he annual central rural work conference was held from December 29 to 30, 2025. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, called for advancing rural revitalization across the board and promoting integrated urban-rural development, with a strong focus on agricultural and rural modernization, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi said the year 2026 marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) which is of vital importance to do a good job in work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, always the leading focus of the government’s annual work.
The conference prioritized advancing a new round of initiatives to increase grain production capacity by 50 million tons, improve crop varieties and ensure that the total area of farmland remains above the specified red line of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) to ensure China remains self-sufficient in staple crops.
Data showed that by the end of 2024, China had a total 1.94 billion mu (129 million hectares) of farmland, and in 2025, China produced 714.9 million tons of staple crops, including grains, beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes, 1.2 percent more than in 2024. In 2026, total staple production is expected to remain steady at about 700 million tons.
Efforts will be made to develop high-quality farmland, optimize the structure of agricultural planting and increase crop productivity by tapping advanced technologies and new quality productive forces, such as artificial intelligence.
For example, a laser weeding machine enhanced with AI has been adopted to reduce costs and adapt weeding operations based on soil conditions.
The conference called for a steady increase in the incomes of farmers. In 2024, Chinese farmers’ annual disposable income hit 23,100 yuan (US$3,304) per capita, a 6.3 percent growth year-on-year, deducting the price element. The conference said that the country should maintain the prices of important agricultural products such as grain at a reasonable level and establish regular mechanisms to prevent rural residents from lapsing or relapsing into poverty.
For this purpose, the central government has been nurturing and expanding county industries that enrich people. Like industry, agriculture itself is expected to absorb rural workers and increase incomes.
Government assistance programs will be maintained in underdeveloped regions. The 832 counties lifted out of impoverishment have all fostered two to three locally characteristic or pillar industries, Xinhua reported.
The conference also values the construction of beautiful villages suitable for living and working, focusing on rebuilding pit latrines or non-flush toilets into sanitary toilets and ensuring proper disposal of household waste.
According to Xinhua, sanitary toilets are now found in 76 percent of Chinese villages and 90 percent of villages have household waste disposal systems. The figures are expected to rise during the new Five-Year Plan, with the disposal of wastewater continuing to improve.
The conference finally emphasized the importance of deepening rural reforms, including carrying out province-wide pilot programs across the board to extend rural land contracts by another 30 years upon the expiration of the second-round contracts.
The programs in 2024 covered seven provinces, 221 counties and 349 towns.
Old Version
