Socialized Agricultural Services

Summary

Younong is an agricultural corporation that aims to establish an entirely market-based agricultural value chain by providing socialized services .The socialized agricultural machinery service entails agricultural management families in the division of labour activities and leads small farmers toward modern agricultural development. The corporation includes services such as seedling raising, mechanical ploughing, mechanical transplanting and transplanting, basal fertilizer application, pest control and weed control, and harvesting. By integrating land resources from small farmers, Younong standardized its planting management system and adopted advanced technologies, which not only reduces chemical pollution but also increases farmers’ incomes.

Challenge/Problem

Agricultural chemical inputs, including chemical fertilizer and pesticides, play important roles in agricultural production. However, the overuse of chemical fertilizer and pesticide causes severe environmental problems such as water pollution, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which threaten the sustainable development of agriculture and the environment. This problem is more acute in China, as it is the largest consumer of fertilizer, and its average inorganic nitrogen fertilizer intensity is more than two times higher than the global average.

In recent years, China has made substantial progress in reducing fertilizer and pesticide use. However, there are millions of smallholder farmers with vulnerable livelihoods in China, and there are few effective measures that enable them to reduce chemical use while maintaining agriculture yields and increasing their incomes. Hence, feasible practices and solutions such as socialized services are still needed for further sustainable development and to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of no poverty, clean water and sanitation, and climate action.

Solution

Yixian Younong Eco-Agriculture Co., Ltd. ("Younong" for short) is an agricultural corporation in Huangshan, China, established in 2014. The company aims to establish an entirely market-based agricultural value chain by providing socialized services including raw material supply, planting, mechanical service, purchases and brand marketing. Younong integrated land resources through encouraging farmers to become shareholders by land and aligned agriculture production with the interests of individuals and village collectives.

Based on large-scale farmland, Younong established planting bases and standardized its planting management system. A series of technologies and machines, including rice precision seeding, upgraded rice-transplanting machines, rice sideways fertilization, customized production of plant protection drones, were adopted to improve farmland efficiency and minimize the use of fertilizers and pesticides. Furthermore, Younong is promoting the use of mobile straw carbonization equipment to convert waste straw into carbon-based fertilizer, which can not only minimize the environmental pollution of straw combustion but also improve the land fertility and capture more carbon.

Younong integrates the interests of farmers, village committees, cooperatives, business entities and scientific research institutes, creating a complete industrial chain in which all stakeholders can share risks and incentives. By assisting the village collective to establish a "farmers' land equity cooperative", the company integrated the land for modern agricultural production, achieving a win-win situation for industrial development and smallholder farmers. By cooperating with scientific research institutions, Younong can take advantage of the social service platform to facilitate scientific, technological, and industrial innovation. In 2022, the Younong Digital Agriculture Center was founded, offering the local cooperatives and family farms where the sub-projects are located with technical solutions for rice production and enabled, low-cost, and comprehensive social services through the technical service centers and digital platforms. In addition, Younong also cooperates with financial institutions to provide targeted, mortgage-free loans to support businesses, enabling farmers to access sufficient capital for production.

The Chinese government has supported the development of the Younong Model and the construction of an agricultural social service system. In 2017, the Younong Model was written into Huangshan Government Work Report and promoted throughout the province.

Results

- Younong has deployed 23 spherical monitors in the planting base to monitor seedling management in real-time. Younong successfully carried out a pilot project of mechanized transplanting technology of rapeseed blanket seedlings, which effectively improved production efficiency and reduced labor. This technology has been applied to more than 200 acres of farmland. Younong also independently developed multi-functional plant protection drones to provide plant protection services for the industry consortium. 

- Adopting the method of intensive land to provide services in a unified way, the agricultural machinery work efficiency is high, the low efficiency problem of small farmers in the mountains is alleviated, and the fuel consumption is reduced.

- By adopting innovative technologies and solutions, Younong farmers have reduced their rice-planting costs by over 30 per cent, and chemical fertilizer use is 25 per cent lower than on small farms.

- The Younong Model can ensure that the agricultural production meets green production standards.

- Adapted for local characteristics, the Younong Model has been replicated in other nearby cities including Suzhou, Chuzhou, Maanshan and Xuancheng.

Lessons Learned/Potential for replication

- The biggest challenge to replicating the Younong Model is integrating the land resources of smallholder farmers. Success lies in cooperating with motivated village committees whose villages are suitable for industrial development.

- Promoting and using innovative technologies plays an important role in improving productivity and reducing chemical pollution from agricultural inputs. In addition, cooperating with scientific research institutes can reduce the cost of technology adoption for a company, and in turn promote the implementation of technology.

- It is also important to align the interests of smallholder farmers and corporations, which can substantially stimulate the enthusiasm of farmers. Enabling farmers to become shareholders of their land is a good way to align their behaviour with agricultural production priorities.

- Standardizing the production of green foods makes it easier to expand the sales channels of agricultural products.
 

Next Steps

- Younong plans to replicate its model in other nearby cities and even other provinces to help local areas achieve large-scale mechanized agriculture.

- In 2021, Younong was selected as one of the pilots of the Asia Development Bank’s Green Investment Fund with its sustainable agricultural production model. In the next years, Younong will continue to improve and promote its solutions for mechanized agriculture and environmental protection.