The following plan is a list of China’s short- to medium-term policy priorities for agriculture and rural areas. Notably, the plan reflects the Chinese leadership’s deep concern over food security, particularly regarding the country’s dwindling supply of prime farmland and its heavy consumption of grain and cooking oil. To meet these challenges, the plan calls for a more self-sufficient domestic biotech industry and larger stockpiles of germplasm resources.

An archived version of the Chinese source text is available online at:    https://perma.cc/ACB3-PBX9

Plan for Accelerating the Construction of China into an Agricultural Powerhouse (2024-2035)

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 7 [2025]. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and the State Council published the Plan for Accelerating the Construction of China into an Agricultural Powerhouse (2024-2035), and also issued a notice requiring all regions and departments to conscientiously implement it in light of their actual conditions.

The main content¹ of the Plan for Accelerating the Construction of China into an Agricultural Powerhouse (2024-2035) is as follows.

A world power² must first strengthen its agriculture, and only when agriculture is strong can a country be a world power. Being an agricultural powerhouse is the foundation for being a modernized socialist world power. In the face of new circumstances and new requirements, accelerating the construction of China into an agricultural powerhouse must be the general strategic outline for “three rural”³ work and must be placed in an important position in constructing China into a modernized socialist world power. This Plan has been formulated for the purpose of accelerating the construction of China into an agricultural powerhouse.

I. Overall Requirements

Taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, comprehensively implementing the spirit of the 20th Party Congress and the Second and Third Plenums of the 20th CCP Central Committee, and fully implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important remarks on “three rural” work, comprehensively and accurately implement the new concept of development (新发展理念), accelerate construction of the new development pattern (新发展格局), focus on promoting high-quality development, be rooted in national and agricultural conditions and embody Chinese characteristics, and maintain strategic resolve and keep in it for the long haul. Persisting in prioritizing the development of agriculture and rural areas, we shall utilize the experience of the “1,000 Model Villages, 10,000 Villages Restored” Project⁴ to improve long-term mechanisms for promoting the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, refine mechanisms for the integrated development of urban and rural areas, promote the modernization of agriculture and rural areas in tandem, even more firmly hold to the bottom line of national grain security and the red line of arable land protection, accelerate construction of a harmonious and beautiful countryside suitable for living and employment, effectively promote the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, and accelerate the construction of China into an agricultural powerhouse with strong supply assurance, strong scientific and technological (S&T) equipment, strong management systems, strong industrial resilience, and strong competitiveness, thereby allowing farmers to live better lives, and providing strong support for, through Chinese-style modernization, comprehensively promoting the construction of China into a world power and undertaking the rejuvenation of the nation.

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1. Translator’s note: Although Xinhua calls the following text the “main content” of the Plan for Accelerating the Construction of China into an Agricultural Powerhouse, rather than the full text, CSET has not observed a fuller version of the Plan online. It is likely that this Xinhua version of the text is the most comprehensive version that China will release publicly.
2. Translator’s note: This translation renders the Chinese word 强国 qiángguó—which literally means “strong nation”—in English in two different ways, depending on context. Where the translator judges that qiángguó is used in the general geopolitical sense, it is translated as “world power.” Where the translator judges that the text refers to a specific flavor of qiángguó, it is translated as “powerhouse,” as in the phrase “agricultural powerhouse” (农业强国). For a more thorough discussion in English of the Chinese word qiángguó, see: https://www.newamerica.org/cybersecurity-initiative/digichina/blog/lexicon-wangluo-qiangguo/.
3. Translator’s note: The “three rural” issues (“三农”问题) are: developing agriculture, raising farmer income, and developing the rural economy.
4. Translator’s note: The “1,000 Model Villages, 10,000 Villages Restored” Project (“千村示范、万村整治”工程), often abbreviated in Chinese as the “1,000-10,000 Project” (千万工程), is an initiative begun in China’s Zhejiang Province in 2003—when Xi Jinping was the provincial Communist Party chief there—to simultaneously improve rural environmental conditions and enhance villagers’ quality of life.