Urumqi, April 4 (Zhongxin Net) -- In recent years, Xinjiang has accelerated the construction and protection of seed production bases, promoted the upgrading of seed production bases, and entered the fast lane of development with the blessing of policies, talents, funds and other factors.

The development of seed industry provides "core power" for Xinjiang's agricultural production

Xinjiang's planting area ranks second in the country. In 2022, the Xinjiang government work report proposed to accelerate the construction of a modern seed industry system and promote the construction of "four million mu" (wheat, corn, cotton, and characteristic crops) seed production bases. "The construction of the 'four million mu' seed production base is a strategic measure for Xinjiang to transform from a 'seed industry region' to a 'seed industry strong region'." Li Jianjiang, director and researcher of the Institute of Grain Crops of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, believes that this is of great significance to accelerate the development of Xinjiang's seed industry and increase farmers' income.

Staff from the Institute of Crop Variety Resources of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences are doing soybean DNA extraction experiments. Photo by Wang Xiaojun

After decades of precipitation, Xinjiang's seed production bases have "taken root" in both northern and southern Xinjiang. Xinjiang's remarkable achievements in seed production are inseparable from the cooperation of scientific researchers and enterprises. At present, Xinjiang's self-bred wheat, corn, cotton, rice, soybeans and other major crop varieties have become the dominant agricultural production, with the sown area accounting for more than 80% of the total sown area of crops, and the coverage rate of improved varieties of major crops exceeding 90%.

In 2022, Xinjiang's "four million mu" seed production base has reached 525,33,12 mu, involving 71,388 farms in 1406 prefectures (prefectures and cities), 7726 townships (towns) in <> counties (cities and districts), and <>,<> farms in <>,<> villages.

At present, Xinjiang's seed production resources, seed production technology and seed production talents have achieved a agglomeration effect. With the accelerated construction of seed production bases and good breeding bases, and the continuous improvement of the promotion and marketing system and commercial seed production system, Xinjiang's cotton seed production and early maturing corn resource innovation capacity has been at the national advanced level, becoming the largest cotton seed base and the second largest corn seed production base in China.

After 40 years of "sharpening" Xinjiang Changji seeds "out of the circle"

In Changji Prefecture, Xinjiang, the agricultural area of seed production accounts for more than one-third of Xinjiang, with an annual planting area of more than 100 million mu, an annual output of more than 40,30 tons of wheat, corn and other crops, and an output value of more than <> billion yuan. Changji City, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Changji Prefecture, is known as a "natural seed breeding farm" for its unique natural conditions.

A bumper wheat harvest in Dunmaili Village, Qiongkule Township, Jimu County, Xinjiang (data map). Photo by Yang Lijun

On March 2023, 3, Xinjiang Changji issued 23 measures to promote the high-quality development of the seed industry. At present, the planting area of Changji City, Xinjiang is stable at about 15,10 mu, and the seed enterprises in the region drive nearly 100 million mu of crop seeds in other prefectures, counties and cities and provinces and cities in other provinces and cities, with an annual breeding capacity of 30,5 tons and an annual seed trading volume of 50 billion yuan.

Jiushenghe Seed Industry Co., Ltd. is a breeding enterprise in Changji City, Xinjiang, the company's business involves 18 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), up to now, the company's total asset scale is 21.7 billion yuan, annual sales revenue is 2 million yuan, and net profit is more than 6800 million yuan. "It has cooperated with more than 100 domestic scientific research units, seed enterprises and scientific research institutions in 8 countries, and there are 55 self-fertile varieties and 51 jointly approved varieties." Wang Aihua, president of Jiushenghe Seed Industry Co., Ltd., said.

There are still some urgent problems to be solved in the development of Xinjiang's seed industry

While Xinjiang's seed industry is developing steadily, there are still some problems that need to be solved urgently, such as the lagging identification and evaluation system of germplasm resources in Xinjiang and the low supply rate of fine seeds. Taking soybeans as an example, Xinjiang's soybean production has problems such as insufficient seed reserves and cannot meet production demand. Since Xinjiang has not yet established a regional soybean seed breeding base, the supply rate of improved seeds is less than 30%, and most of the improved seeds supplied in production are transferred from outside the region, and the iterative update of new varieties is imminent.

Xu Lin, director of the Institute of Crop Variety Resources of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences and vice chairman of the Xinjiang Soybean Industrial Technology Research Institute, introduced that taking soybeans as an example, Xinjiang will focus on four difficult points of soybeans, namely, the coordinated improvement of high yield and high quality, and the drought resistance and salt tolerance of varieties; Solve the problem of standardized cultivation technology of good seeds, good methods, agricultural machinery and agronomy, and realize the simplification, intelligence and mechanization of soybeans; Solve the problem of low supply rate of improved seeds.

The sweet potato research group of Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences created a "new model for the evaluation of excellent sweet potato food varieties" in China for the first time. Photo by Wang Xiaojun

"We must be willing to make efforts, increase investment, pay attention to innovative mechanisms, stimulate vitality, focus on solving the problem of 'two skins' in scientific research and production, and truly equip agricultural production with 'Chinese core' and plug in the wings of science and technology." Wu Hongtao, chairman of Xinjiang Tianyu Seed Industry Co., Ltd. and chairman of Xinjiang Soybean Industrial Technology Research Institute, said.

Xinjiang to speed up the construction of seed production bases, Li Jianjiang said, first, through the establishment of a big data platform, seed traceability feasible, seed safety and security; Second, it can ensure the quality of seeds; The third is to establish the advantageous areas of various crops, make the industrial characteristics more prominent, and effectively promote the cohesion and integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries; The fourth is to be able to widely implement mature models such as "company + cooperative + farmer", while promoting farmers' income, to achieve large-scale, intensive, standardized, informationized and branded agricultural development. (End)