Study On The Criteria And Construction Approach For Well-facilitated Farmland

Farmland is the foundation of grain production. The well-facilitated farmland construction is an important measure to guarantee national food security in our country. However, the perception of well-facilitated farmland among different departments is not consistent with each other due to improper departmental function designation and division. The existing three standards only pay attention to the construction content without explaining the criteria and goals that the well-facilitated farmland to be reached and the guarantee for crop growth to be realized after the construction in different areas. So it’s difficult for them to guide the construction of well-facilitated farmland scientifically. On the basis of discussion and analyses of the existing concepts and connotations of well-facilitated farmland, this research defined the meaning of "well-facilitated farmland" from a scientific perspective, in line with the correlation of crop growth and farmland quality. Further studies were also conducted to determine the method for the criteria of well-facilitated farmland, and the spatio-temporal arrangement method and construction procedure as well. It has also tested and validated the theories above-mentioned and methods concerning the standards and approach for the well-facilitated farmland construction by taking Fujin City in Heilongjiang Province as a case. The main research conclusions are drawn as follows:Well-facilitated farmland refers to the farmland that can meet the requirements for steady and high yield of the regional main crops and that is adapted to the modern agricultural production and operation modes. It can also be utilized sustainably in given periods of time. The regional characteristics of well-facilitated farmland are distinctive but not necessarily the "perfect" farmland characterized by the stereotyped idea of "fields with clear-cut boundaries, network of trees, well-connected roads and water channels, which can be irritated at the time of drought and drained at the time of flooding". Once the quality of the farmland can satisfy the demand for steady high yield&high-efficient production of the regional main crops, it can be defined as well-facilitated.Therefore, it is the foundation for determining the criteria of well-facilitated farmland to study the requirements for steady high yield&high-efficient production of the regional main crops. The determination for the criteria of regional well-facilitated farmland needs to define the main crops on the basis of the standard regional farming system in accordance with the local climatic conditions at first, namely investigating the demand for the soil, moisture and field infrastructure for the steady high yield of those crops. This article divided the whole country into12regions in terms of well-facilitated farmland such as Northeast Region and Huang-Huai-Hai Region by reference to the results concerning the agricultural regionalization and agricultural land grading. And the impact of the regional natural endowment on the quality of farmland was also analyzed. Requirements of the soil, moisture and field infrastructure for steady and high yield of the regional main crops were further discussed to put forward the criteria for regional well-facilitated farmland, as well as to point out the restrictive factors influencing the steady and high yield of the regional main crops, corresponding transformation and renovation measures.The construction of well-facilitated farmland consists of three major tasks:spatial arrangement, sequence scheduling and construction measures. As far as the spatial arrangement of well-facilitated farmland is concerned, the area with unstable area should be firstly excluded by the method of "veto by one vote", which means the exclusion of the farmland which will probably be encroached on by construction of buildings, converted into other ecological forms or devastated by disasters. Secondly, farmland which has already reached the criteria of well-facilitated was selected directly through comparing the quality of the existing farmland with the criteria. Thirdly, factors influencing the growth of the main regional crops were analyzed to exclude the farmland that has obvious restrictive factors and cannot be transformed under existing technological and economic conditions. After the three steps above-mentioned, the rest farmland can be deemed as the construction area of well-facilitated farmland. When making the time schedule of construction sequence for the construction area of well-facilitated farmland, we should determine the sequence according to the grading results of space stability assessment. As for the determination of construction measures in the construction area of well-facilitated farmland, first of all we need to diagnose the factors of the farmland that influence the steady high yield&high-efficient production of crops and design scientific high-efficient engineering measures and safeguard policies based on the existing engineering measures for soil improvement and land control, according to local economic and technological conditions.The case study of Fujin City has proved that the criteria for well-facilitated farmland locally are different when it comes to dry land or paddy field. Because it’s located in a sub-humid monsoon climate area with rain hot during the same period. Large scale planted maize locally and the natural precipitation can totally meet the moisture demand of maize, no need for additional irrigation. So, the construction of well-facilitated farmland in the dry land doesnt need to take into account the irrigation system. However, once people plant the paddy rice, the construction of well-facilitated farmland must be equipped with irrigation systems. As for the dry land derived from the reclamation of black earth and Baijiang soil at hilly areas, general leveling of the land is not suitable in the construction of well-facilitated farmland because land leveling would destroy the black soil layer of the top layer. If we assess the existing farmland according to the drafted criteria for well-facilitated farmland in Fujin City, most of the existing well-facilitated farmland is dry land, accounting for99.77%of the total amount of well-facilitated farmland. The paddy field only accounts for a very small part of it. The fact is that in Fujin City the paddy field accounts for30.91%of the farmland area, dry land accounts for68.95%and irrigated field for0.13%. Such a result is due to the fact that the dry land on the hilly area has no restrictive elements for planting maize in terms of soil, because the natural precipitation can satisfy the demand for moisture. And it also has no restrictive elements for water drainage depending on its natural topography. It meets the criteria for well-facilitated farmland even if it has no irrigation and drainage facilities. However, the imperfect local water conservation facilities make its paddy fields fall short of the requirements for well-facilitated farmland. The empirical research of Fujin City has also proved that not all the existing well-facilitated farmland is of the "most premium grade" and it also includes the "secondary premium grade". It shows that the results of the grading of farmland are only an important reference for determining well-facilitated farmland. The actual determination of well-facilitated farmland depends on the comparison of the requirements for steady high yield&high-efficient production of the main regional crops and quality of the farmland. The investigation research has found that some of the present on-going well-facilitated farmland construction projects in Fujin City are located in the existing well-facilitated farmland area. They are confirmed by the criteria for well-facilitated farmland determined by this article.The broad territory of China has a great variety of natural conditions and unbalanced socio-economic developments. So, the criteria for well-facilitated farmland should be determined regionally. This research divided the whole country into12well-facilitated farmland construction regions. Nevertheless, there is still a big difference between the natural conditions within the same region. So, the proposed criteria for regional well-facilitated farmland are still generalized and we need more specific subdivision of regions for studying the criteria of well-facilitated farmland, as well as relevant transformation measures.The overall spatial arrangement of well-facilitated farmland articulated by this article is only concerned with land non-encroached on by construction land, land conversion for ecological purposes and devastation caused by the disasters. However, the guarantee for the sustainable utilization of well-facilitated farmland should include other key elements of environmental resources, especially the sustainable supply of water resources. If the water supply is not sufficient in general and depends on exploiting the groundwater via digging wells, the practice of exhausting geological reservoirs will be not sustainable though the existence of good irrigating facilities are deemed to as "high-standard". The guarantee for sustainable supply of resources must be further studied in the future construction of well-facilitated farmland.