Qin Hengde of Sinochem Group: “Storing Grain in Technology” Fuels Agricultural Modernization and Rural Revitalization

Grain is vital to both the national economy and the people’s livelihood, and food security serves as a crucial foundation for national security. This year marks the culmination of efforts to achieve the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects; therefore, it is of paramount importance to spare no effort in boosting grain production, consolidating the fundamental stability of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and ensuring food security.

How can we “store grain in the land” and “store grain in technology,” thereby ensuring national food security and keeping China’s food supply firmly in our own hands?

To this end, a People’s Daily Online reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Qin Hengde, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Sinochem Group’s Agricultural Business Unit, as well as President of Syngenta Group China. He stated that technology is driving the development of sustainable agriculture, and that, leveraging Sinochem Agriculture’s MAP model, the group will fully harness cutting-edge agricultural technologies to contribute to national food security.

The full text of the exclusive interview is as follows:

Reporter: At present, what shortcomings exist in China’s grain production process, and how can these be addressed?

Qin Hengde: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has put forward and steadfastly upheld a new vision of food security—“ensuring basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute food security for staple foods.” Over the years, China’s total grain output has remained stable at over 650 million tons, with per capita grain availability reaching 470 kilograms, sufficient to meet market demand for more than one year. As a result, China’s food security is firmly guaranteed.

However, China’s grain production still faces certain shortcomings, which have become particularly pronounced amid the dual challenges of this year’s pandemic and flooding.

For example, China’s agricultural infrastructure remains fragile, and the reliance on weather conditions has yet to be fundamentally altered; low‑yield farmland still accounts for 22% of the country’s arable land. Mechanization and automation in grain production are at low levels, keeping production costs high and undermining international competitiveness. Meanwhile, urban and rural residents are increasingly upgrading their demand for grain, yet the supply of green, high‑quality grains and oils remains inadequate. Low returns from grain farming continue to dampen farmers’ enthusiasm. In addition, the questions of “who will farm the land” and “how to farm it” have not been adequately addressed, and new types of agricultural business entities are still in their early stages of development. At the same time, the agricultural technology service system is weak, and the rate of translating scientific and technological advances into practical applications remains low.

At present, addressing these shortcomings remains particularly urgent. In my view, first, we must accelerate efforts to strengthen agricultural infrastructure, thereby effectively enhancing farmland’s capacity to prevent, withstand, and mitigate disasters; second, we should bolster the comprehensive industrial-chain service capabilities of socialized service organizations for grain crops, thus boosting farmers’ enthusiasm for cultivating major staple crops; third, we need to improve the capacity of agricultural insurance services to ensure stable incomes from grain production; and fourth, we must expedite the development and refinement of a normalized, intensive, systematic, and digital “National Agricultural Security” framework, so that, in the face of sudden risks such as major public health emergencies, natural disasters, or economic crises, agricultural production and food security can be effectively safeguarded.

Reporter: While ensuring food quantity security, food quality and safety are receiving increasing attention. As we move from “having enough to eat” to “eating well,” what other steps remain to be taken?

Qin Hengde: Chinese consumers’ demand for high-quality agricultural products continues to grow, reflecting a gradual shift from seeking “sufficient food” to pursuing “good-quality food.” In terms of grain production, much work remains to be done.

First, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive grain quality and safety traceability system that covers the entire supply chain, from farm to table, and to strengthen oversight across all stages—grain cultivation, procurement and storage, marketing and transportation, as well as food production—to prevent grain that fails to meet food safety standards from entering the staple‑food market or being used in food processing.

Secondly, we will improve the development of modern warehousing infrastructure and expand specialized post-harvest services. For example, by consolidating warehousing resources, we will establish a number of professional, market-oriented grain post-harvest service centers that offer farmers comprehensive, specialized services, including grain cleaning, drying, storage, processing, and marketing. We will also promote initiatives to help farmers adopt scientific grain-storage practices, thereby enhancing grain quality, reducing losses, and increasing farmers’ incomes.

Third, we will advance the High-Quality Grain Project, orienting it to market demand and establishing mechanisms for high-quality grain production, tiered procurement and storage, and trading that reflect premium prices. We will expand product variety, enhance quality, build strong brands, and promote the development of a green, high-quality grain industry system.

In this regard, Sinochem Agriculture, a subsidiary of Sinochem Group, leverages modern agricultural technologies—including crop‑cultivation techniques, biotechnology, and information technology—to build a bridge between “consumption upgrading” and “professional production.” On the one hand, it harnesses cutting‑edge science to boost the yield and quality of premium grains; on the other, it focuses on contract farming to ensure high quality commands premium prices. By continuously advancing the professionalization, standardization, digitalization, and market orientation of agricultural practices, it helps farmers increase their incomes, enhances industry efficiency, and delivers tangible benefits to consumers, thereby facilitating the more effective implementation of the High‑Quality Grain Initiative.

Meanwhile, Sinochem will assume the role of implementing entity in rolling out the National High-Quality Grain Project across provinces and municipalities, participating in the development of new standards for various high-quality grain varieties. Leveraging the MAP (Modern Agriculture Platform) technical service centers and satellite outlets in each province and autonomous region, Sinochem will facilitate the implementation of national policies aimed at benefiting farmers through high-quality grain initiatives, helping farmers make optimal use of premium inputs to produce superior agricultural products, and advancing end-to-end quality‑control measures throughout the entire production cycle—from planting to harvest.

Reporter: How will the introduction of the “Two New, One Major” initiative—particularly the accelerated development of “New Infrastructure”—contribute to advancing high-quality agricultural development?

Qin Hengde: The “Two New, One Major” initiative holds significant importance for advancing high-quality agricultural development; in particular, the “new infrastructure for agriculture”—including the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence—will effectively bolster this endeavor.

