Status and Development Strategies of Grassland Agriculture: A Case Study of Dafang County

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1. Defang People’s Government, Dafang 551600, China; 2. Guizhou Institute of Pratacultural, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang 550006, China; 3. Bijie Animal Husbandry and Fishery Bureau, Bijie 551700, China; 4. Policy Research Office, Dafang Party Committee, Dafang 551600, China; 5. Dafang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, Dafang 551600, China

AbstractIn order to better promote the development of grassland husbandry in the Bijie experimental area and promote industrial poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategies, the development status of grassland agriculture in developed countries (USA, Netherlands and France) and China is summarized. By learning from the successful experience of grassland agricultural development at home and abroad, combined with the survey results of grassland agriculture in Dafang County of Bijie experimental area, the development of grassland agriculture in Dafang County of Bijie experimental area is analyzed, and corresponding development strategies are put forward.

Key wordsDevelopment, Grassland agriculture, Rural revitalization, Survey, Dafang, Guizhou

1 Introduction

Grassland agriculture is an ecological agriculture developed from the intensive cultivation of Chinese traditional agriculture combined with the "agriculture with livestock" in the West. It includes four production layers: pre-plant production layer, plant production layer, animal production layer and post-bio-production layer. It is a new agricultural system that combines ecology and production, food and feed, adapts to the development of the times, meets the urban-rural integration and rural revitalization, and faces global economic integration. Grassland agriculture can realize the organic integration of traditional agricultural production, pasture production, animal husbandry and forest fruit production, and its development level has become an important indicator to measure the level of agricultural development. Grassland agricultural production in developed countries such as the United States, the Netherlands and France accounts for more than 50% of agricultural production. In order to promote the development of grassland industry in China and give full play to the positive role of grassland agriculture in promoting the development of industrial poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategy. This article summarizes the development status of grassland agriculture in developed countries (USA, Netherlands and France) and China, conducts a survey on the development of grassland agriculture in Dafang County, Bijie experimental area, and proposes the development strategies for grassland agriculture in Dafang County by drawing on the successful experience of grassland agriculture at home and abroad, so as to provide development ideas for promoting targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.

2 Status of grassland agriculture development at home and abroad

2.1 Grassland agriculture in developed countries

2.1.1United States. The United States has fertile land, abundant rainfall, and a mild climate. The area of cultivated land planted with grasses accounts for more than 28% of the total area. In particular, the planting area and output of alfalfa rank first in the world. By vigorously developing grassland agriculture, high-yield artificial grassland construction and alfalfa planting has been carried out, realizing ecological management and restoration and providing 70% of livestock and poultry feed to the United States. In terms of grassland rotation, the planting area of alfalfa in the United States already reached 9 million ha, and the output was 7.6 million t, with average yield of 8.35 t/ha. The output value reached 8.1 billion dollars. At the same time, there were nearly 570 000 ha of various pasture plantations, and the annual production of various types of pasture seeds reached 450 000 t. At present, alfalfa has become the third largest crop in the United States after maize and soybean[1-3]. With the rapid development of grassland agriculture, the deep processing industry of grass products has also risen rapidly in the United States. In 2014, there were five companies with global feed production exceeding 10 million t, and three of them are located in the United States. Through the development of new technologies and new products, the companies in the United States have optimized the production, processing, transportation, sales, packaging, storage and use of forage materials, enabling efficient conversion of resources and guaranteeing the quality of the products and market competitiveness.

