and introduce and cultivate a group of agricultural product processing enterprises. By 2020, the number of agricultural leading enterprises with an output value of over 100 million yuan in the city will be up to more than 100, and the number of new demonstration models focusing on agricultural socialization services, forest recreation and leisure and sightseeing agriculture will reach more than 100. It is necessary to continue to promote green development, vigorously develop water-saving agriculture, promote the zero growth of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the utilization of agricultural waste as resources, strengthen the protection of agricultural resources, practice the concept of green development, and build a number of national agricultural sustainable development pilot demonstration zones. It should cultivate new kinetic energy for agricultural development, deepen the reform of agriculture and rural areas and vigorously cultivate new types of agricultural operators. It is necessary release land management rights, implement "separation of three rights", promote moderate scale operation of land, vigorously improve the environment for agricultural investment and financing, promote the construction of agricultural infrastructure such as high-standard farmland, agricultural machinery, and cold chain logistics, strengthen the cultivation of new professional farmers, and encourage college students and migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns. This study provides experience of cultivating new agricultural operators and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture for Sichuan and even the whole country.