Han Changfu: Deepen the Campaign to Create National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Counties

The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the quality of agricultural products and food safety work, and General Secretary Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have made important speeches on many occasions. Today the State Council Food Safety Commission convened the “two creations” site meeting, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli made important instructions, and Vice Premier Wang Yang personally attended and delivered an important speech. Agricultural departments at all levels must earnestly implement the decisions and arrangements of the central government, conscientiously perform their duties, and firmly grasp and do well the work of agricultural product quality and safety.

Since the national agricultural product quality and safety county creation campaign was launched last year, the Ministry of Agriculture has issued a creation campaign plan, introduced assessment standards and management measures, and recognized 107 counties and cities as pilot creation units. All localities actively participated in the creation work. 25 provinces including Shandong, Sichuan, Fujian, and Jiangsu carried out province-wide creation campaigns in tandem, and Zhejiang Province also launched the creation of a national agricultural product quality and safety demonstration province. New progress was made in agricultural product quality and safety supervision.

First, supervision responsibilities were implemented. The Ministry of Agriculture took agricultural product quality and safety as a key link in transforming the agricultural development model and adjusting the structure, and expanded the scope of extended performance assessment to 21 provinces. All pilot counties took the implementation of territorial responsibilities as a basic requirement, incorporated agricultural product quality and safety into the government assessment system, and clarified departmental responsibilities, specific measures, and operating mechanisms. Weihai City implemented performance assessment for governments at all levels, and the weight of agricultural product quality and safety indicators increased from 2% in the past to 5%. Jiangxia District of Wuhan City identified the creation work as a district-wide development strategy and implemented a “one-vote veto”.

Second, supervision intensity was increased. All localities strengthened key work such as special rectification, input supervision, inspection and testing, and standardized production. Since the beginning of this year, the whole country inspected 1.3 million enterprise visits for production and operation, filed and handled 13,000 problem cases, and cleaned up and closed more than 1,100 pig slaughterhouses. 1,600 new standardized demonstration parks (farms) were created, and 22,000 agricultural products were newly certified as “three products and one label”.

Third, supervision capacity was improved. Financial departments at all levels invested a total of 800 million yuan to support the creation work. All pilot counties have sound supervision, law enforcement, and agricultural inspection systems, and township supervision stations are all equipped with full-time supervisors. Fangshan District of Beijing invested 46.3 million yuan to improve the supervision system, Yongchang County of Gansu Province allocated one dedicated “agricultural inspection” vehicle to each township station, and Jiangsu Province basically achieved full coverage of county-level agricultural product supervision information networks. The Ministry of Agriculture took agricultural product quality and safety as a key part of training for rural practical talents and college student village officials, training a total of 22,000 people of various types. Liaoning, Hunan, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia, and other places organized county-level agricultural inspection personnel to study on the job at provincial-level agricultural product quality inspection centers.

Fourth, supervision mechanisms were innovated. The Ministry of Agriculture linked agricultural product quality and safety with preferential agricultural policies, and relevant agricultural projects were tilted toward pilot counties. Agricultural product quality and safety was incorporated into the social credit system, and a joint disciplinary mechanism for dishonest behavior was established with the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and other departments. Liuyang City of Hunan Province hired 100 people's congress deputies and CPPCC members as agricultural product quality and safety supervisors, and Deqing County of Zhejiang Province implemented a trustworthy agricultural product project.

Overall, the creation work achieved initial results and met the expected goals. Many pilot counties explored good practices and accumulated good experience, playing a demonstration and leading role for surrounding areas, their own provinces, and even the whole country in agricultural product quality and safety work. In the first three quarters of this year, the routine monitoring pass rates for vegetables, livestock and poultry products, and aquatic products in pilot counties were all above 98%, 2 percentage points higher than the national average. Practice has proven that the creation campaign is an effective lever for advancing agricultural product quality and safety supervision under existing conditions.

The creation of agricultural product quality and safety counties is still in its initial stage, and improving the level of agricultural product quality and safety is a long-term and arduous task. Next, we will continue to adhere to both “producing it well” and “managing it well” with equal firmness, deepen reform, create conditions, and make every effort to strengthen agricultural product quality and safety supervision to ensure “safety on the tip of the tongue”. We will focus on advancing the “five transformations”:

First, standardized production. Implement the 5-year action plan for the formulation and revision of agricultural standards, newly formulate 1,000 standards each year, and strive to reach 10,000 standards for pesticide and veterinary drug residues by 2020. Do a good job in standard implementation, formulate production operating procedures that match national standards and industry standards, so that farmers can understand at a glance and learn quickly. Advance standardized production. In main production areas, accelerate the construction of standard orchards for fruit, vegetables, and tea, standardized demonstration farms for livestock and poultry breeding, and standardized demonstration farms for healthy aquaculture, and strive to achieve production according to standards in all large-scale production bases within 5 years.