2.1.2Netherlands. In Netherlands, grassland industry started in the late 19th century. Through the cultivation of pasture and forage crops, grain-grass rotation has been promoted vigorously, which not only improves agricultural output and soil structure but also promotes the development of animal husbandry. At the same time, high-yield artificial grassland construction mode has been developed vigorously. Natural grassland will be re-seeded and mixed with high-quality pasture, scientifically managed and supplemented with fertilizers, thus transformed into high-yield artificial grassland. According to the development needs of animal husbandry and the nutritional needs of livestock, the combination of pasture varieties has been improve continuously, and the deep processing of forage grass has been carried out. The annual output of hay is about 10 t/ha, which not only effectively protects the development of animal husbandry in the Netherlands but also expands export through the deep processing of grass products. The Netherlands has 2.404 million ha of agricultural land, of which the planting area of forage grass and forage maize account for more than two thirds[4]. The Netherlands has continued to extend the grassland agricultural industrial chain by establishing intensive modern animal husbandry, which not only effectively improves the ecological environment and agricultural structure but also greatly reduces production costs, especially forage costs and promotes the development and efficiency of agriculture and animal husbandry.

2.1.3France. In France, grassland agriculture started earlier, and artificial grassland planting began in 1850. Since then, with the improvement of related technologies such as mixing and the promotion of new forage varieties, the output of grassland agriculture has maintained rapid growth. French agriculture has been transformed from traditional agriculture to modern grassland agriculture. Currently, the area of pasture in France reached 14.9 million ha, accounting for 53.2% of the agricultural land area, of which artificially improved grassland accounted for 73% of the total grassland area. Only the livestock production value accounts for more than 70% of the total agricultural output value of France[5].

2.2 Grassland agriculture in China

2.2.1Development opportunities. Since the 1980s, China’s per capita consumption of food and livestock products has undergone a historic turning point. The weight of grain in food is constantly slipping, from 68% in 1980 to 43% in 2010[6-7], while that of animal food has been soaring all the way. If grain and livestock feed are calculated separately, China’s grain has already been met, but feed is seriously insufficient. From the perspective of development trend, the feed gap will be larger and larger, and this gap needs to be filled with pasture (including forage plants), rather than grain. Therefore, the feed crisis threatens China’s food security[8]. In order to adapt to the changes in the food structure of China, grassland agriculture has also become a historical change in solving the problem of agricultural development and optimizing the structure of agriculture in China[9]. In 2016, the Central Committee’s No.1 DocumentSeveralOpinionsonImplementingtheNewConceptofDevelopmentandAcceleratingAgriculturalModernizationtoAchievetheComprehensiveWell-offSocietyproposes to optimize the structure and regional layout of agricultural production, initiate the implementation of the adjustment plan for crop production structure, build a core area for grain production, expand the pilot program of grain to feed and accelerate the construction of a modern forage industry system.

2.2.2Development modes. Academician Nan Zhibiao made recommendations on grassland agriculture construction. The first is to develop the grain-grass system. Research in dry farming conditions in Qingyang City, Gansu Province shows that when introducing legumes such as alfalfa and sainfoin into a single wheat planting system, although the area planted with grain decreased by 17%, the total grain output increased by 37%, the per capita net income of farmers increased by 29% and soil erosion decreased by 87%. In the Yellow River irrigation district of Jingtai County, Gansu Province, the four-year and four-pilot rotation system of spring wheat, sweet clover, common vetch, maize and yellow soybean was applied. The results show that the total yield of wheat increased by 31.6%, the planting area decreased by 43.2%, the water use efficiency increased by 92.5%, and the salinized area decreased by 17.5%. Under either dry or irrigation farming, the grain-grass system characterized by grass-grain rotation has shown a prosperous life in sustainable development[10]. The second is to develop fruit-grass system. Planting pasture in the orchard can increase soil fertility and land output. Compared to an orchard that does not grow grass, the soil organic matter of the orchard planted with pasture in the idle land increased by 15.7%-38.2%, the available nitrogen increased by 10.9%-34.0%, the phosphorus increased by 24.6%-90.3%, and the potassium increased by 28.9%-126.2%[11]. Therefore, the coupling of fruit and grass not only reduces the input-output ratio but also improves the soil and protects the ecology. Establishing systemic resource management and utilization concepts and promoting system coupling between planting and aquaculture will help to achieve a win-win situation between production and ecology. Taking Sunan County, Gansu Province as pastoral model and Linze County, Gansu Province as agricultural model, in order to realize system coupling, three modes have been established: Mode 1, livestock are grazed in pastoral areas throughout the year, and agricultural areas provide supplementary feed for pastoral areas; Mode 2, livestock are grazed in pastoral areas and fattened in agricultural areas, and agricultural areas provide cold season supplementary feed; Mode 3, agricultural areas establish livestock breeding bases of which the livestock are transported to pastoral areas. Among them, Mode 2 can increase productivity by up to four times[12].

