According to a draft outline of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), the country aims to raise its annual grain production to 1.45 trillion jin (about 725 million tonnes) by 2030. This target addresses increasingly frequent extreme weather events and growing global uncertainties to safeguard food security. China's total grain output in 2025 reached 1.43 trillion jin.
China is raising its grain output target and adopting more systematic measures to safeguard food security amid increasingly frequent extreme weather events and growing global uncertainties. The draft outline calls for protecting farmland, the foundation of food security, through strict management of cultivated land offsetting, advancing high-quality development of high-standard farmland, and strengthening black soil protection. China has maintained the 'red line' of 1.8 billion mu (around 120 million hectares) of arable land and has developed 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland to date.
Han Fengxiang, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairperson of a farmers' cooperative in northeast China's Jilin Province, said farmland protection aims to ensure high-quality grain growth. Both the draft outline and China's 'No. 1 central document' for 2026 stress that technology remains central to stabilizing and increasing grain output. Advanced technology and equipment shall be strengthened to support agriculture, while expanding the use of drones and robotics to integrate artificial intelligence with farming, boosting efficiency.
Huang Sanwen, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, noted that in 2025, the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress exceeded 64%. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that in 2025, the number of agricultural drones in use topped 300,000 units, with their annual operation area surpassing 460 million mu.
Hu Xiangdong from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said agricultural technology has shifted from fragmented application to a systematic approach, combining high-quality land, superior seeds, advanced machinery, and effective methods to enhance efficiency. The draft outline also stresses strengthening disaster prevention and mitigation systems as extreme weather rises. Mechanisms to safeguard grain farmers' incomes shall be improved through coordinated policies on prices, subsidies, and insurance. Hu Peisong, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director general of the China National Rice Research Institute, emphasized that despite repeated bumper harvests, feeding a population of more than 1.4 billion remains China's top priority. As living standards improve, rising consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy has increased feed grain demand, keeping supply and demand in tight balance. Recent extreme weather and a complex international situation have heightened production uncertainties, so the focus on food security must remain tight, and it is better to produce and store more than less.