Second, green development. Unswervingly fight the tough battle of agricultural non-point source pollution control, and actively promote unified prevention and control, green prevention and control, formula fertilization, healthy breeding, and the use of efficient and low-toxicity pesticides and veterinary drugs. Implement the action to achieve zero growth in chemical fertilizers and pesticides and the action to govern veterinary antimicrobials, implement the system of designated sales and real-name purchase for highly toxic pesticides, promote quality control technologies such as fertilizer reduction and pesticide reduction, and adopt tough measures to focus on controlling excessive pesticide and veterinary drug residues. Strengthen the treatment of heavy metal pollution in cultivated land, promote the resource utilization of livestock and poultry breeding manure, scientifically and reasonably adjust the agricultural structure and regional layout, and improve the production area environment.

Third, large-scale operation. Give play to the leading role of new types of business entities, and in large planting and breeding households, family farms, cooperatives, leading enterprises, and socialized service organizations, implement production records, quality commitments, and employee training systems to improve the level of scientific planting and breeding. Develop various forms of large-scale operation such as “company + farmers” and “cooperatives + farmers”, advance socialized services such as production link trusteeship and unified prevention and control, improve the degree of agricultural organization, and bring tens of thousands of households onto the track of safe production.

Fourth, product branding. Quickly build a traceability information platform for agricultural product quality and safety, carry out traceability pilots focusing on “shopping basket” products such as live pigs, promote “ear tags” and “QR codes”, accelerate the establishment of a national agricultural product quality and safety traceability system, and strive to make most farmer cooperatives, leading enterprises, and large planting and breeding households traceable within 5 years. Steadily develop pollution-free, green, and organic agricultural products, and build a number of safe and high-quality agricultural product brands with credibility among consumers.

Fifth, law-based supervision. Promote the revision of the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law, seamlessly connect with food and drug departments, and jointly form a whole-process supervision chain covering production, circulation, processing, and consumption. Deeply carry out special rectification, and severely crack down on and heavily punish illegal and criminal acts such as illegal addition, production and sale of counterfeit goods, and unauthorized slaughtering. Improve emergency mechanisms, properly handle emergencies, and resolutely prevent systemic safety risks. Advance the building of county and township grassroots supervision teams and effectively improve law enforcement capacity. Improve performance evaluation and accountability mechanisms, and resolutely punish inaction and arbitrary action.

Agricultural product quality and safety must be grasped from the grassroots level, and the county level is the top priority. The Ministry of Agriculture will solidly advance the campaign to create agricultural product quality and safety counties, further increase guidance to pilot counties, summarize and promote local experience, and gradually expand the scope of creation. Pilot counties should cherish the golden signboard of “National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety County”, strengthen organizational leadership, implement supervision responsibilities, strengthen safeguard conditions, and explore supervision models that can be promoted and replicated. Achieve the “five firsts” within two years to ensure agricultural product quality and safety: first, take the lead in fully establishing a grid-based supervision system, enrich county and township staffing, set up village-level coordinators, and ensure that agricultural product quality and safety has people watching in villages, managing in townships, and inspecting in counties; second, take the lead in achieving full coverage of standardized production in large-scale bases, strengthen technical guidance and services, strictly implement production record ledgers and withdrawal period systems, advance rational fertilization, scientific drug use, and control fertilizers, drugs, and additives from the source; third, take the lead in achieving whole-chain supervision from field to market to table, establish departmental linkage mechanisms, strengthen origin testing and market spot checks, address prominent problems, and prevent and control hidden risks; fourth, take the lead in achieving full traceability of the quality of major agricultural products throughout the process, implement origin certificates and packaging labels for agricultural products, advance quality market release at the origin and access to wholesale markets, build information platforms, and use information-based means to ensure that agricultural product quality is controllable, problems are traceable, and responsibilities are investigable; fifth, take the lead in fully establishing integrity files for production and operation entities, implement directory management for large-scale production entities, implement a “blacklist” system, increase information disclosure and case exposure, strengthen social supervision, and implement the first responsibility for quality and safety.

We will, in accordance with the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, earnestly implement Vice Premier Wang Yang's speech and the spirit of this meeting, persistently do a good job in creating agricultural product quality and safety counties, and strive to open up a new situation in agricultural product quality and safety work.