China Agri-food News Digest May 2019 (Total No 77) Contents Policies .................................................................................................................. 1 China announces guidelines to promote integrated urban-rural development ....................... 1 China plans to boost rural development via digital technologies .......................................... 1 China unveils plan to strengthen food safety ......................................................................... 1 China's food security can be ensured ..................................................................................... 1 Ecological civilization: Live green, live better ...................................................................... 2 Bio energy should be central to Chinese development .......................................................... 2 China’s population to peak in 2023, five years earlier than official estimates ...................... 2 Science, Technology and Environment ............................................................. 2 UK keen to partner with China on green development .......................................................... 2 Chinese researchers make headway in developing African swine fever vaccine .................. 3 China strengthens measures to defend biodiversity ............................................................... 3 Gene editing reassuring for safety of crops ........................................................................... 3 Chinese experience inspires world's greening efforts ............................................................ 3 China starts first round of intensified anti-pollution checks .................................................. 4 Beijing sees improved air, water quality ................................................................................ 4 China's water quality improvements 'imbalanced' in first quarter ......................................... 4 China's coastal sea level rises faster than world average ....................................................... 4 Int'l project aims to reduce use of harmful pesticides in China ............................................. 5 Fall Armyworm damaging Chinese crops ............................................................................. 5 China to step up efforts to control crop-eating pests ............................................................. 5 China launches campaign to train scientifically-literate farmers ........................................... 5 Zhejiang eyes harmless treatment of rural waste by 2020 ..................................................... 6 Trade and Business ............................................................................................. 6 China allocates funds to improve supply chain of agricultural products ............................... 6 Online sales of China's agricultural products rise rapidly in 2018 ........................................ 6 Chinese consumption of healthier snack foods helping expand walnut production .............. 6 Chinese online consumption of domestic brand products quickens in 2018 ......................... 7 China's pork consumption falls as African swine fever spreads ............................................ 7 Domestic infant formula makes gains in China ..................................................................... 7 China expects its 2019/20 soybean output to hit highest in 14 years .................................... 7 China's vegetable, fruit prices to fall on increasing supplies ................................................. 8 Outbreak of African Swine Fever in China...................................................... 8 African swine fever case confirmed in Hong Kong's slaughterhouse ................................... 8 China’s swine fever problem is a national crisis, agriculture group says .............................. 8 Swine fever reshaping pig farming ........................................................................................ 9 African swine fever outbreaks in May 2019 .......................................................................... 9 African swine fever restrictions lifted in May 2019 .............................................................. 9 Policies China announces guidelines to promote integrated urban-rural development [Xinhua, 06-05-2019] The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, or China's Cabinet, on 6 May announced guidelines on the promotion of integrated urban-rural development. China has made great headway in advancing urbanization and balancing development between rural and urban areas since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. However, barriers hindering integrated urban-rural development still exist. The guidelines are aimed at eradicating such barriers to promote rural revitalization and speeding up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. Click here for details China plans to boost rural development via digital technologies [GOV.CN, 17-05-2019] China plans to promote the applications of digital technologies in rural areas to boost local development. As a step towards rural modernization and transformation, digital rural development plays a crucial role in rural revitalization and building a digital China, according to the guideline jointly issued by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council. The country has vowed to achieve initial development of building digital villages by 2020, with 4G internet accessible to more than 98 percent of the administrative villages and the digital economy growing rapidly in rural regions, the guideline said. Click here for details China unveils plan to strengthen food safety [Xinhua, 20-05-2019] China has unveiled a guideline to enhance the country's food safety with a phased plan to build a modern governance mechanism in the field. More than 97 percent of the country's major produce should pass quality and food safety test by 2020, while over 98 percent of food should pass spot checks, according to the guideline released by central authorities. By 2035, China should have a world-leading set of food safety standards, marked drop in illegal practices driven by profit-seeking, and globally advanced risk control capabilities. Click here for details China's food security can be ensured [Xinhua, 13-05-2019] China can achieve the bottom line requirement of "basic self- sufficiency of cereal grains and absolute food security," said a senior agricultural expert. Food supply can ensure the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by 2020 and the basic realization of socialist modernization by 2035 in China, said Mei Xurong, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. According to the "China Agricultural Sector Development Report 2019", the agriculture-food system contributes to about 23.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 36.07 percent of employment in China. Click here for details 1 Ecological civilization: Live green, live better [China Daily, 05-05-2019] "Live Green, Live Better," became the overarching theme of Beijing's Horticultural Exhibition. Ecological civilization is China's massive policy-driven shift toward green energy. The founding document for this policy, Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization (Ecological Civilization), was adopted April 25, 2015. Under the new policy of Ecological Civilization, the trajectory of growth will shift away from polluting industries with a new framework of growth based on renewable and efficient energy systems, water recycling conservation systems, and smart urban planning. Click here for details Bio energy should be central to Chinese development [China daily, 10-05-2019] A national forum on technology innovation and communication for biological natural gas was held May 9-10 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. The forum was held to promote the development of biological natural gas in China. By the end of 2018, China's capacity for biomass power generation reached 17.81 million kilowatts, and the production capacity for biological natural gas stood at about 57.6 million cubic meters. Click here for details China’s population to peak in 2023, five years earlier than official estimates [SCMP, 02-05-2019] China’s population will peak in 2023, five years earlier than official forecasts, according to a new report. China abandoned the one-child policy in 2015 to allow couples to have two children. But the birth rate last year fell to its lowest since 1961, indicating that most, if not all, of those parents who wished to have a second child already had done so, the study found. The report said a major driver in the falling birth rate was the decline in the number of women of child-bearing age, with the population of those women – aged between 15 and 49 – expected to decrease by 56 million between 2018 and 2033. Click here for details Science, Technology and Environment UK keen to partner with China on green development [Xinhua, 05-05-2019] Britain's participation in the International Horticultural Exhibition in Beijing will help strengthen Britain-China partnership on green development and contribute more to achieving a greener future in the world, said a senior British official. Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary of Britain's Department for International Trade, told Xinhua in an interview