Key topics in the No. 1 Central Document: How can we ensure food security? How should we wage the battle to revitalize the seed industry? And how should rural development be planned?

The No. 1 Central Document for 2021 was recently released. On the 22nd, officials from the Central Rural Work Leading Group and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs provided a comprehensive briefing at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, addressing key issues such as how to ensure the supply of grain and other important agricultural products in the future, how to turn the tide in the seed industry, and how to plan rural development.

Food security is a shared responsibility of both the Party and the government.

For a major country with a population of 1.4 billion, ensuring food security is an enduring challenge.

Tang Renjian, Director of the Central Rural Work Office and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated that China’s food security is fully assured; however, the balance between grain supply and demand has long been tight, and future demand is expected to grow steadily. Coupled with growing uncertainty and instability in the external environment, we must remain vigilant at all times on the issue of food security.

Tang Renjian stated that ensuring food security hinges on safeguarding grain production through both land and technology. China will adopt stringent, “hard‑line” measures to enforce the strictest system for protecting arable land, firmly upholding the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land. At the same time, it will ensure that 1.55 billion mu of permanent basic farmland is primarily used to grow grain, vegetables, and other annual crops, while also preserving and making good use of the fertile black soils. Going forward, the fundamental path to boosting grain output lies in leveraging science and technology to increase yields and improve efficiency; we must resolutely turn the tide in the seed industry and strengthen the foundations of food security with modern agricultural technologies and advanced material resources.

At the same time, it is necessary to establish a mechanism to ensure the “two supports”—namely, “support through incentives and support through principles”—by refining subsidy policies for grain farmers, improving the policy framework for supporting major grain-producing counties, and firmly anchoring the obligations and responsibilities of local Party committees and governments in safeguarding food security.

“This year’s No. 1 Central Document clearly stipulates that, going forward, food security will be under the joint responsibility of both Party and government bodies; previously, the emphasis was primarily on the provincial governor’s accountability system,” said Tang Renjian. He added that these measures are intended to ensure stable sown areas and grain output across all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, with further increases where conditions permit. Safeguarding supply requires not only maintaining adequate quantities but also ensuring diversity and quality, and we must continue to deepen, refine, and solidify structural reforms on the agricultural supply side.

Five measures to turn the tide in the seed industry.

Seeds are the “chips” of agriculture, and how to turn the tide in the seed industry has drawn widespread attention.

Zhang Taolin, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated that, overall, China’s agricultural seed security is assured and risks are manageable. At present, the country can meet its own needs for crop seeds, particularly grain varieties, while the self-sufficiency rates for core breeding stock of livestock and poultry and aquaculture have reached 75% and 85%, respectively.

He stated that, compared with international advanced standards, China’s seed industry still faces numerous mismatches and shortcomings. China’s per‑hectare yields of soybeans and corn remain relatively low, and foreign‑bred vegetable varieties account for 13% of the total planted area.

Zhang Taolin explained that the No. 1 Central Document has laid out a top-level design and systematic plan for winning the battle to revitalize the seed industry, covering germplasm resource conservation, breakthroughs in breeding research, and market regulation of the seed sector. It is imperative to adhere to bottom-line thinking and a problem-oriented approach, follow the principles governing innovative development in the seed industry, address critical bottlenecks, strengthen weak links, and build on existing strengths. Specifically, this entails the following five key areas:

— Germplasm resources must be conserved. We will promptly launch surveys and collections of crop, livestock, poultry, and aquatic genetic resources. We will carry out precise identification and evaluation of these resources and establish a robust national germplasm resource bank.

— We must invigorate independent innovation. We need to intensify efforts to master core, cutting-edge technologies in the seed industry, deepen joint research and development on crop and livestock breeding, and steadily advance the industrial application of biotechnological breeding, while also strengthening fundamental and frontier‑oriented research.

— Seed industry enterprises must become stronger. A group of leading companies should be selected for prioritized support, the “delegation, regulation, and service” reform in the seed sector should be deepened, and efforts should be made to foster closer integration among industry, academia, and research, as well as to achieve seamless links between breeding, multiplication, and promotion, thereby establishing and improving a commercial breeding system.

—We must elevate the standards of our agricultural bases. We will develop modern crop‑seed production bases and establish national core breeding farms for livestock and poultry, as well as high‑quality seed‑stock farms for aquaculture.

— The market environment must be improved. Strengthen intellectual property protection, and enforce rigorous variety management and market oversight.

Plan and implement the rural development initiative effectively.

To get rural modernization off to a strong start, a key lever is to carefully plan and effectively implement the Rural Construction Initiative.

Wu Hongyao, Director of the Secretariat Bureau of the Central Rural Work Office, stated that the rural development initiative must prioritize planning, adhere to a “planning-first” approach, and rationally determine the layout and classification of villages.

“Rural planning serves as the blueprint for rural development; without it, haphazard construction and unauthorized land use will inevitably proliferate,” he emphasized. He added that village planning should build on the existing foundation and prioritize practicality. Villages must preserve their distinctive rural character, maintain a sense of local identity and community spirit, and avoid uniformity across all settlements. Furthermore, the consolidation or merger of villages must be strictly regulated, and no measures should be imposed against the wishes of farmers or force them to move into apartment buildings.

Wu Hongyao stated that it is essential to strengthen efforts to improve the rural living environment and upgrade village infrastructure. Public infrastructure development should continue to prioritize rural areas, with a focus on extending coverage to every village and every household. Furthermore, rural public services must be enhanced by addressing the most pressing issues raised by farmers—such as education, healthcare, elderly care, and social security—and steadily advancing the equalization of basic public services between urban and rural areas.

“Rural development should not be a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, it requires strengthened overall coordination and a focus on key priorities. Counties should serve as a crucial entry point for integrated urban–rural development, with infrastructure and public services planned and managed at the county–township–village level. Different administrative tiers should prioritize distinct areas of investment, ensuring functional complementarity and efficient, coordinated resource allocation,” emphasized Wu Hongyao. He further stressed that rural development must respect farmers’ wishes, be grounded in local realities, and deliver tangible results that truly address their needs.

Source: Xinhua Net