In 2015, China launched the “action plan for zero-growth of agrochemical uses by 2020”, aimed to increase agrochemical utilization efficiency to 40% by 2020. In a MoARA press release on January 19, 2021, the scientific measurement shows that the current efficiency is 40.2% for chemical fertilizers and 40.6% for pesticides used on 3 major food crops including rice, wheat, and maize. The Ministry also summarized the achievements with substantive data, reflecting substantial changes in China’s crop protection and fertilization sectors，as well as disclosed a new goal of increasing the efficiency by another 3 percent by 2025.

Portfolio optimizing- In 2020, 36.6 million hectares of farmland were treated with organic fertilizers, up from 50% in 2015 and over 90% of the pesticides used were high-effect and low-toxic products.

Precision agriculture-60% of the fertilizers used on major food crops were treated with soil testing& formulated fertilization technology. The coverage of mechanized fertilization and water/fertilizer integration reached 46.6 million hectares and 9.3millon hectares respectively. Green pest control technology covered an area of 66.7 million hectares, accounting for 41.5% of the major crops, up from 18.5% in 2015.

Professionalization-China has over 93000 entities engaged in the professional fertilization and pest control business, penetrating 41.9% of the major food market, an 18.5% increase from 2015.

Exemplary activities-MoARA attached great importance to the role model in key regions and crops. Hundreds of counties are designated annually to carry out activities including chemical fertilizer usage reduction/efficiency enhancement, chemical and organic fertilizer substitution, IPM practice and green control.

publicity and education- 3 million growers and professional applicators are trained and 1 million technical manuals, handbooks and pictures are distributed annually.

To increase the utilization efficiency by percent by 2025, the Ministry is to refine the above measures and increase the R&D investment in green agricultural inputs, as well as formulate the quota fertilization and green planting systems.