President Xi Jinping has issued a mandate to expand grain production as China moves to shield its food supply from global volatility, calling for renewed efforts to modernise agriculture and rural areas over the coming year.
Speaking at a two-day work conference in Beijing that ended on Tuesday, Xi urged a “no-relaxation” approach to grain output and called for higher overall production capacity and efficiency by integrating high-quality land, seeds, machinery and farming techniques.
“We must improve the effectiveness of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit rural areas and enrich farmers, and promote the maintenance of grain and other key agricultural products at reasonable price levels,” he said, according to a readout of the meeting from state news agency Xinhua.
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Beijing has identified agricultural modernisation and rural development as central to its broader economic goals. At the meeting, the leadership stressed the need to speed up China’s rise as an “agricultural powerhouse”.
Food security has taken on added urgency amid a volatile geopolitical climate, with self-reliance increasingly seen as a critical buffer against external shocks from major exporters such as the United States and Russia.
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Earlier this year, Beijing temporarily suspended imports of American soybeans after US President Donald Trump launched his second trade war. Tensions have pushed China towards Brazilian supplies even as it steps up domestic production capacity.