China issues plan for digital agricultural, rural development

BEIJING - China on Monday unveiled a plan to push forward the digitalization of its agricultural development and rural governance, amid the country's solid steps toward rural vitalization.

The 2019-2025 development plan was jointly released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission.

By 2025, significant progress will be made in digital agricultural and rural development, offering strong support for the digital rural development strategy, said the plan.

Digital technology will see faster integration with systems involving agricultural industry, production and operation, with the proportion of agricultural digital economy greatly increased, according to the plan.

By 2025, the agricultural digital economy should account for 15 percent of China's agriculture value-added, with internet access expected to cover 70 percent of rural areas, noted the plan.

The plan requires efforts to strengthen research on blockchain standardization in the agricultural sector and promote the innovative application of blockchain technology in agricultural resources monitoring, quality and safety traceability, rural financial insurance and transparent supply chain.

Research will also be carried out on 5G technology application in the agricultural sector, amid efforts to establish and improve the intelligent agricultural technology system led by 5G, the plan said.