China has always regarded food security as a top priority for state governance and national stability. China abides by the principle of basic self-sufficiency based on domestic grain production and has established a national strategy for food security featuring self-sufficiency based on domestic grain production, guaranteed food production capacity, moderate imports, and technological support. China now has enough food to feed its nearly 1.4 billion population and has made outstanding contributions to world food security. 

China upholds people-centered development and aims to meet the people's desire for a happy life. To pursue prosperity for all, China has given priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas and implemented poverty alleviation and rural vitalization programs. China holds high sustainable agricultural development, champions a new concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development and promotes the transformation and upgrading of agrifood systems to build healthier, more equitable and more sustainable food systems. 

China firmly upholds and practices multilateralism and has been a proactive participant in world food security governance and international agricultural exchanges and cooperation. China is an active supporter of the role played by the United Nations (UN) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other international organizations. As the global climate change intensifies and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, the world is facing profound changes unseen in a century. China maintains that all parties should give priority to development, reduce restrictions on science and technology and trade, follow the principle of openness, inclusiveness, equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, and act in greater solidarity and cooperation for common development. Greater support should be provided for developing countries and vulnerable groups in the form of funds and technologies to raise their capacity for food security. Countries should work jointly to maintain global food security. 

As the world's largest developing country, and a major country that shoulders its responsibilities, China is willing to work with the international community to generate positive outcomes from the Summit, make unremitting efforts to safeguard world food security and make renewed contributions to building a community of shared future for mankind. 

First, secure food supply. 

Freedom from hunger is the most basic human right, and food security is an important guarantee for a country's socioeconomic development and an important prerequisite for national independence and world peace. The key to food security is the access to sufficient, affordable and nutritious food. 

China puts developing food production top on its agenda of modern agriculture and attaches great importance to the development of food production capacity. China implements a strategy of sustainable farmland use and innovative application of agricultural technology, and protects the quantity, quality and ecology of farmland. China invests heavily to establish and improve the agricultural support and protection policy systems and stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for food production. By developing farmland water conservancy facilities and high-standard farmland, China has enhanced its resilience to natural disasters, pests and diseases and improved comprehensive food production capacity. In 2020, China's total grain output approached 670 million tons and the average yield per hectare reached 5730 kg, 1.1 times and 1.3 times higher than those in 1978. The per capita grain availability reached 474 kg, 48.7% more than that in 1978, staying above 470 kg for six consecutive years. China encourages appropriate use of forest land resources and has developed more than 4 million hectares of production bases for ligneous grain and oil, dried and fresh fruits and other forest products by returning farmland for forests. China has fostered under-forest economy (agroforestry) to enhance grain production capacity, enrich grain varieties and meet people’s upgraded grain consumption demand.  

China attaches great importance to the development of modern grain circulation system. China places equal importance on market-oriented reform and the protection of farmers' interests. Reforms of the grain purchase and storage system and the price formation mechanism advance steadily in compliance with rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Market vitality has been stimulated and supply-demand balance maintained. China is accelerating efforts to shape a modern grain market system that is harmonized, open, competitive and organized. China endeavors to strengthen the construction of grain storage and logistics facilities and improve the efficiency of grain logistics and circulation. China carries forward quality grain programs to develop refined and deep processing and conversion of grains, increase the supply of green, quality and specialty grain and edible oil products and promote high-quality development of the grain sector. 

China stands ready to work with all parties to maintain the stability and security of international food supply and take practical actions to help underdeveloped countries improve their food security capabilities. China calls upon all countries to build capacity of grain production along the whole industrial chain, involving increasing investment, developing infrastructure, enhancing resilience to climate change and natural disasters, thus raising grain output and self-sufficiency. Countries should also deepen cooperation in grain production and sales, promote orderly grain circulation in the international markets and maintain overall market stability. On the premise of respecting the sovereignty of developing countries, developed countries should reduce trade barriers and technical restrictions and increase assistance in the form of capital, technology, market and capacity building, so as to steadily raise the level of global food supply and distribution. 