2.2.3Development space. According to preliminary statistics, the area of low and medium-yield fields in China is about 80 million ha, the area of idle farmlands is nearly 9.9 million ha, the area of various types of sparse forests, tea orchards and orchards is about 1.48 million ha, and the area currently used for planting pasture is less than 10%. If it is possible to promote grassland agriculture and use 10% of the above types of land to grow good pasture, the income of pasture will be increased by 100 million t without affecting the original productivity. If it is assumed that the dry matter in 10 kg of pasture is converted into 1 kg of beef and mutton, about 10 million t of beef and mutton will be increased. In addition, there are still 100 million ha of grassy slopes in China, and the output of this grassland agriculture is equivalent to an increase of 6.67 million ha of farmland. Therefore, grassland agriculture will lead agriculture into a new era of stable grain production and prosperous animal husbandry.

3 Development status of grassland agriculture in Dafang County

3.1 Ecological advantagesDafang County is 720-2 325 m above the sea level. It belongs to the typical subtropical plateau monsoon humid climate and is suitable for planting a variety of forage grasses. According to incomplete statistics, there are 162 species in 42 families of forage in the territory. The main species are white clover, crowtoe, black medic, vetch, eulalia, love grass, arthraxon,etc. The county has 66 700 ha of natural grassland, including 35 800 ha of shrub grassland, 27 100 ha of grass grassland, 3 800 ha of sparse forest land. There are 12 100 ha of artificial grassland and improved grassland. The annual output of fresh grass can reach more than 540 000 t. At the same time, it can produce 300 000 t of various crop straws and 46 800 t of green and succulent feed each year. Evergrande Group has helped Dafang County since 2015. It changes the traditional blood transfusion-type poverty alleviation, and transforms it into hemopoiesis-type poverty alleviation through industrial poverty alleviation. Combined the actual situation of Dafang County, the beef cattle industry has been developed vigorously. At present, there are 86 200 beef cattle in the county, driving 51 428 people in 17 142 poor households to increase their income by planting grass and raising cattle.

3.2 Development modes

3.2.1Grassland+silage. Taking a farmer in Songshu Village, Xingxiu Township, Dafang County as an example, there were 42 beef cattle in the household, and 230 t of whole-plant silage maize was produced in 2017 to solve the problem of winter forage. The feed supply mode of the household was silage+hay, which was put into use at the beginning of December 2017. At the end of February 2018, the weight gain of the beef cattle was counted. The results show that the average daily weight gain of the beef cattle was 0.5 kg, significantly greater than that of beef cattle fed with only maize stalk, highlighting the weight-increasing effect of silage+hay on beef cattle. In 2016, the No.1 Breeding Farm of Fengshan Township, Dafang County aided by Evergrande Group launched the storage of whole-plant maize to produce silage, and more farm cooperatives and ordinary people joined the grass growing industry, gradually changing the situation of traditional cattle and mutton industry in Dafang County (fat in autumn, thin in winter and die in spring). Through the planning of planting grass to produce silage, it can effectively preserve plant nutrition, improve the palatability of feed, expand the source of feed, and facilitate access, eventually significantly improving economic benefits.

3.2.2Grassland+grain. After the silage maize is stored in September each year, it is possible to increase the unit land multiple cropping index by rotating cereal crops, such as wheat, triticale and forage oat. Taking a farmer in Huangnitang Town, Dafang County as an example, wheat was planted after silage maize was harvested in 2017. The yield of wheat was 2 550 kg/ha, and the income was 25 500 yuan/ha. Coupled with income of silage maize, the annual income per ha of land was more than 45 000 yuan.

