Elita Chikwati in Beijing, China
China has committed to implement structural adjustments in its agriculture sector to modernise the industry, boost national food security and enhance rural incomes.The country said it will work on improving the industrial, production and operational systems in the agricultural sector and step up efforts to foster new drivers for agricultural and rural development.
It will also take measures to facilitate standardised production, brand building and supervisions over the quality and safety of agricultural products.
This is expected to raise the quality and performance of the industry and ensure sustainable development. China is also expected to improve rural land and upgrade low and medium yield crop land, adding 1,33 million hectares of farmland under highly efficient irrigation.
Farmers will be equipped with market requirements with trials to replace grain crop with feed crop cultivation expanding.
Updating members of the Chinese National People’s Congress at the ongoing fifth session of the 12th NPC in Beijing yesterday, the Premier of the State Council, Mr Li Keqiang, said the Chinese Government was geared towards promoting steady development of agriculture and continued increase in rural incomes.
Mr Li said China would advance the supply side structural reform in agriculture, improve policies to boost agriculture and benefit farmers and create more channels for rural residents to find employment and increase their incomes.
“Government will ensure China’s food security, see that agricultural modernisation and urbanisation reinforce each other and speed up efforts to foster new drivers powering agriculture and rural development,” he said.
“We will guide farmers in responding to market demand, increasing supply of quality of green agricultural products and production of quality rice and wheat and making appropriate reductions to areas devoted to growing corn.
“We will support major agricultural production areas in developing intensive processing of agricultural products, extend industry chains and value chains and step up the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas.”
Mr Li said the country would also provide special insurance to farmers in selected cities and major grain producing provinces to drive the development of modern agriculture.
China is also looking at improving the pricing mechanisms for grain and other agricultural products, as well as the system of their purchase and storage.
“We will carry out a comprehensive reform of the pricing for water used in agriculture and depend reforms related to collective forest tenure, State forestry areas and farms, State-owned farms and rural supply and marketing cooperatives,” he said.
Agriculture is a strong economic and social development pillar for China.
Last year, modernisation efforts of the agriculture sector saw the country grain output increasing by 50 million tonnes to 616 million tonnes.