■ Reporter Li Chen
"The agricultural product processing industry spans three major fields of agriculture, industry and service industry, one end is connected to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, the other is connected to industry, cities and citizens, communicating urban and rural areas, and also working and farming, which is the supporting force for agricultural and rural modernization." Recently, the National Agricultural Product Processing Industry Science and Technology Innovation Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the Alliance) was established in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, Wang Fengzhong, director of the Agricultural Product Processing Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that at present, there are still many shortcomings in the agricultural product processing industry in science and technology, in order to allow scientists and entrepreneurs to form effective communication in production and reduce low-level duplication of construction, they want to solve the above problems through the form of establishing an alliance.
Under the guidance of the Department of Science and Technology Education of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Alliance is led by the Institute of Agricultural Product Processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and more than 300 leading domestic resource leading enterprises and scientific research institutions jointly created the Alliance. The establishment of the alliance marks that China's agricultural product processing industry and scientists have a common organizational structure.
The agricultural product processing industry is facing many shortcomings
The data shows that the agricultural product processing industry is the largest manufacturing industry and an important starting point for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. In 2020, the operating income of China's agricultural product processing industry exceeded 23.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.2 trillion yuan year-on-year. The ratio of agro-processing to agricultural output is close to 2.4:1. The contribution rate of science and technology to the development of agricultural product processing industry has reached 63%, which is higher than the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress of 59.2%.
With the rapid development of the agricultural product processing industry, people's lifestyles have also been affected. How science and technology play a greater role in it, and how enterprises can accurately grasp market demand for healthy development, are all problems facing the agricultural product processing industry.
First of all, the quality of the development of the agricultural processing industry is still not high. Most agricultural product processing industries do not have strong scientific and technological innovation capabilities, and the level of technology lags behind that of developed countries. Product supply is still dominated by road goods, the proportion of high-quality green agricultural products is relatively low, there is a general homogenization phenomenon in processing and circulation, there is a lack of niche, precision, high-end products and services, and the brand premium is limited.
Secondly, the chain of agricultural product processing industry is relatively short. In general, it is still dominated by the primary industry, and the output value of the secondary and tertiary industries is obviously small and the industrial system is not perfect. The deep processing of agricultural products is insufficient, the degree of comprehensive utilization of by-products is low, and the processing and conversion rate of agricultural products is only 65%, which is 20 percentage points lower than that of developed countries.
In addition, "the current waste of agricultural products in the storage and transportation link is more serious." Wang Fengzhong introduced that in the storage and transportation links, the loss rate of grain, oil, livestock and poultry products is 8%, and the loss rate of fruits and vegetables has reached 20%. "We use the resources of land, sunlight and water to produce a large number of agricultural products, but they cannot be well preserved, resulting in huge losses." This is a problem that the future processing technology community must solve. ”
From the perspective of the quality of agricultural products, consumers are not satisfied with just understanding the nutritional quality, processing quality, food quality, safety quality, commodity quality, etc. of agricultural products; in the field of food intelligent manufacturing, how to digitize processing technology, food digitalization and human needs to help agriculture get out of the low-end and weak; how to improve the equipment research and development level of China's agricultural product processing industry; how to provide precision nutrition for each individual... These are all issues that the tech community should be concerned about.
Build a "three-chain" fusion
The agricultural product processing industry is the biggest people's livelihood and an important cornerstone to meet the people's good life.
However, at present, the integration of the industrial chain, innovation chain and value chain of China's agricultural product processing industry is relatively low. How to promote the high-quality development of the agricultural product processing industry and realize the revitalization of rural industries? Wang Fengzhong believes that it is necessary to extend the industrial chain, integrate the innovation chain, upgrade the value chain, and rely on science and technology to build an innovation chain in the whole industrial chain.
In the primary industry, focus on "three products and one standard" to achieve variety cultivation, quality improvement, brand building, and standardized production; in the secondary industry, focus on deep processing and comprehensive utilization, realize the initial processing of the place of origin to benefit the people, deep processing extends the industrial chain, and comprehensively utilizes the value chain; in the tertiary industry, focus on integrated development, build a modern logistics network, build a network service system, and create a new format for the integration of agriculture and tourism.
Obviously, to achieve these goals, scientists, entrepreneurs, and governments need to work together. Therefore, the alliance is led by the Processing Institute, Yihai Kerry Group, China Rongtong Agricultural Development Group, Sinochem Modern Agriculture Co., Ltd., etc., and more than 300 domestic advantageous resource leading enterprises and scientific research institutions such as China Agricultural University, Jiangnan University, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, etc.
Zhou Wenbin, deputy director of the Science and Technology Administration Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said at the meeting that problem-oriented is the starting point of the alliance's operation, mechanism innovation is the soul of the alliance, and service industry is the ultimate goal of the alliance. He hoped that the alliance could carry out joint research, develop and produce a series of core technologies, facilities and equipment and improved processes with independent intellectual property rights, strengthen China's agricultural product processing brand, build a new advantage in the international competition of China's agricultural products, and continue to grow and develop the alliance, striving to be the leader of scientific and technological innovation in the processing industry, the organizer of the upgrading of the processing industry chain and the practitioner of the revitalization of the processing industry.
Ren Fazheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of China Agricultural University, hopes that the Alliance can give full play to the advantages of "concentrating on major events and concentrating resources to overcome difficulties", efficiently and rationally allocate innovative resources, jointly carry out strategic research, technology research and development, equipment development, pilot maturation, demonstration and promotion, standard formulation and revision, market sales, brand building and other innovative work, and strive to improve the overall technical level of the industry, promote the sustainable development of the industry, comprehensively serve government decision-making, enterprise development and increase the income of workers and farmers, and promote the first, second, and second. The integrated development of the three industries will continue to promote the high-quality development of the agricultural product processing industry.
Source: China Science Daily