China is launching a large-scale agricultural robotization program, which one day could lead to many of the country's 250 million farmers being left without work.
China has launched a pilot program to replace farmers with robots, leaving millions of people at risk of losing their jobs. The seven-year pilot project, which began work in Jiangsu, allows the use of unmanned tractors, robots for pesticide processing of plantations and harvesting in rice cultivation. The tested technologies significantly reduce the human factor in crop production, increase productivity and reduce the cost of production.
With the rise of automated agriculture, China could reap greater savings and reduce the amount of fertilizer and pesticide used as the machines precisely determine where and how much agrochemistry should be used. But increased automation means fewer farmers will find jobs. Although the share of the Chinese labor force employed in agriculture has declined - from 55% in 1991 to 18% in 2017 - about 250 million people are still farmers. And many of them are at risk of losing their jobs if robotization is widespread. Income growth in China has forced urban dwellers to consume significantly more milk and dairy products than in the past.
The subsistence supply of 1,4 billion people in China is also complicated by urbanization, which has eliminated millions of hectares of arable land. According to Bloomberg, about 20% of the remaining land is contaminated with heavy metals from industrial production. Now, small Chinese farmers are threatened by competition from large holdings, where tireless robots work instead of people. However, some experts consider the panic to be premature. Agricultural automation in China could create new jobs in other areas.
While robots will take on many tasks, people will still have to program, regulate, maintain and repair them. But it will be completely different farmers than ordinary farmers, more educated and modern.
Read more: https://www.agroxxi.ru