Research and development of crop protection machinery and chemical application technology in China

At present, there are three management patterns in Chinese agriculture, including household farm, small-scaled agricultural cooperation organization and national farm. The crop protection machinery and application technology are closely related to the management pattern. Although China has become the world's biggest agrochemical manufactory and consumer, the crop protection machinery and the application technology were less developed in China, which resulted in problems, such as low effective availability, pesticide residues in agricultural products and environmental pollution. Therefore, modern farming development in China confront both opportunities and challenges. Crop protection machinery is different from other agricultural machinery, because much more precision is required by the crop protection machinery to protect food quality, environment and personnel safety of pesticide application operator. After entry into World Trade Organization (WTO), experiences from the developed industrial countries has been used by the Chinese government to set up special inspection and management agency. The Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs have increased the investment in the field of crop protection machinery and application technology. A lot of new machinery and technology used for the pesticide application for the agriculture and horticulture in China have been developed and popularized. The crop protection machinery and application technology have been included in the farmer's vocational education training by the Chinese government.