New Voices from the Two Sessions on Agricultural Inputs: Reducing Pesticide Use While Enhancing Efficiency, Applying Biological Control Technologies, and Promoting High-Quality Development of Pesticide Distribution and Chemical Pilot‑Scale Testing Bases.

During the 2025 Two Sessions, numerous deputies and members offered suggestions and proposals for high-quality development in the agriculture and chemical industries. From the top-level design of chemical pilot‑scale test bases to the green transition toward reduced pesticide use and enhanced efficacy, from the innovative application of smart biological pest‑control technologies to the standardized governance of pesticide distribution, these voices not only highlight the sector’s key challenges but also chart a course for future collaborative innovation between agriculture and the chemical industry.

Xu Guanju, Chairman of Transfar Group, is focusing on the high-quality development of the chemical pilot‑scale testing base.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized the need to accelerate the planning and construction of a number of concept‑validation and pilot‑scale demonstration platforms. Recently, during an interview with Xu Guanju, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and chairman of the Transfar Group, it was learned that pilot‑scale platforms serve as a crucial bridge for translating scientific and technological breakthroughs from the laboratory into industrial applications, and they are vital vehicles for fostering original, disruptive, and groundbreaking innovation. He proposed building high‑quality chemical‑industry pilot‑scale bases, promoting the integrated development of technological and industrial innovation, and driving industrial upgrading.

Data show that in 2024, more than 2,000 pilot-scale manufacturing platforms were established nationwide. These include open, shared platforms closely aligned with regional industrial characteristics, as well as closed‑type facilities spearheaded by individual enterprises or research institutions. Such homogenization across certain regions hinders the efficient allocation and utilization of resources.

Addressing how to promote the high-quality development of the pilot‑scale industry, Xu Guanju put forward three recommendations: First, strengthen top‑level design and policy guidance, align with regional industrial cluster development, and rationally plan the construction of pilot‑scale platforms. Conduct in‑depth research into the pain points and needs of local industries, and, based on each region’s industrial base, resource endowments, and market demand, formulate a national development plan for chemical pilot‑scale bases. Reasonably determine the positioning, operating models, and number of such platforms, and, in line with the characteristics of regional industrial clusters, build large, high‑standard platforms that empower industries. Second, encourage and support leading enterprises, together with governments and research institutes, to co‑build large, comprehensive “open‑sharing” pilot‑scale platforms. The development of these platforms should enhance collaboration among government bodies, leading enterprises, universities, and research institutions, pooling resources to create synergies and jointly establish an open, market‑oriented, and professional shared‑platform model. This will integrate technological innovation with industrial application, enabling efficient circulation of various resources and factors of production and generating value through industrial innovation. Third, deepen reforms of the institutional mechanisms governing the construction and operation of pilot‑scale platforms. Aligning and coordinating management policies for pilot‑scale platforms with those for scientific and technological innovation and industrial development is key to unlocking their full potential—particularly through innovative breakthroughs in areas such as the commercialization of pilot‑scale products, streamlining environmental impact assessment approvals, and providing “pilot‑scale plus industrialization” services. Such measures will both stimulate innovation and ensure that pilot‑scale platforms effectively support industrial upgrading.

Academician Song Bao’an: Building a System for Reducing Inputs While Enhancing Efficiency

National People’s Congress deputy, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and President of Guizhou University, Song Bao’an, granted an interview to reporters on topics including how to strengthen pest and disease monitoring and early-warning capabilities, improve the efficiency of integrated pest management, and the pivotal role of agrochemical enterprises in promoting reduced fertilizer and pesticide use while enhancing their effectiveness.

Q: China has achieved significant progress in green agricultural development, placing higher demands on reducing fertilizer and pesticide use while enhancing their efficiency. Looking ahead, what key areas should agrochemical companies focus on to drive this dual goal of reduction and efficiency?

Song Bao’an: Against the backdrop of advancing green agricultural development and the “dual carbon” goals, agrochemical enterprises, as key players, are confronting both new opportunities and challenges. To align with national strategies, these companies must harness technological innovation as a driving force, restructure their value chains, and promote market‑oriented approaches to reduce inputs while enhancing efficiency.

