China facilitates agriculture modernization with pilot zones

BEIJING -- By the end of 2014, China had established 4,272 national level demonstration zones over eight stages, edging it closer to its goal of agricultural standardization, said Tian Shihong, head of the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), on Tuesday.

Demonstration zones are large-scale farming areas set up by the SAC as model estates to test agriculture, forestry, husbandry and fishery systems to improve production capacity, according to a document published by the SAC in 2007.

The SAC encouraged local governments, leading agricultural enterprises and farmers to collaborate in the zones.

China's vision for agricultural standardization involves infrastructure construction, products circulation, information feedback, as well as brand and talent building.

"Agricultural standardization is an important step in the modernization of the sector," said Tian.

Notably, the seventh stage cultivated 478 household agricultural brands, resulting in the soaring output of the zones by 81.82 percent while farmers' income per capita increased 67.05 percent, according to Tian Shihong.

China vowed to speed up agricultural modernization in 2015 through reform measures and innovation, according to the 2015 "No. 1 Central Document", an annual policy document drawn up by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the central government, which this year was released on Feb 1.

This is the 12th consecutive year that the document has focused on agriculture and rural issues.

As the economy shifts from high-speed to medium-to-high-speed growth, the consolidation of agriculture as the foundation of the economy and farmers' incomes have become more pressing.