China uses 6% of the world's water resources, 9% of the world’s farmland and 30% of the world’s chemical fertilizers to produce 26% of the agricultural products in the world. China’s annual irrigation water consumption is 360 billion tons per year but there is still an input gap of 30 billion tons. The agricultural output per water consumption was only 1 kg per ton, half the efficiency that the US and Israel achieved. Despite China leading the world in agrochemical use, with an annual chemical fertilizer consumption of 54 million tons, the average utilization efficiency is merely 30%, about 20 percent lower than in developed countries. The "high consumption but low efficiency" pattern in agricultural production has brought about a huge waste of resources and increased levels of environmental pollution, not to mention the fact that it has become one of the greatest bottlenecks constraining agricultural development. In the "National Strategic Plan for Agricultural Revitalization through Quality Enhancement (2018-2022)”, China planned to improve its fertilizer utilization efficiency to 41% by 2022, which us expected to have encouraging effects on certain agricultural inputs such as water-soluble fertilizers (WSF). Imperative Fertilization and Irrigation Integration The water-saving irrigation strategy was first put forward in 2004 and has been repeatedly emphasized by the “N01 Central Document” for 12 consecutive years. In 2011, China’s NATESC (National Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center) identified fertilization and irrigation integration as the number one agricultural practice to be deployed nationwide. In 2015, MoA (now known as the MoARA) issued its ambitious “Action Plan for the Zero-growth of Chemical Fertilizer Uses by 2020” which means 5.33 million hectares of the farmland will be treated with an integration of fertilization and irrigation systems and the

Early this year, MUJI announced a worldwide recall of its bottled water products after detecting excessive bromate contaminant, a disinfection by-product (DBP) generated during ozone disinfection. Although the products mentioned in the recall notice have never entered Chinese mainland, the news was quickly spread on social media Weibo and aroused much widespread concern over drinking water safety, whose market penetration of water purifier/disinfector is only about 20% and household water purifier market will keep a growth of over 10% until 2022. This article explains how the drinking water disinfectants and DBPs are regulated in China and the latest regulatory developments in drinking water quality standard, the GB 5749, which is closely related to the premarket approval of drinking water-related products. Health Supervision of Drinking Water Related Products The drinking water regulatory system stems from the “Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Disease” and the “Administrative Measures for the Sanitation Supervision on Domestic Drinking Water”. The production and marketing of drinking-water treatment/disinfection/delivery devices, chemical agents and protection materials should obtain the hygienic approval from health administrative departments at national or provincial level. Drinking-water-related products can be classified into existing products and new products by the “Criteria for determining water-related products using new material, new technology and new substances”, which specified the names and use scopes of 90 existing substances and treatment technologies and water-related products using these substances and technologies are approved by provincial departments. In some provinces, the review on homemade material and tubes is further delegated to city department. Table 1-Existing Substances and Processing Technologies Used in Drinking Water Related Products Type

On 4 Apr 2019, China MoARA released the Announcement 156 to designate 24 labs for pesticide registration experimentation.  

The removal of export taxes on chemical fertilizers, the enactment of the “Soil Pollution and Control Law”, and series of new/revised fertilizer standards are bringing far-reaching effects on Chinese fertilizer market, which is invariably moving towards rationalization, high-efficient, specialization and greenization. This article offers an overall conclusion on the likeliest regulatory and market outcomes in 2019, as well as an in-depth analysis of the new tendencies. Liberalization on secondary/micronutrients claim The labeling and marking of all commercial fertilizers should conform to the national standard, “GB 18382-2001 Fertilizer Marking: Presentation and Declaration”. The mandatory standard was promulgated by AQSIQ (now known as SMAR) as early as 2001 when China has not yet developed intact and unified testing methods for secondary/micronutrients. Expedient measures were adopted to protect growers from being misled: Compound or complex fertilizers containing secondary/micronutrients are generally prohibited from claiming on their medium/micronutrient content; Secondary nutrient fertilizers should mark the name and content of each secondary nutrient as well as the total secondary nutrient. If a secondary/micronutrient in a secondary nutrient fertilizer is below 2%/0.02%, the fertilizer shall not be marked with the secondary/micronutrient; Along with the scientific development and the market penetration of secondary/micronutrient fertilizers, both the growers and fertilizer producers have realized the importance of secondary/micronutrient in agricultural production. In late 2017, MIIT and 12 other ministries drafted an amendment to GB 18382, which has been submitted for final approval. The amendment removed the restriction on secondary/micronutrient claims. Considering the time required for a compulsory standard nationwide, the revised standard is very likely to be promulgated this year. Biostimulant is r

On 25 Mar 2019, China MoARA issued the Announcement 148 to ban all agricultural uses of Fipronil insecticides. The injunction aims at fulfilling the requirements contained in the “Food Safety Law”, “Regulation on the Administration of Pesticides” and the “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants”.

On 8 Mar 2019, China MoARA released the results of supervision and spot check on pesticides during FY2018 and the total qualification rate was 93.2%. 370 pesticides were determined to be counterfeit pesticides that added with unregistered active ingredients/ absence of nominal active ingredients. Only 54.4% of the biopesticides were found to be eligible as most of them were added with Chlorantraniliprole, Pyraclostrobin, Tolfenpyrad and other chemical ingredients.

On 6 Mar 2019, China MoARA released the Announcement 143 to designate 18 labs for pesticide registration experimentation. China implemented new pesticide regulations since 2017 and the Ministry has re-designated 2 batches of labs approved for pesticide registration. Up to now, a total of 54 labs have been approved to generate data supporting pesticide registration.

On 21 Feb 2019, China MoARA released the “Crop Production Work Focus for 2019”. The main grain product capacity would be stable in 2019. Furthermore, the ministry schedules the legislative process on agricultural input and crop protection regulations and the new developing of fertilizer regulation was officially planned.

On 25 Feb 2019, China MoARA released 3 draft lists to support the registration of minor crop use pesticides and will solicit opinion until 3 Mar 2019.

On 11 Feb 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MoARA), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Ministry of Commerce (MoFCOM), the State Administration of Market Regulation and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration (NFSRA) jointly issued the “National Strategic Plan for Agricultural Revitalization through Quality Enhancement (2018-2022)”, which was compiled under the National Strategic Plan for Rural Development (2018-2022), aimed at boosting the agricultural efficiency and competitiveness and transforming China from an advanced agricultural country. The document acknowledged the recent achievements in agricultural development, but China's agriculture needs to embrace the crucial opportunities of rural development and consumption upgrading. Series of quantitative goals to be achieved by 2022, including quality of agricultural products, industrial structure, output efficiency, quality of farmers and international competitive strength. 4 developmental directions were pointed out and 7 massive agricultural projects will be implemented.