3.2.3Grassland+vegetable. After silage maize was harvested, carrot, white radish, cabbage, garlic, rape and other vegetable crops are planted. According to the market survey and production measurement of Dafang County Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, the production of carrot reached 21 000 kg/ha, with income of 24 000 yuan/ha; the yield of white radish was 60 000 kg/ha, with income of 25 500 yuan/ha; the yield of cabbage was 45 000 kg/ha, with income of 36 000 yuan/ha; the yield of garlic sprout reached 2 250 kg/ha, with income of 18 000 yuan/ha; and the yield of garlic cloves was 4 500 kg/ha, with income of 15 750 yuan/ha.

3.2.4Grassland+tourism. Dafang County is rich in tourism resources, such as Muege Ancient City, Jiudongtian, Shexiang Tomb, Shexiang Museum, Qingxu Cave and Muzhai Village in Hetao Town. Taking Inner Mongolia Customs Park in Fengshan Township, which was built by Evergrande Group as an example, green landscape dominated by grassland was equipped to enhance the landscape effect. Combined with the grazing and raising habits of local minorities, the project was operated and managed by a professional company in Inner Mongolia to create the most distinctive Mongolian-style tourism project in the Southwest region. It absorbs the employment of poor households and drives a large number of poor households to start their own businesses. The professional company directly absorbed 30 people from nearly poor households to work in the Mongolian tribe. Among them, there were 10 training managers. About 100 people in poverty-stricken households achieved self-employment and poverty alleviation through the development of agricultural sightseeing, farmhouses, family hotels, folk snacks and other projects. The annual income of poor households reached 28 800 yuan. By developing grassland tourism, the production and lifestyles of the poor have been transformed, and the mindset of closed groups of poor people has been changed. Guizhou Grass, Livestock & Agriculture Co., Ltd. created a 666.7-ha New Zealand ranch by artificially improving natural grassland, integrating leisure and sightseeing, grass breeding and animal husbandry, achieving a beautiful landscape of "as wind lowers grass livestock cannot hide". Tens of thousands of tourists have been attracted by conducting leisure camping activity, and the income of the poor people around has been increased by more than 30 000 yuan. The mode of grassland+tourism promotes the comprehensive development of agriculture and tourism and plays a demonstration role in helping rural revitalization.

3.3 Production conditions restricting the application of grassland agricultural machineryAt present, due to the continuous transfer of rural labor, the cost of agricultural employment has risen, and the comparative benefits of agriculture have declined. Accelerating the application of agricultural mechanization of forage grass crops is an inevitable trend in the development of modern grassland husbandry. However, the mechanization application of planting, management and harvest of forage grass crops in Dafang County is seriously lagging behind, which restricts the large-scale production and the improvement of comparative economic benefits. Therefore, the level of mechanization application is the main problem that limits the development of grassland agriculture in Dafang County.

3.3.1Complex agricultural production conditions restricting application of machinery. The terrain of Dafang County is complex, the land is fragmented, and the proportion of sloping land is large. To a certain extent, these restrict the application of agricultural machinery. Secondly, the farming system in the region is complex and diverse, which has brought certain difficulties to the development and promotion of agricultural machinery. In addition, factors such as the underdeveloped rural economy and the low quality of rural left-behind labor force have also brought varying degrees of influence on the application of mechanization.