Building a new ecosystem of green agricultural inputs. Agricultural input companies should develop key bio‑based technologies, such as next‑generation green pesticides targeting novel molecular targets, advanced microbial formulations, RNA‑based biopesticides, and gene‑drive technologies, to overcome technical bottlenecks and expand the market share of biopesticides and innovative green agrochemicals. At the same time, they should invest in digital solutions, establish comprehensive crop–soil–climate databases, and leverage AI‑driven algorithms to tailor region‑specific fertilizer formulas and optimize pesticide application, driving product innovation toward precision‑oriented offerings that meet the personalized needs of modern agriculture.

Build a modern agricultural service system integrating “products, technology, and data.” Agricultural input companies should promote “mobile smart fertilizer‑blending stations” that, based on soil data and crop nutrient‑requirement patterns, produce customized blended fertilizers on site, reducing nitrogen use by 10%–15%. Develop a “plant protection prescription cloud platform” that integrates satellite remote sensing and drone data to generate field‑level application plans, directly linked to smart agricultural machinery for precise execution. At the same time, roll out integrated “seed‑fertilizer‑pesticide‑machinery” management services, advocating the principle of “20% reduction in inputs without compromising yields,” thereby establishing a “technology‑driven value‑addition” business model that boosts agricultural productivity and advances green development.

Promote green manufacturing and circular utilization. Agricultural input enterprises should optimize low‑carbon production processes, adopt green chemistry and biotechnology to reduce energy consumption and wastewater discharge, and establish zero‑carbon demonstration plants to lead the industry’s environmentally sustainable development. At the same time, they should intensify the resource‑based utilization of agricultural waste, leverage smart manufacturing and synthetic biology technologies, develop high‑efficiency enzymatic catalysis and bio‑based catalytic processes, and produce biochar‑based fertilizers as substitutes for conventional compound fertilizers—each ton of straw used in this way reduces CO₂ emissions by 1.8 tons. Furthermore, a regional closed-loop model of “collection and storage–processing–application” should be established to minimize waste emissions and achieve resource circulation and value addition.

Q: This year’s No. 1 Central Document once again underscores the importance of monitoring and early warning for crop diseases and pests, as well as integrated pest management. In your view, what specific measures can we take to further strengthen our capacity for disease and pest monitoring and early warning, enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of integrated pest management, and ensure the sustained stability and high-quality development of grain production?

Song Bao’an: I believe we must harness scientific and technological innovation as the driving force, vigorously develop new‑type agricultural productivity, and promote the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, financial chain, and talent chain, thereby comprehensively enhancing plant protection capabilities.

Establish a monitoring and early-warning system featuring “intelligent sensing + all‑domain interconnection.” For example, develop an AI‑driven multi‑source data‑fusion platform. Specifically, build a collaborative platform integrating space‑based remote sensing, low‑altitude drones, and ground‑based IoT; launch agriculture‑specific hyperspectral satellites, such as the “Smart Plant Protection No. 1,” to focus on capturing the spectral signatures of crop diseases at their earliest stages; deploy drone‑based field‑inspection grids in major grain‑producing areas, each covering 5,000 mu, equipped with multispectral cameras and AI edge‑computing modules to detect pest hotspots in real time and generate application routes; and install smart pest‑monitoring lamps, spore‑capture devices, and soil sensors across fields, with data streamed in real time to national and local big‑data platforms.

Innovate and optimize the “precision-plus‑socialization” model for integrated pest management. In terms of unified prevention and control, we recommend developing and promoting smart equipment and precision‑operation systems, with unmanned operation clusters emerging as a key area of focus. At the same time, it is essential to reform the institutional mechanisms governing socialized services. By establishing a “Didi‑style” unified prevention and control platform and deploying a nationwide service‑dispatch system, we can integrate the resources of 500,000 service providers. Farmers will be able to place orders online, with AI matching them to the most suitable service provider. The government will subsidize each order at 5 yuan per unit, based on the area treated, thereby encouraging greater participation from service organizations and enhancing both service quality and efficiency.

Green pest management is being deeply integrated with artificial intelligence. By establishing intelligent breeding facilities in major production areas of staple and cash crops, we leverage machine vision monitoring and big‑data modeling to enhance the efficiency of natural‑enemy insect propagation. Additionally, we have developed a crop–microbe interaction regulation system and an AI‑driven rhizosphere microbiome analysis platform, enabling the customization of probiotic formulations for agricultural fields. These innovations effectively control soilborne diseases, reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides, and improve both the quality and safety of agricultural products.

Q: This year’s No. 1 Central Document calls for “expanding application scenarios for artificial intelligence and low-altitude technologies.” How can technologies such as drone‑based precision pesticide application and AI‑powered pest and disease monitoring be integrated with green pesticides to achieve reduced input and increased efficiency?

