Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun stated that efforts will be intensified to develop a technologically advanced, green, high-quality, and branded agricultural sector. The focus is on ensuring a stable and secure supply of grain and other vital agricultural products at a high level, thereby increasing agricultural efficiency and boosting farmers' incomes.
Minister Han made these remarks during a press conference held on March 9. He highlighted that after years of dedicated work, China's capacity to ensure the supply of essential agricultural products like grain has steadily improved. Grain output has remained above the 1.4 trillion jin threshold for two consecutive years. There is an ample supply of meat, eggs, milk, aquatic products, fruits, and vegetables. In 2025, meat production exceeded 100 million tons for the first time, egg output reached 34.98 million tons, aquatic product output was 76.57 million tons, vegetable production surpassed 800 million tons, and fruit output was nearly 360 million tons.
This year's Government Work Report emphasizes unwavering focus on grain production. Minister Han outlined three primary areas of work:
First, ensuring sufficient quantity. Enhancing production capacity is the top priority. Efforts will be strengthened to implement a new action plan for increasing grain production capacity by billions of jin, stabilize the area sown with grain, and vigorously promote large-scale yield increases for oil and grain crops. This involves integrating high-yield fields, superior seeds, advanced machinery, and effective farming techniques to fully realize the strategies of storing grain in the land and through technology.
He emphasized focusing on two critical areas: seeds and farmland. The next steps involve deeply implementing the seed industry revitalization action, breeding and promoting more breakthrough new varieties, strictly adhering to the red line for farmland protection, rigorously managing the balance of land requisition and compensation, and advancing the high-quality construction of high-standard farmland. Additionally, a new round of black soil protection projects, comprehensive management and utilization of saline-alkali land, and treatment of acidified soil will be implemented to further improve farmland quality.
Second, ensuring quality. Agriculture must shift from being solely output-oriented to equally emphasizing both output and quality. The goal is to further enhance the quality level of agricultural products, cultivate more varieties with distinctive flavors and nutritional enhancements, and provide products that are of higher quality, better taste, and more balanced nutrition.
"Agricultural products must not only be produced well but also sold well," Minister Han stated. He emphasized the need to improve post-harvest handling and processing of agricultural products, conduct grading and quality evaluations, quickly address shortcomings in storage, preservation, and cold chain logistics, and effectively manage the value-added processes from "grain to food," "agriculture to industry," and "livestock to meat." This includes steadily advancing the cultivation of superior varieties, quality improvement, brand building, and standardized production.
Third, ensuring diversity. It is essential to uphold a broader perspective on agriculture and food, promoting the simultaneous development of farming, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries. Efforts will focus on vigorously developing modern animal husbandry and modern fisheries, promoting facility-based agriculture and underforest economy according to local conditions, expanding the forestry and grass industry, and building a diversified food supply system.
Regarding regular assistance work, Minister Han indicated that after the transition period, assistance policies will generally remain stable, but their implementation methods will be further optimized and adjusted. Continuous efforts will be made to maintain the system where party secretaries at five levels oversee regular assistance, strengthen financial input guarantees and financial services, and fully leverage the roles of East-West collaboration, targeted assistance from central government units, social assistance, and village-based assistance to further enhance the effectiveness of support.
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