3.3.2Grassland agriculture having specialized and diversified requirements for agricultural machinery. Forage grass crops have special and diverse requirements for the development and application of mechanization due to their own characteristics. First, the varieties of forage grass crops are numerous. Different varieties of forage grass crops have different requirements during the sowing, management and storage stages. The machinery and application techniques for traditional forage crops such as ryegrass, tall fescue, cocksfoot, alfalfa, gray radish cannot be applied to new feeds such as sorghum and silage maize. Second, influenced by traditional thought of generally adhering to the principle of not fighting for land with grain, forage grass crops are usually planted on hillsides, low-yield fields and autumn and winter idle fields, making mechanization application more difficult than major grain crops and economic crops. In addition, different animals and feeding patterns have diverse requirements for the harvest period of forage grass crops. The same crop is required to be harvested in batches at different times for the needs of different uses such as green fodder and silage. Therefore, factors such as different forage grass varieties, planting environments and harvesting periods have placed different special requirements on mechanization application, and also added difficulties for mechanization application.

3.3.3Low mechanization performance of pasture and forage crops restricting the application of machinery. In terms of current performance of pasture machinery in China, compared with foreign developed countries, China’s pasture machinery lacks uniform standards and complete series, most of which are single models. Users are small in selectivity. The matching degree between machinery and power is low, so the efficiency is not high. In particular, there is a lack of lightweight machinery suitable for small-scale production and mountain use. Due to technical limitations, most products are of low quality, have many failures, and have poor reliability.

3.3.4Infrastructure and low specialization and specialization degree restricting the application of machinery. At present, due to geographical environment and other factors, Dafang County has poor road traffic infrastructure. Difficult transportation makes the transportation cost of grassland agricultural products relatively high. The role of the new agricultural and animal husbandry business entities in the county is not strong, and the degree of organization and specialization is not high. The number of new agricultural and animal husbandry business entities is relatively small, the strength is not strong, the scale is small, the degree of standardization is low, and the operational management is not standardized. There is still no fixed formation of concentrated contiguous planting. Coupled with the constraints of meteorological conditions, the difficulties in harvesting, processing and storage are great, and it is difficult to be silaged in a short time. The time span of silaging is large. Many places are not suitable for mechanical operations. The overall level of development needs to be further improved.

4 Development strategies for grassland agriculture in Dafang County

4.1 Increasing policy support and strengthening infrastructure construction in grassland agricultural areasFirst, priority should be given to the implementation of agricultural projects and key projects such as comprehensive agricultural development, land consolidation and re-cultivation, and farmland water conservancy construction in the large-scale cultivation and operation area of forage grass crops. In particular, policy should be inclined to large-scale operation entities of forage grass crops for more than five years. The construction of agricultural infrastructure such as transportation, electricity, water conservancy and land consolidation in the region should be strengthened. The forage grass crop growers and professional cooperative organizations in high-standard farmland demonstration areas that have been built should be guided actively to develop large-scale operation of forage grass. Second, the village-level collective organizations are allowed to declare and undertake projects for the implementation of land consolidation, comprehensive agricultural development and high-standard farmland. The completed assets are handed over to the village-level collective organizations for management and operation to strengthen the village-level collective economy. The third is to support the large-scale operation entities of forage grass for the construction of silage, warehousing, agricultural machinery and equipment and other infrastructure, to approve the required land as production land, and to prioritize land use indicators. Through policy support, the investment in the infrastructure construction of grassland planting base (water, electricity and roads) will be strengthened.

4.2 Establishing subsidies and incentives to promote rural revitalization through the development of grassland agricultureThe first is to explore the subsidy mechanism for land leasers, improve the direct subsidy policy for large grassland agricultural enterprises and business entities, and gradually increase the subsidy standard. The second is to explore the establishment of an incentive mechanism for the socialized service system, provide a certain standard of operation subsidies to key agricultural operation links conducive to the promotion of large-scale operation of grassland agriculture, and provide subsidies for agricultural machinery operations to large planting households or professional cooperative organizations with a mechanized planting area of 6.7 ha or more. The third is to increase incentives for large growers and professional cooperative organizations. At an interval of two years, in the name of the government, a group of advanced large-scale enterprises and professional cooperative organizations or enterprises are selected and given with a certain reward. The fourth is to encourage and support large-scale business entities to carry out product certification and brand building and provide them with appropriate subsidies in terms of financial support.

