Since 2015, Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has initiated the zero-growth program on the use of fertilizer and pesticide. After five years of implementation, up until the end of 2020, China's objective of reduction of use of fertilizer and pesticide has been achieved as expected, with the use of fertilizer and pesticide being brought down remarkably while the utilization rate of fertilizer and pesticide has increased significantly.
In 2020, the fertilizer utilization rate in rice, wheat and corn in China reaches 40.2%, which is 5% higher than that in 2015; and the pesticide utilization rate reaches 40.6%, which is 4% higher than that in 2015.
In 2020, the application area of organic fertilizers exceeds 550 million Mu (36.6 million hectares), which is roughly 50% more than that in 2015; and the use of high-efficient and low-risk pesticides exceeds 90%. In 2020, the green prevention and control application area is nearly 1 billion Mu (66 million hectares); the green prevention and control application coverage of major crops for disease and pest control accounts for 41.5%, which is 18.5% up than that in 2015.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will still strengthen implementation of necessary measures to increase the utilization rate of fertilizer and pesticide by another 3% by 2025, so as to promote the agricultural production toward full green development.