China's agriculture, rural economy maintain stable growth in first half of 2025: official

China's agriculture and rural economy maintained stable growth in the first half of 2025, with a bumper harvest of summer grain, the steady income increase for farmers, and a stable situation in rural areas, Maierdan Mugaiti, vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said at a press briefing on Thursday.

"We have overcome severe drought in some area and achieved a bumper harvest of the summer grain production, laying a solid foundation for the stable grain output for the year. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the country's summer grain output reached 149.74 billion kilograms, the second-highest yield in history, just behind last year's record. The harvest of the early-season rice is about 60 percent complete, and a good harvest is in sight. The planting acreage of autumn grain is expected to increase slightly, with healthy crop conditions reported. Summer oilseed crops have seen increases in acreage, yield, and total output," said Mugaiti.

The official also said that the supply of fruits and vegetables remained sufficient and diverse in the first half of the year, ensuring stable prices.

The income of rural residents continued to rise, said the official.

"In the first half of this year, the per capita disposable income for rural residents reached 11,936 yuan (about 1.662 U.S. dollars), up 6.2 percent after adjusting for price factors, outpacing the urban income growth. Fixed-asset investment in the primary industry rose 6.5 percent from the previous year, and rural retail sales climbed 4.9 percent, totaling 3.24 trillion yuan (about 450 billion U.S. dollars)," said Mugaiti.

The achievements in poverty alleviation continued to be consolidated and expanded, with 32.833 million rural laborers from households newly lifted out of poverty employed nationwide by the end of June.

Continued efforts have been made to deepen rural reforms in the first half of this year, with the second round of land contract extensions expanding to seven provinces, the oversight of rural collective assets improved, and the added value of agricultural products processing industry above the designated size increasing by 7.5 percent year on year.

The rural tourism, including local cuisine and scenic spots in the countryside, became a popular vacation choice, and infrastructure and living conditions in rural areas continued to improve, reinforcing China's long-term rural revitalization strategy, according to the official.

China's agriculture, rural economy maintain stable growth in first half of 2025: official

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday presided over a State Council executive meeting which studied further arrangements on energy conservation and carbon reduction, and heard a report on a special campaign on business-related administrative law enforcement.

The meeting also reviewed and approved a draft regulation on administrative law enforcement oversight, discussed a draft law on firefighters, and arranged work for a crackdown on tobacco-related illegal activities.

The meeting emphasized the need to ensure higher-standard and better-quality work in the fields of energy conservation and carbon reduction -- work which must be advanced with greater overall planning efforts and in light of local conditions.

To that end, the meeting called for efforts to maximize the impact of policies, continuously improve market mechanisms, and accelerate the transition to green production and green lifestyles.

A special campaign on regulating business-related administrative law enforcement this year has achieved positive results, the meeting noted, underlining further efforts to enhance the standardization of administrative law enforcement.

By drafting and implementing the regulation on administrative law enforcement oversight, the boundaries and responsibilities of law enforcement authorities will be clarified further, and administrative power will be upheld consistently within a legal framework, it said.

It discussed and approved in principle a draft law on firefighters, which will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

It is imperative that the institutional arrangements for the country's firefighting force are improved, making it more standardized and professional, the meeting said, stressing the need to consolidate fire safety management, and to resolutely prevent and curb serious or major fire accidents.

Work will also be done to crack down strictly on tobacco-related illegal activities, strengthen supervision and law enforcement across all links, and improve the tobacco market environment, according to the meeting.

Chinese premier chairs meeting on carbon reduction, administrative law enforcement