Huang Lishou (Yulin City Seed Management Station, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region)
At present, under the new situation in which the national economy continues to develop rapidly, the agricultural structure and the structure of grain production have been greatly adjusted. Hybrid rice seed production has also been led by the government in the past. Intense market competition has brought tremendous pressure on seed companies. Many seed producers have made losses year after year, even to the brink of bankruptcy, bringing new challenges to hybrid rice seed production.
1 Hybrid rice seed production suffers five major challenges
1.1 The Challenge of Quality Conventional Rice
As the living standards of the people have been greatly improved, the requirements for rice quality are even higher and more urgent. The high-quality rice in the market has a high price and good marketability. However, the general quality of hybrid rice has a low price and is not sold well in the market. As a result, rice farmers are increasingly planting high-quality conventional rice and planting ordinary rice. There are fewer and fewer hybrid rice. At the same time, the state has exempted from ordering grain, and many farmers have released more paddy fields for replanting cash crops, and only use a small amount of land for planting some good rice varieties to solve their own food problems. Therefore, the area of ​​high-quality conventional rice has increased significantly, and the area of ​​hybrid rice has decreased year by year. As far as Yulin City is concerned, the per capita area is less than 4 points, but the area of ​​high quality conventional rice per plant accounts for more than 20%, and the area of ​​hybrid rice has dropped from 95% of the rice area in the past to about 75%.
1.2 The Challenge of Protecting Varieties and Newly Approved Varieties
The new varieties (combinations) protected by the state have a good reputation, a comparatively obvious competitive advantage, and a certain degree of attraction. At the same time, the concept of new ideas for humans has made the newly approved varieties popular. Therefore, in the market, the new varieties of hybrid rice with high quality and high yield are protected, the selling price is high, and the benefits are good. However, the old varieties that have been popularized are rarely purchased, the sales price is low, and the production and distribution efficiency is low, even without Likotu or loss has led to many promotion of the high-yield hybrid rice combination difficult to continue to promote.
The competition between new breeds is also very intense. There are dozens of rice varieties approved and certified in Guangxi each year. At present, most seed companies have their own proprietary varieties. The companies in the Guangxi region and other provinces (regions) have seized the market at the same time. Each said that the varieties are good and the people are dazzled. There is no single main push variety, and it is difficult to produce a variety of products. Even if it is produced, there will soon be new replacements. Therefore, both producers and operators are unable to touch the pulse of the market and it is difficult to achieve planned production. It also inevitably causes huge backlog of seeds and even scrapping. In recent years, many companies have suffered huge losses due to the backlog of seed.
1.3 Challenges brought about by the reform of the seed management system
With the progress of the reform of the seed management system, the separation of government and enterprises, the reform of the original seed-company-owned company, the separation of personnel, and the separation of functions, the state-owned seed company basically did not exist, the original seed production team was disbanded, and the base was gone. Newly-established joint-stock companies or individual and private seed companies are temporarily organized, and personnel, varieties, technologies, and bases are all new. This can easily lead to blindness in production, difficulty in ensuring seed quality, low yield, and increased costs. , Unprofitable or low-margin profits, if not grasped well, the company is difficult to maintain.
1.4 Challenges brought by the seed laws and regulations
Since the implementation of the "Seed Law of the People's Republic of China" has been implemented for more than seven years, the peasants have become more and more aware of the application of seed laws and regulations to protect their own interests, and agricultural seed management departments have also increasingly and strictly managed. Therefore, regardless of production or business, it must be conducted in accordance with the law, fair competition, and all acts of opportunism, encroaching on farmers, and infringement of the interests of the farmers will not work. In recent years, many companies have suffered a lot from quality or advertising. The core of seed management is quality management, quality is the lifeline of seeds, market is the battlefield of seeds, and farmers' use evaluation is the “highest standard†for testing seeds. Hybrid rice seed production units must strictly implement quality control measures to ensure seed quality. The seed management department should also strengthen supervision at the source of production, instead of simply doing a "disaster relief team."
1.5 The Challenge of Insufficient Labor
Hybrid rice seed production is a laborious and inefficient job with a high technological content and a highly concentrated workforce. Most of the labor force in the rural areas has been transferred to the countryside; the work of the labor force entering the city during the year of the labor force has delayed the season due to the shortage of labor, which has resulted in low seed production and decreased quality. This is also a headache for the seed producers.