An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 18, 2025 shows farmers operating agricultural machines to carry out field management in Qiaocheng District of Bozhou City, east China’s Anhui Province. Farming activities are in full swing across China in early spring. (Photo: Xinhua)
New quality productive forces have great potential in improving efficiency and lowering costs in China’s vast agricultural sector, a political advisor told the Global Times on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing two sessions.
The recently issued “No.1 central document” for 2025 emphasized the role of new quality productive forces in agriculture field, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The document called for the cultivation of leading high-tech agricultural enterprises and the acceleration of breakthroughs in crop varieties.
It was the first time the concept was mentioned in the key document, according to Xinhua.
“New quality productive forces should have multiple applications in agriculture, improving the efficiency of agricultural resources such as fertilizers and agricultural production. For example, in the field of biofertilizer and pesticides, one mu (about 0.07 hectares) of land requires just a few kilograms of new-type biofertilizers, whereas it would require a few dozen kilograms of older biofertilizers,” Li Baoju, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, and an agricultural science expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
“We can tap new technologies such as synthetic biology to develop some new biopesticides that are more efficient,” Li said, whose expertise is vegetable disease control.
That will allow Chinese farmers use less pesticides and enjoy lower costs, while producing more food per unit area. The quality of both grains and cash crops will be better, Li said, adding that the application of artificial intelligence in agricultural machinery is another major aspect of tapping new quality productive forces.
Li noted that the Government Work Report attaches great importance to the development of China’s agricultural sector.
“We will accelerate the R&D and application of advanced, appropriate agricultural machinery and equipment and the large-scale application of advances in agricultural science and technology,” according to the Government Work Report delivered on Wednesday.