On November 30th, the Shandong Provincial Agricultural Machinery Bureau and the Provincial Department of Finance jointly held a province-wide agricultural machinery purchase subsidy fund management symposium in Shanghe County, Jinan City. Section chiefs (station chiefs) in charge of subsidy work from the agricultural machinery and finance departments of eleven cities including Jinan, Zibo, Zaozhuang, Dongying, Yantai, Weihai, Rizhao, Laiwu, Dezhou, Liaocheng, and Heze, as well as some county-level officials responsible for subsidy work from agricultural machinery and finance departments, attended the meeting. Deputy Director Han Shansheng of the Provincial Agricultural Machinery Bureau and Deputy Director Han Ruyue of the Provincial Department of Finance attended and delivered speeches respectively.
The meeting conducted discussions on reforming the management and settlement methods of agricultural machinery purchase subsidy funds and further improving the supervision mechanism for subsidy fund implementation. Full discussions were held on matters such as delegating subsidy fund settlement to the county level, establishing a subsidy work performance evaluation method, and improving the management measures for subsidy equipment dealers. A unified understanding was reached and consensus was formed.
China produces 600-800 million tons of crop straw annually. Among this, the North China region produces 65 million tons of straw annually. Baodi and surrounding areas produce over 10 million tons of corn and cotton straw annually. However, such a large amount of straw has not been comprehensively utilized. Massive piles of straw occupy large areas of land, while simultaneously becoming habitats for crop pests and diseases, causing grain yield reductions and increasing pesticide expenditures. Straw that is burned or discarded not only wastes valuable biological resources but also causes serious environmental pollution. Unpreventable straw fires also cause significant losses to villagers. Conventional energy sources (coal, oil, natural gas) are non-renewable and unevenly distributed, and their combustion causes serious pollution and damage to the ecological environment. Particularly after the state issued the "burning ban order," farmers had no choice but to discard large amounts of straw in ponds, canals, rivers, and even around reservoirs, not only blocking agricultural water facilities but more frighteningly, causing serious water pollution as the straw decomposed. These problems have become increasingly prominent with the rapid growth of the national economy, the improvement of people's living standards, and the increasing demand for agricultural products and energy. Therefore, processing crop straw into pellet fuel can not only turn waste into treasure, achieving straw ash return to fields after fuel combustion, but also increase farmers' income, create employment for large numbers of farmers, reduce environmental pollution, protect the ecological environment, promote a virtuous cycle in the agricultural industry, advance the process of sustainable agricultural development, contribute to the construction of ecological agriculture, and open up a new pathway for developing clean bioenergy for humanity.
