Food security to feature prominently at meetings

Li Lei In September, I was given a tour of the China Agricultural University campus in Beijing shortly after the success of a three-year trial in which homegrown genetically modified corn and soybean crops were planted. "The socialist modernization won't be complete without agricultural and rural modernization," President Xi Jinping told the annual rural work conference in 2022. At the latest central rural work conference in December, the "dual drivers of technology and reform "were listed as a crucial avenue in building a strong agriculture. The No 1 Central Document, an important annual policy statement released last month, reiterated the strategy as China works to promote self-reliance in high-level science and technology, foster new growth drivers and develop "new productive forces" — an emerging catchphrase in policymaking — that can drive strategic emerging industries. State Council Information Office data showed that from 2020 to 2022, about one in every 10 suggestions made by legislators and political advisers at each year's two sessions — the annual gatherings of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the top political advisory body — were forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.