Second, fully advance rural vitalization. 

The issue of food is in the final analysis the issue of development. Most of the world’s hungry people live in rural areas of underdeveloped countries and regions. China values development for all, identifies poverty alleviation and development as priorities in work related to agriculture and rural areas and important principles for food systems development. 

China attaches great importance to food security for the poor. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has established the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation and eradication, implemented programs of poverty alleviation through industrial development, employment, relocation, education, health care and social security to strengthen people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security. Thanks to unremitting efforts, by the end of 2020, China has completed the goal and task of poverty eradication in the new era on schedule. By the current standard, 98.99 million rural poor people are out of poverty, 128,000 villages graduated from poverty. Absolute poverty was eliminated for the first time in the thousands of years history of the Chinese nation. China was ten years ahead of the schedule to achieve the poverty reduction goal of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, making great contributions to global poverty reduction and development of the humanity. China is now on a new journey of agriculture development and will consolidate outcomes of poverty eradication and promote effective connection between poverty eradication and rural vitalization. 

China gives priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas and vigorously implements the Rural Vitalization Strategy. China promotes rural vitalization through industrial development by developing new business formats such as specialty agriculture, modern agro-processing, rural tourism, Internet + according to local contexts. This helps not only grow rural businesses, but also increase farmers' employment and income. In 2020, the per capita disposal income of China’s rural residents was 17,131 yuan, up by 50% over 2015. China promotes rural vitalization through integrated urban and rural development. Efforts are made to smooth free flow and equal exchange of factors of production between urban and rural areas, optimize resource allocation and improve the competitiveness of agriculture. China supports the development of smallholders by building effective connection between smallholders and modern agriculture. China encourages the development of specialized and market-oriented service providers to better organize smallholders and improve their resilience to risks. 

China calls on all parties to put development first and elevate poverty reduction higher on the agenda. We should increase resource input, bring into play the synergy between poverty reduction and development, and eliminate all forms of poverty and hunger. China is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with all parties, share China’s concepts, experience and knowledge of agricultural development and poverty alleviation, and contribute its own part to global poverty reduction and development. 

Third, promote green and sustainable development of agriculture. 

Sustainable food systems could not only help eliminate hunger and malnutrition, but also contribute to achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has been an ancient notion in China to conform to the course of nature and pursue harmony between man and nature. Harmony between man and nature is a time-honored wisdom in China. 

China unswervingly follows the path to sustainable development, believes that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and never seeks development at the expense of future generations. China practices green development and has formulated and implemented the National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan (2015-2030), launched initiatives to reduce the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for efficiency gains, and actively extended efficient agricultural technologies that save water, fertilizers or pesticides. These efforts have helped reduce agricultural non-point source pollution and improve agricultural resource use efficiency. China has established a policy support system positive to nature and shaped a pattern of agricultural development that fits the carrying capacity of resources and environment and accommodates production, living and ecology. China saw negative growth of pesticide consumption in 2015 and zero growth of chemical fertilizer consumption in 2017. By 2020, the consumption of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has dropped significantly, and the application efficiency has greatly improved. 

China highly values agricultural ecological protection and implements sustainable development strategy, featuring overall protection, systematic restoration and comprehensive management. China promotes the protection and restoration of agricultural ecological resources, upholds the concept of harmony between man and nature and a community shared between man and nature, and manages landscapes (mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grassland and deserts) in a systematic manner. China has launched a range of major programs and subsidy policies, such as soil and water conservation, returning farmland for forests and grassland, returning grazing land for grassland, preventing and controlling desertification, controlling rocky desertification, and subsidizing and rewarding grassland ecological protection, and has actively carried out afforestation. From 1999 to 2019, China earmarked a total of 517.4 billion yuan from its central budget to return 515 million mu of farmland for forests and grassland. The greening efforts contributed to more than 4% of the net increase of green areas in the world during the same period. China values the conservation of aquatic living resources and has introduced fishing ban to key river basins. China will introduce a ten-year fishing ban to the Yangtze River from 2021 to promote the sustainable development of fishery resources. 

