College of Resources and Environmental Sciences,

China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China

E-mail: cuizl@cau.edu.cn

Pursuing Sustainable Productivity with

Millions of Smallholder Farmers

Zhenling Cui, etc.

Agriculture and Rural Transformation in Asia: Past Experiences and Future Opportunities

Outline Background and challenge

National campaign with produce more grains with less environmental impacts

Future research with sustainable productivity

It took several hundred years to realize the dream of food sel-sufficiency in China

(Data from the Statistic Bureau of ChinaDemand was estimated by using average grain demand of 400 kg/capita/year)

Year

Gra

in d

eman

d a

nd

pro

du

ctio

n (

M t

on

s)

Po

pu

lati

on

(M

)

580 600

620 640

214

305

407

505 431

531

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1961 1969 1977 1985 1993 2001 2009 2017 2025

Grain (million ton)

Year

Grain demand

Grain production

Population

600 MT in 2013Population

Chinese agriculture has a big role to play in feeding the 1.4 billion people.

83rd IFA Annual Conference

Unfortunately, we used too much aricultural inputs, e.g. fertilizer

05

10152025303540

1961

1964

1967

1970

1973

1976

1979

1982

1985

1988

1991

1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

2009

2012

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1961

1964

1967

1970

1973

1976

197 9

198 2

198 5

198 8

199 1

199 4

199 7

200 0

200 3

2006

2009

2012

0123456789

1961

1964

1967

1970

1973

1976

1979

1982

1985

1988

1991

1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

2009

2012

EsternEurope andCentrl Asia

NorthAmerica

WesternEurope

China

(Adopted from IFA)

N

P

K

101-fold

40-fold700-fold

Low nutrient use efficiency (NUE) ---Low PFPPartial factor productivity: PFPN = kg harvest product per kg N applied

year

y = -0.9308x + 1892.1

R2

= 0.8502

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Fer

tili

zer

app

lica

tion

rat

e (k

g/h

a)

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

PF

PN(k

g gr

ain

/kg

N)

N application rate

PFPN

As a result, N use efficiency is decreasing with years.

CH 4

C, N

C, N

- -

C, N

C, N

CO 2, N 2

C, N

C, N

N

CH 4, CO 2, NH 3 ,

N 2O, NO x

NO 3

N 2O

Crop & animal production

Human consumption

OutputInput

Agriculture:A rather

leaky system

Emission

leaching

Environmental costs were very high!

(Science 2009, 1014-1015)

Eutrophication

1980s: 13.2 kg N/ha

2000s: 21.1 kg N/ha

60% of increase

Air pollution

-0.5

Soil acidification

(Ju et al., PNAS, 2009)

pH 4.2

pH 6.1

Outline Background and challenge

National campaign with produce more grains

with less environmental impacts

Q1, Can we reduce fertilizer use without yield losses in China?

Q2, Can we produce more grains with less environmental costs?

Q3, Can millions of smallholder farms adopt our management?

Future research with sustainable productivity

Overuse and misuse N fertilization(2003)

2009: Cut down N fertilizer by 30-50% reduces N loss

into environment without reducing crop yield!

Can we reduce fertilizer use without yield losses in China?

Integrated N management in China

+ Yield: 6.1-6.7%

- N rate: 17.8-18.7%

- Efficiency: 27.8-31.8%

- Nr losses: 21.1-26.3%

- GHG emission: 11.2-21.2%

n = 50,459, during 2001-2015Maize Rice Wheat

Opt.+45 kg N ha-1Opt. N

Heilongjiang province

Doubling maize yield without increasing N application rate.

1. Designing cropping system to adopt local ecological conditions, to make use of solar radiation and periods with favorable temperatures to the maximum possible extent, and thereby increase crop productivity.

2. Establishing an in-season root zone nutrient management strategy for high-yielding cropping system.

(Chen et al., 2011, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. )

2011 Solution for maize

Can we produce more grains with less environmental costs?

>30%

>50%

>40%

80% ISSM

Projected demand

2014 Success in 3 main crops

(Chen et al.,Nature, 2014)

2014 Producing more grain with less environmental costs in intensive agriculture

Campaigncollaborators

(1,152)

Extension staff(65,420)

Provincial ag-bureauCounty/township

ag-technicians

Agbusiness personnel (138,530)

Product stewardshipRegional marketing

Local dealers, sales-reps

ScientistsGrad-students

Smallholder farmers

(20.9 million)

452 countiesLead farmers

Farmer co-ops……

0.8 million ha

A schematic illustration of the multi-tiered multilateral campaign

aimed at reaching out to smallholder farmers with ISSM-based

management practices for high yield high efficiency and low pollution

Can millions of stallholder farms adopt our management in whole China?

Farm-based Double High Technology (DHT) Innovation and Transfer by Science & Technology

Backyard (STB)

Live in the villages

Work with farmers in 4-zero models

zero-distance, zero-time lag, zero-charge

and zero-personnel selection

Doing experiment

Farmer school

How do we do this large-scale demonstration?

