The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China held a national meeting on June 24 in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province. During the meeting, MARA reviewed the progress in the greenhouse and horticulture sector and outlined key policy directions for its future development. The main highlights of the meeting are discussed below.
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Strategic Planning
Food security remains a top priority for China. It is crucial to ensure that the expansion of greenhouse and horticulture sectors does not reduce arable land for grain crops. The goal is to boost productivity in horticultural products without compromising food security.
Finding the balance between grain production and horticulture, optimizing regional distribution, and improving crop structure is crucial. Proper planning must come before implementation to avoid wasting resources.
One of key strategies is regional prioritization, which encourages each region to develop agricultural models tailored to its unique resource conditions. For example, Gansu Province has promoted "Gobi agriculture", a model that utilizes non-arable desert land to build modern greenhouses for cultivation, thus avoiding competition with arable land needed for grain production.
In addition, crop planning should be based on a rational mix of market demand, local growing conditions, and available technologies. This helps optimize the types and proportions of crops grown, ensuring both economic viability and food supply stability.
Innovation
China is placing strong emphasis on innovation in the seed industry, agricultural machinery, production systems, and business models.
Currently, the self-sufficiency rate for crops, like tomatoes, and flowers is below 20%. To address this challenge, China is investing heavily in seed innovation to strengthen the domestic breeding, production, and supply of high-quality crop varieties.
At the same time, the sector is moving away from its traditional reliance on manual labor and low-tech methods. This shift is driven by rising labor costs, an aging workforce, and growing environmental challenges. As a result, China is actively supporting the development and adoption of intelligent, automated, and green low-carbon technologies to modernize horticultural production.
Value Chain Development
China is focusing on upgrading and integrating the entire agricultural value chain — from production, processing and distribution to branding, consumption, and business model innovation.
Some leading agricultural companies are now developing integrated supply chains, from seed to table, while also developing their own brands. One example is a vegetable production farm in Shandong province that attracts more consumers by organizing activities such as fruit-picking festivals and agricultural exhibitions, integrating agriculture with tourism and culture.
Agritourism and creative agriculture are among the emerging business models in the sector, aiming to attract more investment and generate added value throughout the entire value chain.
Market Orientation
The Chinese government is gradually shifting from a central guided approach to a more market-oriented model. In this transition, the government focuses on improving infrastructure, financial services and insurance, regulatory frameworks, and the training of a professional workforce to enable market development by the private sector.
Source: www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl