China has created new systems and mechanisms for the green development of agriculture, expanded the functions of agriculture, explored the diversified rural values, and strengthened the protection and efficient use of agricultural resources. It has gradually improved the farmland protection system and the system of fallowing and crop rotation, put permanent basic cropland under special protection, and thereby made initial progress in containing the decline in the size of farmland. It has steadily advanced the conservation of chernozem soil. The quality of farmland has been upgraded steadily throughout the country.
Measures have been taken to save water for agricultural irrigation and reduce the volume of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used by targeting higher efficiency. In 2021, the irrigation efficiency was raised to 0.568. China has developed a circular agricultural economy by promoting circular agricultural production modes – integrating planting and breeding with processing, farming and animal husbandry with fishing, and production and processing with marketing. It has increased the utilization of agricultural waste as a resource. It has taken a coordinated approach to promoting green and organic agricultural products, products with quality certifications and those with geographical indications, cultivating new breeds, improving product quality, fostering agricultural brands and standardizing agricultural production. China has implemented programs to protect agricultural products with geographical indications.
There are now 60,000 types of green food and organic agricultural products across the country. The quality and safety standards of agricultural products have been steadily upgraded. The supply of high-quality agricultural products has increased significantly, which has effectively contributed to the upgrading of the whole industry, and generated higher incomes for farmers.
Excerpted from: China's Green Development in the New Era