Song Bao’an: Guided by the Central No. 1 Document, China’s plant protection sector is advancing into a new phase of “targeted, precision‑based pesticide application.” Digital technologies—including drones, artificial intelligence, big data, and high‑efficiency application equipment—are being deeply integrated with green pesticides to jointly establish an end-to-end system for reducing input while enhancing efficacy, characterized by “precise sensing—intelligent decision‑making—green implementation.”

It is essential to strengthen the synergy among multiple technologies. By establishing a multi-source sensing system that leverages hyperspectral satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground-based IoT devices, we can capture real-time information on crop diseases and pests, thereby building a nationwide spatiotemporal database of such threats. At the same time, an intelligent decision-making framework should be developed, integrating historical data, weather forecasts, and resistance‑monitoring metrics. Using random forest algorithms, this framework will predict the optimal window for pesticide application and generate AI‑driven treatment prescriptions, reducing the number of applications and significantly increasing the share of biopesticides.

In terms of equipment–pesticide compatibility, innovative technological approaches are needed. We are developing precision drone‑based application systems and, in response to the photodegradability of biopesticides, creating novel formulations that resist degradation to enhance foliar deposition. At the same time, we are designing high‑efficiency ground‑based applicators equipped with AI‑powered visual recognition modules, enabling targeted spraying exclusively on designated areas and achieving a pesticide‑use reduction of up to 60%.

It is necessary to innovate models for socialized services and the conversion of green value. A nationwide drone-based crop‑protection service network should be established, enabling farmers to place orders conveniently via a mobile app, with AI automatically matching them to the most suitable service provider. Meanwhile, insurance companies are leveraging AI‑generated monitoring data to launch “Reduced‑Pesticide, Guaranteed‑Yield Insurance,” safeguarding farmers’ rights and enhancing service quality.

The implementation of this series of measures will strongly advance the green development of China’s plant protection sector, reduce the use of conventional chemical pesticides, increase the adoption of biopesticides and environmentally friendly pesticides, and contribute to the sustainable development of agriculture.

Liu Xiaoyan of the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences: Supporting Key Technologies for Intelligent Biological Control

As research into AI and IoT technologies deepens in the agricultural sector, a new approach to agricultural pest management has emerged—“green control, led by smart solutions.” In particular, the integrated application of intelligent pest‑monitoring and forecasting systems with biocontrol products is set to usher agricultural development into a new era of efficiency, precision, and sustainability, helping to transform traditional farming practices. During this year’s Two Sessions, National People’s Congress deputy Liu Xiaoyan, deputy director of the Biopesticide Center at the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, proposed supporting research and demonstration projects on key smart biocontrol technologies.

At present, the promotion and application of biopesticides in China remain relatively weak, falling significantly short of the requirements of modern agricultural development. Moreover, the modes of action of biopesticides differ substantially from those of conventional chemical pesticides, placing higher demands on their application technologies. To address these challenges, there is an urgent need to develop biocontrol technology systems tailored to different regions, ecological environments, and crop‑specific pests and diseases, thereby maximizing the efficacy of biopesticides and helping to reduce production costs.

Liu Xiaoyan stated that, driven by the need for precision biological control technologies, developing smart biological control systems is an effective approach to addressing this challenge. However, achieving true intelligent biological control still faces two key issues. First, there remains no direct linkage between crop pest and disease forecasting and early-warning systems and the biological control technology framework, resulting in a lack of high-quality databases on pests and diseases as well as corresponding standards for biological control. Second, there is a shortage of validation scenarios for smart biological control applications, with no established demonstration sites that integrate precise pest and disease identification with intelligent decision-making for biological control. Consequently, the technological fit is limited, and practical implementation poses significant challenges.

