Analysis of the Factors Restricting the Development of Maize Mechanization

“The harvest period of corn is long and the farming time is not anxious. If there is time or manual picking, this saves money.” In the just-concluded autumn harvest season, Ding Lin, a farmer from Xilaozhuang Village in Wuyi County, did not have a choice. It is understood that the current corn yield in Hebei Province is only 20%, while the wheat machine yield has reached more than 97%. What are the factors that restrict the pace of development of corn mechanization?

"A mu of corn machinery to pick the ear 35 yuan, corn harvest and straw crushed 70 yuan, I feel a little expensive." Zaoqiang County Sancha Village farmers Zhang Xinsheng told him that he did not use corn mechanical harvest reasons.

“Five years ago, we had used a corn machine to harvest and it was not as efficient as a wheat machine. There were also problems such as throwing a panicle and breaking corn ears. The quality of agricultural machinery in these two years was much better.” Pei Li’s farmer Li Min told reporters .

“The wheat harvest in Hebei Province began at the end of the 1980s, and the maize harvest was late for 10 years and did not rise until the end of the 1990s.” Zhang Liancai, director of the Hebei Bureau of Agricultural Machinery, introduced the plan.

Li Shaobo, head of the provincial agricultural machinery promotion station, said that due to the late start, at present, the development of China's corn harvesting machinery is at an initial stage of development. There is no main model in our province. The machinery models produced by more than a dozen manufacturers across the province are different, especially In the past few years, due to the high failure rate of the new models, unstable quality, imperfect functions, and low operating efficiency, it has affected the promotion and application.

Li Shaobo introduced that compared to the wheat combine harvester, the corn harvester has less functions and lower cost performance. Because the mechanical harvesting of corn only involves the two major processes of picking and cutting straw, the structure of the corn harvester is simpler than that of the wheat harvester, but the price is higher than that of the wheat harvester, and the time for failure-free operation is less than that of the wheat harvester. At the same time, there are many models of corn harvesters, and the parts are not universal. Each manufacturer produces its own parts and components, and the output is not large, and there are many production processes and high production costs. On the other hand, corn harvesters have a wide range of sales. High transportation costs, high sales levels, high sales costs, and corresponding after-sales service costs. For many years, it has been difficult for farmers to see the precedent of investing in corn harvesters to obtain high income. Although the promotion of agricultural machinery promotes a large amount of corn machines, it is difficult to break through the scale of promotion and application.

Progress: Improvement of models to increase subsidies At the same time, Hebei Province has increased its subsidy on corn harvesting machinery. This year, Hebei Province has taken corn harvesting machinery as the second batch of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies and has given priority to satisfying the subsidy demand in full. Actively seek financial support from local governments, accumulate additional subsidies on the provincial level, and further increase the proportion of subsidies. According to preliminary understanding, Hebei Province will add more than 3,000 corn harvesting machines this year.

“Last year, the number of corn harvesting machinery in Hebei Province has reached 10,000 units. It can be said that the key period for rapid advancement has been reached.” Zhang Liancai, director of the Hebei Bureau of Agricultural Machinery, introduced the plan. With the increasing maturity of corn mechanical harvesting production technology in Hebei Province and the increase in farmers’ awareness, the corn mechanization harvest rate in Hebei Province may reach 50% within the next three to five years.