Vice-Premier Wang Yang pledged to promote agricultural supply side structural reform during an inspection tour to Heilongjiang province from May 11 to 13.

He urged improving comprehensive agricultural efficiency and competitiveness and speeding up agricultural modernization.

He stressed that in order to promote agriculture restructuring, the government should let the market play a decisive role in pricing and promote agricultural transformation and upgrades.

The vice-premier asked the government to respect the will of farmers and help them sell what they plant.

“We need to increase farmers’ income and encourage them to develop high value-added and high-quality agricultural products,” said the vice-premier.

He also called for the development of the processing and circulation industries and integrated development of the first, secondary and tertiary industries.

The vice-premier called on the government to defend the bottom line of food security, improve the conditions for agricultural production, and help make science and technology better support agricultural development.

He stressed that reasonably reducing corn fields is vital to promoting agricultural structural reform.

He called on local governments to take concrete compensation measures to ensure that the farmers and counties that plant grains will not face any losses.