China looks forward to strengthening cooperation with other countries in the sustainable use of resources, jointly addressing the challenges of climate change, and promoting sustainable development of global food systems while ensuring food for all. 

Fourth, prioritize food quality and safety. 

Food quality and safety is highly relevant to people's health and safety. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 600 million people suffer from foodborne diseases every year, of which about 420,000 people die. 

The Chinese government attaches great importance to food quality and safety and has elevated the issue as a national strategy. China adopts the most rigorous standards, strictest supervision, severest punishment and most serious accountability to guarantee food safety on the tip of tongue. China puts equal emphasis on production and supervision to guarantee food quality and safety. China takes measures in the continuum from places of production to sales and from farm to fork, including regulating the use of inputs during production, improving produce certification systems and establishing traceability systems for quality and safety. Thanks to these efforts, food quality and safety has been significantly improved. China is willing to strengthen international cooperation with all parties in the field of food safety, actively participate in the formulation of international standards related to food safety, strengthen full-chain supervision of agricultural products especially food quality and safety, and strengthen the monitoring, prevention and control of transboundary animal and plant diseases, so as to reduce foodborne diseases and contribute to healthy diets. 

Fifth, better nutrition. 

China attaches importance to the sustainable development of food and nutrition. By implementing the China Food and Nutrition Development Outline (2014-2020), the Outline of Healthy China 2030 Plan and the National Nutrition Plan (2017-2030), China advocates the food industrial development mode featuring nutrition-sensitive consumption and consumption-guided production as well as the concept of healthy diet and moderate physical exercises, to move the development of food industry and residents' nutrition and health to a new high. The health and nutrition of Chinese residents has been significantly improved, with sufficient intakes of the three major nutrients (proteins, fat and carbohydrates). The proportion of carbohydrate intake has fallen, and those of fat and quality protein intake have risen. The incidence of micronutrient deficiency and anemia has dropped markedly. 

When formulating, implementing and assessing food and nutrition policies, programs and projects, China fully considers practical challenges such as food supply, dietary structure and nutritional needs, pays attention to special groups such as children and adolescents, pregnant women and the elderly, and promotes the development of nutrition-sensitive food industry and the shaping of health-oriented food consumption patterns. 

Guided by health and nutrition, China looks forward to pragmatic cooperation with other countries in the transformation and development of the food industry, formulation of food standards, promotion of dietary nutrition, improvement of nutrition for special groups, and reduction of the incidence of nutrition-related chronic diseases, so as to jointly promote high-quality development of food and nutrition. 

Sixth, reduce food loss and waste. 

Food loss and waste has become a major obstacle to global hunger eradication and the realization of the UN SDGs. 

Diligence and economy are traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. China attaches great importance to reducing food loss and waste, advocates diligence and economy, promotes lost and waste reduction along the whole chain of food production, storage, transportation, processing and consumption. In terms of food loss reduction, China promotes the revamping of agrifood machinery and storage facilities, implements the Food Security Program and Post-harvest Service Program, disseminates concepts and technologies of moderate processing, promotes appropriate and comprehensive utilization of grain and oil resources, and accelerates the development of standard systems of food loss reduction along the whole chain. In terms of opposing waste, China takes the annual World Food Day, National Food Security Week, Food Science and Technology Week and Food Quality and Safety Day as opportunities to raise awareness on food saving. China has established Food Security Education Bases to expand the coverage of publicity on loving and saving food through multiple ways. In 2013, China launched the Clean Plate Campaign to advocate economy and oppose waste across the country. In 2021, China adopted and implemented the Anti-Food Waste Law to regulate behaviors of catering businesses and consumers in the form of law. 