To address the challenges in scaling up biocontrol technologies and swiftly remove bottlenecks in integrating smart agriculture with biocontrol, while exploring regionally comprehensive solutions, Liu Xiaoyan puts forward the following two recommendations: First, she suggests that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs establish a big‑data platform for smart biocontrol technologies. Grounded in the overarching goals of national food security and ecological civilization, a national-level smart biocontrol big‑data application center should be set up in Hubei Province and incorporated into the major projects of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Leveraging Hubei’s strengths in innovative biocontrol products, cutting‑edge technologies, and robust big‑data support systems, a “smart pest and disease forecasting and reporting management system plus an applied technology framework for biocontrol products” should be developed to advance the integration of biocontrol with artificial intelligence. By employing remote sensing technologies, combined with AI, big‑data analytics, and IoT, intelligent identification algorithms and predictive models tailored to specific pests and diseases can be created. Through multidimensional, high‑precision remote‑sensing data collection and analysis, early warning and real-time monitoring of pest and disease outbreaks can be achieved, providing data‑driven support for formulating scientific, efficient control strategies. A comprehensive platform integrating ecological monitoring, intelligent early warning, precision‑targeted control strategy generation, and outcome evaluation should be built, thereby comprehensively modernizing agricultural biosecurity governance capabilities. Second, she recommends that the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and other relevant departments jointly formulate policies to support the validation of smart biocontrol application scenarios. A special fund for technological innovation should be established to conduct research on smart biocontrol evaluation systems, and core demonstration bases for smart biocontrol should be strategically deployed nationwide. Tailored smart biocontrol technology packages should be developed for different ecological zones and crops, creating a new model of biocontrol applications based on “scenario‑based validation plus standardized output.” Furthermore, a “smart biocontrol service package” promotion system should be put in place, using pilot sites to drive broader adoption and establishing replicable, standardized technical protocols to facilitate large‑scale deployment of smart biocontrol solutions. This will accelerate response times to major pest and disease outbreaks, reduce pesticide use, and position smart biocontrol as a key pillar of the “storing grain in technology” strategy, offering sustainable development pathways for agriculture and ensuring the green, safe production of agricultural products.

Yang Hengjun: Cracking Down on the Illegal Circulation of Problematic Pesticides

During this year’s Two Sessions, Yang Hengjun, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and Party Secretary of Desheng Central Village in Xinqiao Town, Jingjiang City, Jiangsu Province, called for cracking down on the illegal circulation of substandard pesticides and promoting green, sustainable agricultural development.

Since June 2024, during his visits and field investigations of large-scale farmers, Yang Hengjun has identified three specific manifestations of the illegal circulation of pesticides. First, there is the practice of bundling problematic pesticides with seeds for compulsory sale, enabling their clandestine distribution. Some agrochemical manufacturers, without obtaining pesticide registration certificates, affix “not for sale” labels to substandard products—omitting critical information such as the product name and active ingredients—and then package them together with seeds, forcing their sale to farmers across various regions. In this process, the quality and intended use of the pesticides are often overlooked, allowing these harmful products to circulate covertly; if misused by farmers, they can adversely affect crop growth and reduce yields. Second, there is the illegal rebranding and repackaging of substandard pesticides, which are widely marketed through agricultural e‑commerce platforms. Criminals, responding to customer demand, illegally repackage raw materials from the same category of problematic pesticides, apply counterfeit brand labels, and sell them online, thereby expanding the reach of these hazardous products. Finally, certain actors within the agrochemical industry collude at key stages to establish an illicit supply chain for producing and distributing substandard pesticides. Taking advantage of their positions, some industry insiders procure large quantities of pesticide raw materials—including prohibited or restricted substances—through chemical distribution channels, then sell them in bulk to downstream counterfeiters. This practice results in a significant influx of unsafe pesticides into the market, posing serious risks to food production safety and public health.

In response to the aforementioned issues, Yang Hengjun put forward four recommendations: First, improve the traceability system. Establishing a comprehensive, end-to-end traceability framework for problematic pesticides is key to addressing this challenge. It is necessary to institute robust management systems covering production licensing, product quality inspection, market access and exit, product recalls, and routine supervisory sampling, clearly defining the responsibilities and obligations of manufacturers and distributors to ensure that every step in the process is standardized, traceable, and controllable. Second, strengthen platform governance. Intensify oversight of e‑commerce platforms by setting stringent entry requirements and technical standards, and by rigorously verifying the identities of online sellers to ensure their operations are lawful and compliant. Third, step up enforcement efforts. Focus on high‑risk sectors and critical links where cases involving problematic pesticides are most prevalent, ramp up law enforcement, and impose strict, severe penalties in accordance with the law to maintain a strong deterrent against offenders. Fourth, deepen public awareness campaigns. Through case‑based education and leveraging both online and offline channels, launch comprehensive outreach initiatives to disseminate knowledge about pesticide use, enhance farmers’ understanding of safe pesticide application, reduce the use of substandard products at the source, and promote green, sustainable agricultural development.

Source: China Pesticide Industry Association