China will formulate implementation plans for a new round of actions to increase China’s grain production capacity by 50 million metric tons.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president stressed that it is a strategic plan the CPC Central Committee has made to advance rural revitalisation across the board and accelerate the building of strong agriculture, with a view to building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects. He was speaking at the annual central rural work conference held in Beijing.
He emphasized that a country must first strengthen agriculture to make itself strong, and only when agriculture is strong can the country be strong. Without strong agriculture, there won’t be a great modern country. Socialist modernisation will not be complete without agricultural and rural modernisation.
He also called for efforts in areas relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, with rural revitalisation as the focus, to vigorously promote the modernisation of agriculture and rural areas, and speed up the building of strong agriculture.
Xi pointed out that strong agriculture is the foundation of a great modern socialist country. Agricultural development is essential to meeting the people’s needs for a better life, achieving high-quality development and consolidating the foundation of national security. The efforts to build strong agriculture should reflect Chinese characteristics, and be based on China’s national conditions, on the reality of more people and less land, on the historical background of agricultural civilization, and on the requirements of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Xi stressed that ensuring the stable and secure supply of grain and important agricultural products has always been the top priority in building up China’s strength in agriculture. We will formulate implementation plans for a new round of actions to increase China’s grain production capacity by 50 million metric tons. Special attention must be paid to farmland and seeds, ensuring that the red line of 120 million hectares must be kept as far as the country’s total area of farmland is concerned. Efforts will be made to gradually develop all permanent basic cropland into high-standard farmland, make real progress in the campaign to invigorate the seed industry and keep major varieties firmly in our own hands. Work must be done to refine the mechanisms for ensuring the incomes of grain growers and for compensating major grain-producing areas. To ensure food security, efforts must be made to both increase production and reduce food losses, continuing to further prevent food waste. An all-encompassing approach to food must be adopted to build a diversified food supply system and develop food sources in multiple ways. Assessment of officials’ performance must be tightened to urge all localities to shoulder their responsibility for securing food security.
Xi noted that advancing rural revitalisation across the board is an important task in building strong agriculture in the new era, so we need to shift human resources, material resources, and financial support to it.
