Zero growth in pesticide and chemical fertilizer use achieved by 2020
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that degraded farmland now accounts for more than 40% of China's total farmland area. The black soil layer in the Northeast is thinning, soils in the South are acidifying, the plow layer of the North China Plain is becoming shallower, and in particular some reclaimed farmland is of low quality grade. These problems seriously affect farmland output.
The foundation of food security lies in farmland, and the key lies in farmland quality. Next year, the Ministry of Agriculture will vigorously promote the protection and improvement of farmland quality, focusing on soil fertility enhancement, soil improvement, nutrient balance and quality restoration, with high-standard farmland project areas, reclaimed farmland balance project areas and areas with prominent farmland quality problems as the implementation priorities, striving to improve the intrinsic quality of farmland and lay a solid long-term foundation for food and agricultural production.
The Ministry of Agriculture stated that it is necessary to ensure that by 2020, 800 million mu of contiguous, drought- and flood-resistant high-standard farmland is built, and that the basic soil fertility of farmland is raised by 0.5 grades, soil organic matter content is increased by 0.5 percentage points, the utilization rate of organic fertilizer resources is increased by 20 percentage points, straw return to the field reaches 80%, zero growth in pesticide and chemical fertilizer use is achieved, and problems such as farmland acidification, salinization and pollution are effectively controlled.
The Ministry of Agriculture requires that the task of farmland quality construction is long-term and arduous. Agricultural departments at all levels must promote the formulation of plans related to farmland quality construction, actively coordinate and strive for funding input, make every effort to complete the delineation of permanent basic farmland and the quality acceptance of reclaimed farmland, effectively strengthen the construction of farmland quality monitoring systems, accelerate the legislative process for farmland quality protection, and make greater contributions to promoting stable increases in grain production, sustained increases in farmers' incomes and the sustained and healthy development of the agricultural and rural economy.