Agriculture to focus more on quality rather than quantity

The focus of agriculture will be shifted from an increase in quantity to improving quality, said Han Changfu, minister of agriculture, at a news conference on Wednesday during the ongoing two sessions.

China's grain production capacity, agricultural modernization and farmers' incomes have improved tremendously in the past decades, and this has established the foundations to shift the focus, Han said.

"800 million people in China used to go hungry, now 1.4 billion Chinese people live an abundant life with sufficient supplies of food. It's a huge change," Han said.

New agricultural policies emphasizing quality improvement will be released; agricultural development will be transferred from resource-draining production to methods ensuring sustainability and high efficiency; technologies applied to agriculture will also focus more on the quality and safety of agricultural output.

Objectives regarding agricultural development in the coming years will see more environmentally friendly produce with low resource consumption to satisfy consumer demand and improve the efficiency of agricultural production and its international competitiveness.

The ministry launched "the year of better quality" on Feb 6 in Fujian province, aiming to seek a high-quality increase in agricultural output rather than just quantity.