MUMBAI – Agriculture will be the top focus in 2019 for the Chinese government and it will undertake steps to deepen agricultural reforms by boosting the rural economy, the State Council said in a document released on Tuesday.
The document known as the ‘Document no 1’, was released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.
“Work must be done to deepen agricultural supply-side structural reform, win the tough battle against poverty, give full play to the key role of rural primary-level party organisations, and push forward rural vitalisation in all respects,” it said.
China has been grappling with a slowdown in its economy. In 2018, its economic growth slowed to 6.6%, the weakest in 28 years.
Such reforms will help China in meeting their rural reform and development goals by 2020, the government said in the policy document that is typically the first one to be released every year. China relies heavily on soybean imports for meeting 90% of its domestic consumption.
The statement also mentioned a plan to boost domestic soybean production. A plan such as this gains importance as the world’s second-largest economy is embroiled in a trade war with the US pertaining to soybean imports. However, further details are keenly awaited by market participants on this plan.
The government also aims to boost production of rapeseed in the Yangtze River Basin.
Shares of Chinese livestock companies, along with pig and poultry breeders, cheered the document and rose on Wednesday.
The document vows to tackle smuggling of agricultural products and outlines a plan to accelerate development of a new farm subsidy policy system.
Among other measures are monitoring and control of African swine flu outbreaks in the country which has been affecting rampant since August last year.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau)