Premier Li Keqiang sent an instruction to the national conference on spring agricultural production held in Zhengding county, Hebei province, from March 28 to 29.

According to the Premier’s instruction, regions and departments should implement decisions made at the central rural work conference and in the Government Work Report. Efforts should be made to carry out the rural revitalization strategy, prioritize the high-quality development of agriculture and rural areas in an environmentally friendly way, and further promote supply-side structural reform in agriculture.

The Premier also urged efforts to make full preparations for spring plowing, enhance policy support, optimize the agricultural planting structures, and guarantee the supply of agricultural materials while preventing and controlling epidemic diseases of plants and animals.

Integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries should be promoted in rural areas, according to the instruction. Internet Plus, entrepreneurship and innovation should be relied on to transform agricultural production and operation modes.

The overall competitiveness of agriculture needs to be improved to add ways for farmers to increase income, Premier Li noted. Targeted poverty reduction measures should be taken to make new contributions to the modernization of rural areas and agriculture.

Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua attended the conference and delivered a speech.

According to the vice-premier, safeguarding national food safety should be the top priority of the work for agriculture, rural areas and farmers. He also called for efforts to ensure stable food production, optimize food structures, and boost food production capacity to essentially achieve self-sufficiency in grains.