From new breeding techniques to harnessing the power of drones, China is upgrading its agriculture sector
Scientific and technological advances have contributed to a 64 per cent increase in China’s agricultural output, according to a report from China Daily.
In a recent news conference, Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Zhang Xingwang said the country’s modernisation efforts have accelerated a shift from traditional, labour-intensive growing to high-tech practices utilising automation, biotechnology and data analytics.
The development of high-standard farmland equipped with modern irrigation and drainage systems had increased yields and Zhang said China supported the establishment and upgrading of 5.06mn hectares of high-standard farmland in 2025. Significant progress has also been made in the seed industry.
“In particular, the market share of domestically developed vegetable seeds has risen rapidly in recent years, including for varieties such as broccoli, in which China previously lagged in terms of yield capacity,” Zhang said.
Mechanisation rates continued to climb in 2025, with the comprehensive mechanisation rate for crop cultivation, planting and harvesting reaching 76.7 per cent according to the Agriculture and Rural Affairs ministry.
“The lack of suitable machinery or poor machine performance in hilly and mountainous areas has been effectively addressed,” said Zhou Yunlong, head of the ministry’s department of science, technology and education.
He noted that the research in agricultural robots is also accelerating, and China now has more than 300,000 agricultural drones in operation. The drones have been used for tasks such as pesticide spraying to crop monitoring and cover more than 30.7mn hectares of farmland annually.
