China vows to modernize farm sector and narrow the wealth gap with cities
February 13, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China wants to modernize its farm sector by 2035 as part of a plan to boost rural incomes and living standards, according to a government policy statement that comes amid growing concern about a widening wealth gap and slowing economy. The statement called for significant progress in rural rejuvenation by 2020, agricultural modernization by 2035 and a “strong agriculture sector and full realization of farmers’ wealth” by 2050. “Without the modernization of agriculture there is no national modernization,” said the government’s first policy statement of the year, called the Number One document.
China has the largest agriculture sector in the world and hundreds of millions of people work as farmers, but productivity is low. China has been overhauling support for grain production, abandoning state stockpiling schemes and cutting support prices for major crops, such as wheat and rice, after years of bumper harvests saddled the government with overflowing reserves. It is also trying to shift the focus to quality rather than quantity by promoting varieties in higher demand, such as high-gluten wheat, or corn used to make silage for dairy cows. Those efforts will continue, said the document, which also called for the upgrading of farm machinery, accelerating the development of modern crops and the development of digital agriculture. It also reiterated recent efforts to better protect water and soil and strengthen management of resources. It also said China would deepen land reforms, allowing for more transfer of land.
Minister Li Ganjie of Environmental Protection said that China would try to make about 90% of its contaminated farmland safe for crops by the end of 2020, and would also restrict development on a quarter of the country’s territory. Li said China would conduct a detailed investigation into soil pollution and launch pilot zones to test treatment technologies. A 2013 survey showed about 3.33 million hectares of China’s farmland – an area the size of Belgium – was deemed too polluted to grow crops, with estimated clean-up costs amounting to CNY1 trillion.
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