He Yumo knew that although China also had organic fertilizers in 1950, the quantity was extremely small and basically negligible for the entire huge country.
Not to mention 1950, even until the eve of reform and opening up, fertilizer was still a very scarce commodity and there was no way to meet the planting needs of farmers across the country.
This situation did not improve until after the reform and opening up!
As for today's farmers, when they grow crops, they almost all use organic fertilizers such as manure and wood ash!
However, even organic fertilizers such as manure and wood ash are extremely scarce and not enough.
People today may have no way of imagining that feces, which is now extremely despised by everyone, was a real "hot commodity" in the eyes of farmers at that time.
At that time, due to the lack of feces, some farmers even went to the city's public toilets to steal feces, and some even fought over it! Later, to prevent such incidents from happening again, public toilets even started to be locked, and a special ticket was printed - feces ticket.
This shows how scarce fertilizer was at that time!
"So do you have any good suggestions?"
Mr. Zhao asked immediately.
He Yumo continued, "I know that in addition to using organic fertilizers such as manure and wood ash to fertilize crops, there is another type of fertilizer called compound fertilizer."
"The output of organic fertilizers like manure and wood ash is basically fixed, and there's no way to mass-produce them. But compound fertilizers are different."
"It is a synthetic fertilizer that contains all the nutrients needed for crop growth."
"Not only can it be mass-produced, but it also has a higher nutrient content than organic fertilizer, and its fertilizer effect is faster and longer-lasting, making it more conducive to increasing grain production."
"Compound fertilizer? I've heard of it, too. I heard a lot of farmers in Europe use it. We've even sent people to research it before, but its production process isn't that simple!"
"With our country's current industrial level, there is no way to manufacture machines capable of producing these compound fertilizers."
What Mr. Zhao said is absolutely right. Although it is just a small fertilizer, its entire production process is not that simple.
China's extremely backward industrial level restricted the production of fertilizers, so that historically, it was not until the 1970s that China's fertilizer production technology could barely reach the level of the United States in the 1940s.
Moreover, according to statistics, in 1972, about 55% of China's fertilizer needs had to be imported.
Later, China even listed fertilizer as a strategic resource and decided to mobilize the whole country to increase the production of fertilizer. As a last resort, it used foreign exchange, which was extremely valuable at the time, to import equipment for fertilizer production. At that time, it was said that it would take 3 to 5 years to import a complete set of large-scale fertilizer equipment and technology worth US$4.3 billion from abroad.
4.3 billion US dollars was definitely a huge expense for China at that time!
However, even at such a huge cost, the energy consumption per ton of nitrogen fertilizer production was still relatively high at that time. In simple terms, the produced fertilizers were very expensive, which was a considerable burden for farmers.
But there is no way. Even though you have paid a lot of foreign exchange, it is impossible for others to sell you the most advanced equipment and technology!
This was the case in the 1970s, let alone now, when people don’t even have enough money to buy these devices.
"Yes, that is the second point I want to mention, which is about our country's industry."
"In fact, industry and agriculture have always been in a mutually beneficial relationship. Judging from our current situation, if agriculture develops well, there will be money to support the development of industry."
"But when industry develops well, it also needs to feed back into agriculture. By then, we can use some modern equipment and technologies to increase crop yields."
"This is a mutually reinforcing process, and we can't favor one over the other."
"These are also some of the suggestions and opinions that I emphasized in this plan."
Hearing this, Mr. Zhao and the old man nodded in unison and said, "Your analysis is very comprehensive!"
"This document is incredibly valuable! We'll take it back and study it carefully!"
"By the way, do you have any other ideas? Feel free to bring them up and we can discuss them together!"
"Our country of China values democracy. We all pool our wisdom and work together to make the country a better place. That's the real thing!!"
Now that things have come to this, He Yumo simply put it aside and continued:
"Then I'll tell you what I think."
"In terms of agriculture, besides the aforementioned issues of seeds and fertilizers, another issue is water conservancy projects. Farmers today basically rely on the weather for their livelihoods. If they encounter natural disasters like floods or droughts, they will go hungry."
"Although our country is still very poor and we don't have much money to invest in this, I personally think that this should be done sooner rather than later."
“It needs to be put on the schedule as soon as possible!”
He Yumo knew that in China at present, there were many places where money needed to be spent, and there might not be enough money to build water conservancy projects for the time being. However, things have their priorities, and if these important matters were not put on the agenda, then it was unknown how long this matter would be delayed.
The old man nodded again and said, "That's right! Water conservancy projects have always been a top priority, so we naturally can't fall behind!"
"Not only must it not be left behind, but it must also be repaired well enough! Our goal is to do everything possible to ensure that the people have enough food to eat, even in years of famine!"
"We need to let the water conservancy department study this carefully!"
"Although our country is poor, every penny must be spent wisely. Matters concerning the national economy and people's livelihood must not be neglected!"
"Yes! I agree with this point! As for the financial aspect, if the Chinese people all plant these high-yield crop varieties in the future, then our country will become a major agricultural exporter, and naturally, a large amount of income will also be increased."
"When the time comes, we can use some of it to build water conservancy projects!"
Mr. Zhao also agreed.
"Also, in China right now, people generally have a low level of education, especially farmers. Although they've been farming their entire lives, some of their traditional planting methods may not be scientifically sound."
"So I think someone must be trained to teach them how to plant crops scientifically!"
…
Happy New Year to everyone! Let’s go have New Year’s Eve dinner!!
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