Specifically, by leveraging the Internet of Things to collect and analyze on-site data in real time and deploying command-and-control mechanisms, it is possible to enhance operational efficiency, expand revenue, and reduce losses. A variety of IoT‑based applications—such as variable-rate technology, precision agriculture, smart irrigation, and intelligent greenhouses—will drive the transformation of agricultural processes, leading to simultaneous improvements in crop quality and yield. As the Internet of Everything enables the connectivity of vast numbers of devices, it also generates massive volumes of data in the cloud. By structuring, analyzing, and processing this big data, we achieve what is known as “digitalization” of decision‑making, which can comprehensively boost agricultural productivity.

Moreover, the application of artificial intelligence can catalyze the efficient development of agriculture. For instance, in crop cultivation, AI can significantly boost grain yields, reduce resource waste, and accelerate agricultural research and development.

In this regard, Sinochem Agriculture’s MAP Smart Agriculture leverages modern information technologies—such as satellite remote sensing, precision meteorology, and intelligent sensors—to develop crop‑growth models. By providing farmers with scientifically sound recommendations for field operations during critical growth stages and enabling early prediction of pests, diseases, and adverse weather events, it shifts from reactive management to proactive intervention, significantly enhancing the capacity and responsiveness of agricultural production services.

Reporter: How does Sinochem Group leverage its strengths to advance agricultural technological progress and modernize the agricultural sector, thereby ensuring China’s food security?

Qin Hengde: Three years ago, Sinochem Group established “Science First” as its core corporate value. In early 2020, Sinochem Group and China National Chemical Corporation integrated their global agricultural businesses to form the newly restructured Syngenta Group. Leveraging Syngenta Group’s cutting-edge innovation ecosystem—spanning R&D and manufacturing capabilities—we have systematically developed an end-to-end agricultural R&D framework, covering areas such as germplasm resource creation and conservation, the establishment of agricultural product traceability systems, soil microbiome and agro-ecological protection, and the development of environmentally friendly agricultural inputs. This comprehensive approach strengthens our capabilities in agricultural science and technology, contributing to national food security.

Meanwhile, leveraging the strategic core of Sinochem Agriculture—the MAP model—and fully harnessing modern agricultural technologies, we are continuously reducing agricultural production costs and enhancing productivity. This includes strengthening the MAP platform’s integrated capabilities in deploying cutting-edge technologies and premium products, refining the agricultural decision-support system, and truly delivering large-scale, precision farming services through MAP.

In addition, Sinochem Group will fully leverage the strengths of a central state-owned enterprise in agricultural science and technology innovation, proactively expand channels for government–enterprise collaboration, and strengthen the role of enterprises as key stakeholders in the formulation of innovation policies. The Group will engage in national agricultural policy‑making through various mechanisms, lead and coordinate major national science and technology projects, establish national-level enterprise technology centers and high‑caliber R&D institutions, and collaborate with research institutes and universities to jointly tackle critical technological challenges and accelerate the commercialization of research outcomes.

Reporter: At present, what strategic initiatives has Sinochem Group undertaken in the smart agriculture sector, and what progress has it made? In particular, following the establishment of Syngenta Group, in which areas will it focus its efforts?

Qin Hengde: Sinochem Group has launched the MAP Smart Farming system for field crops and the MAP Intelligent Farming system for cash crops, both centered on precision agriculture. Leveraging technologies such as agricultural remote sensing, high‑precision weather forecasting, AI‑powered pest and disease identification, and quality‑control traceability, these platforms help farmers achieve end-to-end, granular management from planting to harvest. To date, the Sinochem smart agriculture ecosystem has amassed 330,000 users and covers over 50 million mu of farmland.

The fully automated agricultural remote-sensing monitoring service platform launched by Sinochem MAP provides 24/7 coverage for 50 million mu of farmland. Its precision meteorological technology delivers gridded, kilometer‑scale historical, real‑time, and forecast data nationwide, making it the first domestic platform to offer agro‑meteorological services based on such high‑resolution data. In terms of quality control and traceability, we have integrated blockchain technology to build a robust system that allows consumers to simply scan the MAP quality‑control QR code and access detailed information about a product’s growing environment, cultivation process, processing steps, and quality standards. Leveraging AI, we have also introduced the first product to combine artificial intelligence with agriculture: by training an AI model on extensive image datasets, farmers can receive instant diagnostic insights and treatment recommendations when encountering pests or diseases during cultivation.

With the establishment of Syngenta Group and the continuous influx of external resources and iterative upgrades in technological capabilities, Sinochem Agriculture’s MAP smart agriculture platform will drive the intelligent transformation of agricultural production across multiple dimensions, empowering modern farming. It will comprehensively enhance existing digital service offerings, while advancing the upgrading of products and technical services in areas such as remote sensing, meteorology, and quality‑control traceability. At the same time, it will proactively foster collaborative innovation and explore technological breakthroughs in fields like the agricultural Internet of Things and integrated water‑fertilizer management. By adopting a “platform ecosystem + value‑added services” model, the platform will enable more farmers to manage their agricultural operations, delivering value through standardized, intelligent agricultural services and helping to boost yields and incomes.

Going forward, Sinochem Agriculture’s MAP smart agriculture system will integrate the Group’s resources and comprehensively advance an O2O service model. By leveraging a seamless blend of online and offline channels, it will continue to strengthen digital capabilities in smart agriculture on the online platform, while standardizing offline services and scaling up agricultural production, thereby accelerating the full realization of intelligent farming. By 2023, Sinochem Agriculture’s MAP is expected to directly serve over 50 million mu of farmland, provide online digital platform services for more than 200 million mu, and operate over 5,000 demonstration digital farms.

Source: People's Daily Online