1st LD-Writethru: China Focus: Chinese leaders meet to map out agricultural reform

Chinese leaders convened a central rural work conference on Monday to review the country's rural and agricultural work in 2016 and map out plans for 2017 and beyond.

The annual meeting is expected to focus on supply-side structural reform, considered a way to boost agricultural modernization and enhance farm produce competitiveness.

After years of bumper harvests, China no longer struggles with food shortages, but structural problems remain: some agricultural products are over-supplied and some still rely heavily on imports, while homegrown produce struggles to compete with foreign rivals.

Soybeans are a case in point.

Imported soybeans are cheaper in China, which has driven imports and hurt the domestic sector. China bought 81.7 billion kilograms of soybeans in international markets last year, accounting for nearly two thirds of total grain imports.

The imbalance has also become noticeable in other products since 2012.

Analysts attributed the problem to lagging technology and low productivity in agriculture.

To address the issue, policymakers proposed a structural overhaul in the sector at the same meeting a year ago, and initial progress has been made.

China has increased the cultivation area of soybeans by more than 9 million mu (600,000 hectares) nationwide, mainly in the country's northeast, while cutting cultivation of corn, a major high-yield crop plagued by piling inventory.

The government has also promoted water conservation techniques, reduced the use of fertilizers, piloted the recycling of farm waste, and encouraged crop rotation.

Partly due to structural adjustment, China's grain output dropped slightly this year, ending a 12-year rising streak. The yield stood at about 616 million tonnes, down by about 5.2 million tonnes or 0.8 percent compared with a year ago.

Authorities have decided to continue the reform efforts in 2017.

Supply-side structural reform in agriculture will be pushed forward, with focus on green and high-quality products, said a statement issued Friday after the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference.

Efforts will be made on standardizing production, quality and safety supervision of agricultural products as well as improving rural environment.

Analysts also expect reforms in farm produce pricing mechanism and rural property rights, and efforts in fostering new-type of entities in agricultural production and services, in a bid to improve agricultural efficiency and competitiveness. Endi