4.3 Strengthening the construction of service system and cultivating grassland agricultural management service organizationsThe first is to strengthen the construction of grassland agriculture and the rural revitalization strategy for the construction of a public welfare social service system. Combined with the existing agricultural technology extension service system, the conditions for the construction of comprehensive grassroots agricultural technology extension institutions in townships and regions are completed. The second is to actively cultivate business service organizations, support the professional service organizations such as farmers’ professional cooperative organizations, professional service companies and agriculture-related enterprises to participate in the public welfare services in all aspects of grassland agricultural development and rural revitalization strategies. Through government orders, targeted entrustment, incentive subsidies, bidding,etc., low-cost, convenient and comprehensive services are provided to grassland agricultural development and rural revitalization strategy development.

4.4 Implementing government funding subsidies, strengthening the application of grassland agricultural machinery and reducing agricultural risksThe first is to adjust the structure of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies. The focus is on the agricultural machinery cooperatives, large agricultural machinery households, and the key weak links of agricultural machinery development in the development of grassland agriculture and rural revitalization. Agricultural machinery scrap subsidy plot and agricultural machinery insurance premium subsidy pilot are carried out to encourage agricultural machinery to be retired and upgraded in time. The second is to explore the establishment of a risk compensation mechanism for grassland agricultural development and rural revitalization strategy development to moderately increase the premium subsidy standards and insured standards for industrial development and fully implement the policy that the payment of premiums in the current year can be extended to the next year for use under the absence of disasters.

5 Conclusions

Grassland agriculture is one of the important pillar industries of Dafang County’s agricultural and rural economy. It is also a big industry that benefits people’s livelihood and promotes stability. Vigorously developing modern grassland agriculture is related to the pace of poverty alleviation of rural poor families, agricultural modernization development and ecological civilization construction, and people’s well-being and increasing income. After research and analysis, it is found that there are currently many modes of grassland agriculture in Da fang County. Among them, the modes of silage maize+cabbage, silage maize+wheat and silage maize+garlic are more suitable development modes. The management department should take "grain to feed" as a breakthrough in the development of grassland agriculture, increase the concentration intensity of industrial capital, create experience, drive the overall situation, further exert the guiding role of industrial policies and supporting funds and guide the establishment of a healthy and rational modern grassland agricultural development mechanism. Simultaneously, we should actively innovate the development modes, cultivate new kinetic energy, continue to promote the conversion of old kinetic energy to new kinetic energy in grassland agriculture, study the industrial characteristics and development rules of modern grassland agriculture, find the entry point for the conversion of old kinetic energy to new kinetic energy, accelerate the cultivation of new grassland agricultural management entities, give more support to professional planning cooperatives, large planters and leading enterprises in project funds, financial insurance and technology promotion, and further mobilize and give play to the positive role of the new planting business operators in promoting the development of modern grassland agriculture and promoting farmers’ income. Through the form of company+professional cooperative+village collective economy+farmer (poor household)", the transformation of grassland scientific and technological achievements is promoted. Qualified farming and animal husbandry enterprises are encouraged to enter the research and development of high-quality germplasm resources to occupy the commanding heights of industrial development.

Dafang County in Bijie experimental area implements intercropping, relay intercropping and rotating of fruit-grass, grass-grain, grass-economic crop and grass-vegetable, promote the potential of agricultural factors such as land and water resources, climate resources, biological resources and labor resources according to local conditions, improve production level, and effectively promote the realization of target technology products such as grassland+raising, grassland+grain, grassland+fruit and vegetables and

grassland+tourism. In addition to providing a large number of high-quality agricultural and livestock products, agricultural production conditions and ecological environment are effectively improved. This is of great significance for promoting the development of agricultural economy, increasing economic efficiency, promoting targeted poverty alleviation, implementing rural revitalization strategy and safeguarding food safety and ecological security.