A. 优化技术措施相对传统技术措施增产幅度

B. 采用优化技术农户比例（绿色）和未采用优化技术措施农户比例（

浅色）

不当品种

播种量过大

不适宜的密度

播期过早

过早使用

使用过多或者过少

过早使用

耕作过浅

不当品种

过早收获

民技 到位率农 术

18%

53%

建立前 建立后

Wheat variety

Maize variety

Maize sowing density

Wheat sowing date and amount

Maize sowing date

Maize harvest date

Wheat N rate

Maize N rate

Wheat top-dressing

Wheat deep plow

A. Contribution to Yield B. Adopting rate Increase in adopting rateby 90,000householders

Contribution, adopting rate and increase in adopting rate of ten key technologies

2016 Success in 4 villages

ISSM on-farm trails

+ Yield: 18.3-21.8%

- N rate: 8.5-15.6%

+ Efficiency: 26.0-33.1%

- Nr losses: 22.9-34.9%

- GHG emission: 18.6-29.1%

n = 13,123, during 2001-2015

Maize Rice Wheat

2017 Success in China

Demonstration

Land: 37.7 million ha

Production: +32 million tons

N use: -1.2 million tons

N losses: -0.3 million tons

GHG emission: -15 million tons

Income: +12.3 billion $

Nature, 2017, accepted.

Designed fertilizer Farmers'’ practice

Anqing station, Heilongjiang（ 05.8.28）

Saving N by 38%， Yield increase by 11%

N surplus, N recovery efficiency and GHG emission in

China’s major croplands from 1978 to 2014.

Jiao et al., unpublished data

Outline Background and challenge

National campaign with produce more grains with less environmental impacts

Future research with sustainable productivity

Transformation of agriculture in China

From solely high productivity to 4 Wins

• High crop yield

• High resource use efficiency

• high farmer’s income

• low environmental pollutions

The challenges ahead:

Management

Nutrient management for vegetable and fruit

Data Source: Survey by MoA, China

Fruit

Vegetables

Grain production

Che

mic

al f

erti

lize

r us

e (k

g ha

-1)

Groundwater

N in 100cm 384 1267 651

Crop demand 280 329 121

N accumulation as nitrate in 0-100cm soil layer(kg/ha)

in cereal, vegetable and fruit production systems in China

100cm

Large amount of nitrate accumulated in soil

Smallholder farmer vs Large-scale farmer

Policies, i.e. Action plan for Zero Growth in Fertilizer Use by 2020

Scenario analysis of Action plan for Zero Growth in Fertilizer Use by 2020

National target of zero-increse

40% N use efficiency

80% manure use rate， N,P,K reduces 10、 3、 2million tons

75% of crop straw return

6178

5766

53835658

5431

6178

5094

44895168

3789 Reduce application rate by 30% in vegetable and fruit trees

10000tons

(WF Zhang, PC)

Improved managements can make significant contribution for food security and sustainable development.

We need greater understanding of interactions among soil, crop, and environment, including processes governing the relationships among agricultural inputs, soil quality, climate, and crop productivity.

Summary

Acknowledgements

-- Ph D students in my group, collaborators in National ISSM Network in China

-- MoA, MoST and NSFC

Thanksfor coming and listening!

Varieties

NH

3 volatilization respond rate (%)

0

20

40

60

80

(n=18)

(n=143) (n=108)(n=10)

Maize

old new old new

Wheat

N leaching respond rate (%

)

0

20

40

60

80

(n=80)

(n=36)

(n=66)

(n=28)

Maize Wheat

old old newVarieties

new

N2O respond rate (%

)

0

2

4

6

8

(n=152)

old

(n=138)

(n=33)

Maize Wheat

(n=23)

new old newVarieties

-9% -21% -64% -69% -33% -39%

N2O emission N leaching NH3 volatilization

Breeding vs Nr losses

Why did farmers apply so much N fertilizer in China?

Most extension staff and farmers believed “more fertilizer and higher grain yields”

About 67% of farmers add excessive N fertilizer for high grain yields;

About 45% of farmers add excessive N fertilizer for soil fertility.

Small-scale farming with high variation, and poor infrastructure in the extension service

around 30% of fertilization information from the fertilizer dealer,

30% from their neighbors, 30% from experience

only <10% from extension services

High off-farm incomes and relatively low retail prices of N fertilizers (with government subsidies for production and transportation).

National campaign (2006-2015)

Designed ISSM-based management practices

Interview local experts and Lead farmers

Area-applicable recommendations

Crop ecophysiology(crop canopy and solar radiation use, dry matter accumulation, nutrient demand)

Soil biogeochemistry (nutrient availability, losses, soil fertility, fertilizer inputs)

Research Networks (1,152)

Implement through on-farm trials

Central government

Governmental personnel (65,420)

Province

County

(Policy, campaign and projects)

Company's headquarters

Agribusiness personnel (174,530)

Sale man

retail dealers

(Supply and market support)

Smallholder farmers (20.9 million farmers)

(Lead farmers, Farmer co-operatives, etc)

6.1 Million ha30.8 Million ha 0.8 Million ha

(Maize, n = 2.89 millions) Nutrient rate

205 kg N ha-1

75 kg P2O5 ha-1

46 kg K2O ha-1

Grain yield

7.24 Mg ha-1

Estimated nutrient balance

20.8 kg P2O5 ha-1

6.3 kg K2O ha-1

74 kg N ha-1

70% straw return