Moderate reduction of farmland written into the National Agricultural Sustainable Development Plan
On the morning of the 20th, Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua introduced and interpreted the relevant details of the National Agricultural Sustainable Development Plan (2015-2030) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) at a regular policy briefing of the State Council.
Regarding the “stabilizing farmland area, improving farmland quality, and moderately reducing farmland” proposed in the Plan, Chen Xiaohua stated that this is a very important and newly proposed key point in this Plan. Moderate farmland retirement does not mean abandoning cultivation, but rather selecting a development model that matches resources and the environment, and retiring farmland in an orderly manner. He mentioned that in the future, slope farmland above 25 degrees and farmland with severe heavy metal pollution will be appropriately retired and reduced, while land planted with high-water-consumption crops will be converted to other crops, achieving “farm where it is suitable for farming, forest where it is suitable for forestry.”
In response to agricultural pollution issues such as pesticide use and straw burning, Chen Xiaohua stated that by 2020, the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides must achieve zero growth. To fundamentally solve the problem of straw burning, a “combination of blocking and guiding” approach should be adopted, turning crop straw into “fertilizer, feed, and substrate.”
Chen Xiaohua also stated that the Plan, based on comprehensive consideration of various agricultural factors, divides the country into optimized development zones, moderate development zones, and protection development zones, and determines different directions and priorities for sustainable development according to the principles of adapting measures to local conditions, advancing in stages, and applying classified policies.
It is reported that the State Council executive meeting recently deliberated and approved the National Agricultural Sustainable Development Plan (2015-2030), which is a programmatic document guiding agricultural sustainable development for the period ahead. The Plan requires that agricultural development must establish the concept of ecological civilization, effectively transform the mode of agricultural development, optimize the development layout, steadily enhance agricultural production capacity, and promote the development of ecological circular agriculture.