China Government Website – Ministry of Agriculture Promotes Initiative to Replace Chemical Fertilizers with Organic Fertilizers in Fruit, Vegetable, and Tea Production

On June 14, the Ministry of Agriculture convened a promotion and implementation meeting in Yichang, Hubei, to advance the nationwide initiative to replace chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers in fruit, vegetable, and tea production. The ministry mandated that by 2020, fertilizer use in key fruit, vegetable, and tea-producing regions across the country be reduced by more than 20%, while in core production areas and at bases for well-known brands, fertilizer application be cut by over 50%.

Over the past decade, the costs of China’s major agricultural products, including grain, have risen by more than 10% annually, with excessive fertilizer use being a key driver of rising production costs for fruits, vegetables, and tea. Estimates indicate that fertilizer accounts for 35% of apple production costs and 40% of citrus production costs, whereas in the United States it is less than 15% and in Canada around 10%. Moreover, the overuse of fertilizers has led to severe soil contamination. Monitoring shows that 40% of China’s arable land has experienced a decline in quality, while the country generates 3 billion tons of livestock and poultry manure each year, with an effective treatment rate of less than 50%. Developing a green‑development mechanism that establishes a circular relationship between crop cultivation and animal husbandry is therefore a crucial direction for this substitution initiative.

According to reports, this year the central government has allocated special funds to prioritize support for 100 counties in implementing alternative practices for fruits, vegetables, and tea, encouraging farmers to adopt organic fertilizers. The agricultural authorities will strengthen policy support by providing subsidies for the use of organic fertilizers, thereby leveraging private capital to participate in these initiatives. Efforts will be accelerated to promote established circular farming–livestock models, such as fruit–biogas–livestock, vegetable–biogas–livestock, and tea–biogas–livestock. Technological innovation will be advanced, with the integrated dissemination of comprehensive, coordinated technical packages covering fertilizer application, pest and disease management, and production operations. At the same time, a review will be conducted of existing technical standards and regulatory frameworks that are incompatible with green agricultural development and the substitution of chemical fertilizers with organic ones, leading to the revision and promulgation of new relevant requirements and policies.

Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Xinrong stated that last year, China’s agricultural fertilizer use recorded near-zero growth for the first time since the reform and opening-up. For fresh agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, and tea, issues like excessive input application and food safety concerns have become particularly prominent, drawing widespread public attention. Launching substitution initiatives in these sectors is an urgent priority for expanding the supply of green, high-quality agricultural products.

WUHAN, June 14 (Xinhua) — By reporter Yuan Zhiguo.