China is ready to work with all parties to strengthen cooperative research on food loss reduction, share practical experience of food loss reduction, improve the use efficiency of food resources, and explore strategies of food loss reduction that respect different contexts. China further calls upon developed countries and the international community to actively support post-harvest loss reduction in developing countries and tailor measures to the causes of food loss and waste. 

Seventh, science and technology innovations drive food systems transformation. 

Science and technology are driving forces for the transformation and upgrading of food systems, the fundamental solution to agricultural modernization, and important support to sustainable food supply. Science and technology are decisive to the speed and quality of agricultural development. Science and technology are important to promote the adjustment of agricultural industrial structure, reduce food loss and waste, and improve the technological level of the industry. 

China adheres to the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Nation by Relying on Science and Technology, values agricultural scientific and technological innovation and sustainable mode of intensive development, fully mobilizes market forces, and promotes collaborative innovation among scientific research institutions, universities, enterprises and farmers. China improves agricultural quality and efficiency by relying on scientific and technological innovations and follows a road of agricultural modernization featuring efficient production, safe products, resource conservation and environment friendliness. 

China is willing to deepen international agrifood scientific and technological cooperation in an open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and win-win manner, promote pragmatic cooperation in digital agriculture, green agriculture, smart food, green grain storage, agricultural machinery and equipment, molecular breeding and quality and safety, consolidate competitive resources of all parties on the basis of mutual trust, make full use of bilateral and multilateral agriculture and food security cooperation mechanisms, deepen South-South and Triangular Cooperation, strengthen North-South Dialogue, pursue innovative formats of experience sharing and talent exchange and cooperation, and jointly improve global agricultural science and technology. 

Eighth, promote international development cooperation. 

Solidity and cooperation are the most powerful means for mankind to meet the multiple challenges of food security, climate change and biodiversity. The only way to world food security is to jointly increase world food supply through open cooperation, trade and investment facilitation and sharing of science and technology, information and knowledge. 

Over the past four decades of reform and opening up, China has embraced the world by opening its market, actively participating in Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, expanding imports of products and services, lowering tariff levels, relaxing control on foreign investment access in the agricultural sector and introducing trade facilitation measures. China is opening its agriculture actively and steadily to the outside world. China has become the world's largest importer of agricultural products and the world's largest buyer of agricultural products such as soybeans, sugar and cotton. China has continuously deepened international agricultural cooperation and has signed more than 120 bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements on food and agriculture with more than 60 countries and international organizations and established agricultural scientific and technological exchanges and economic cooperation with more than 140 countries and regions. 

China has always prioritized development, regarded development as the fundamental and critical solution to all problems, put development high on the agenda of global macro-policy coordination. China has actively participated in global agrifood governance and leveraged international cooperation mechanisms and platforms such as the UN, G20, BRICS and APEC to promote fair and effective governance and build a new type of global agricultural development partnership that is more equitable, more balanced, fairer and leaves no one behind. China upholds justice and pursues shared interests. China promotes South-South Cooperation and contributes to the development of other developing countries. By establishing the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund and the China-International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) South-South and Triangular Cooperation Fund, China helps other developing countries improve their agricultural production capacity. In 2021, China cooperated with the UN to build the Global Humanitarian Response Depot and Hub in Guangzhou to support the World Food Programme (WFP) and others in international humanitarian relief operations and the transshipment of supplies to fight against pandemics. China will unswervingly carry forward opening up, strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other countries, jointly promote trade liberalization and investment facilitation, maintain open and inclusive multilateral trading systems, oppose trade protectionism, reduce trade barriers, and make every effort to safeguard the stability of the global food industrial chain and supply chain. China calls upon the international community to pursue common development and strengthen the pattern of international development cooperation with North-South Cooperation as the main channel and South-South Cooperation as the complement. Developed countries should increase agricultural technology and financial support to developing countries, especially the least developed countries, to help them follow the development path suitable to their national conditions, achieve independent development and improve food security.