Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: Adhere to and improve the minimum purchase price policy for grain to guarantee farmers' basic income from growing grain

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on July 22, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a response to Recommendation No. 5111 of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress. Among them, it was mentioned that in recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has strengthened policy support, taken more measures to stabilize food prices, and made every effort to guarantee the income of farmers growing grain. Guide all regions and relevant enterprises to rationally grasp the timing and rhythm of government reserves rotation, strengthen throughput linkages, form joint regulatory and control efforts, and promote the maintenance of food prices at a reasonable level. In 2026, the minimum purchase prices for early indica rice, middle to late indica rice, and japonica rice remained at the level of the previous year, at 1.28 yuan, 1.29 yuan, and 1.31 yuan per catty, respectively, with a limited purchase volume of 50 million tons. The minimum purchase price level for wheat is fixed every two years. In 2026, 1.19 yuan per catty will be maintained, and the total purchase volume will be limited to 37 million tons. In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will work with relevant departments to adhere to and improve the minimum purchase price policy for grain, guarantee farmers' basic income from growing grain, and provide basic support for safeguarding the country's food security.

The original text is as follows:

Response to Recommendation No. 5111 of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress

Representative Xu Dequan:

We have received your suggestions on safeguarding the country's food security. After doing business with the State Food and Reserve Administration, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Water Resources, the General Administration of Financial Supervision, and the National Development and Reform Commission, the responses are as follows:

I. On strengthening the guarantee of basic agricultural conditions

In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has continuously strengthened policy support, increased capital investment, strengthened guidance services, and continued to consolidate the foundation for agricultural development. Continuously improve the level of agricultural mechanization. Promote the acceleration of the development and application of agricultural machinery equipment in hilly mountainous areas, and steadily implement integrated pilot projects such as intelligent agricultural machinery, agricultural robots, and agricultural machinery R&D, manufacturing, promotion and application. The pace of industrial application of advanced agricultural machinery equipment such as the 18kg/s feed rate grain combine harvester and the 10-line high speed rice transplanter has accelerated, and the 20kg/s feed hybrid grain combine harvester has completed prototype trial production. The agricultural machinery purchase and application subsidy policy has been thoroughly implemented, and the scrapping and renewal of old agricultural machinery has been steadily promoted. The comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvesting has reached 76.7%. Coordinate the purchase and storage of food. Give full play to the role of the market mechanism, continuously strengthen the guarantee of factors such as storage capacity, capital, personnel, etc., strengthen the connection between production and marketing and agricultural enterprises, encourage central enterprises and key enterprises to take the lead in market acquisitions, guide diverse players to actively enter the market and acquire, and enhance the vitality of market purchases and sales. Give full play to the guiding role of distribution in production, guide farmers to optimize planting structures through brand building, order planting, etc., and promote excellent variety cultivation and quality improvement.

In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will work with relevant departments to promote high-standard farmland construction with high quality, vigorously promote actions to repair shortcomings in agricultural machinery and equipment, strengthen the construction of a modern agricultural circulation system, and provide basic support to guarantee the effective supply of important agricultural products such as grain.

II. On strengthening agricultural insurance claims support

In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has cooperated with relevant departments to continuously strengthen policy support, continue to promote the expansion, product addition and bid upgrade of agricultural insurance, and steadily improve the quality and efficiency of agricultural insurance services. Expand coverage. At present, agricultural insurance coverage has covered major agricultural products and more than 500 kinds of agricultural products with local advantages and characteristics. The scope of implementation of full cost insurance and planting income insurance policies for the three major grain crops and soybeans has covered the whole country. Complete cost insurance for sugar cane, planting income insurance, and comprehensive natural rubber insurance continue to be implemented, and insurance for agricultural products with local advantages and characteristics is being promoted according to local conditions. In 2025, China's agricultural insurance premium income exceeded 155 billion yuan, and the central government allocated 51.7 billion yuan in agricultural insurance premium subsidies to provide farmers with risk protection of more than 5.2 trillion yuan. Improve system standards. By opening up a green channel and establishing and improving pre-compensation mechanisms, etc., the guarantee function of agricultural insurance to help restore agricultural production and stabilize farmers' expectations is fully exploited. In 2025, China's agricultural insurance paid a total of more than 120 billion yuan in compensation to farmers. The General Administration of Financial Supervision issued the “Administrative Measures on Agricultural Insurance Underwriting Claims”, which sets out clear requirements for underwriting, claims, internal control, etc., guides the China Insurance Industry Association in formulating and issuing regulations on insurance underwriting services for the planting and aquaculture industries, and strengthens the business philosophy of compliance. Together with relevant departments, the “Notice on Promoting Accurate Application and Claims for Agricultural Insurance” was jointly issued to guide efforts such as strengthening accurate insurance application management, improving claim mechanisms and standards, improving the quality and efficiency of claim services, improving the accurate and efficient agricultural insurance service system, and focusing on breaking the pain points and blockages in underwriting claims.

In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will cooperate with relevant departments to continuously promote the collaborative efforts of various agricultural insurance policies, accelerate the improvement of the “insurance, prevention, reduction, rescue and compensation” integrated service system, effectively enhance agricultural disaster prevention, mitigation and comprehensive protection capabilities, and provide more comprehensive, accurate and convenient agricultural risk protection services for the vast majority of farmers and new agricultural operators.

3. On implementing a reward policy for large grain-growing households to increase farmers' enthusiasm to grow food

In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has focused on moderate-scale operation of grain production, continuously increased policy support, and effectively increased the enthusiasm of large-scale operators to grow grain. The central financial administration supports the development of family farms and farmers' cooperatives through various funds, such as guaranteeing grain and oil production and improving the capacity of agricultural operators. In 2025, we will organize and carry out special work for millions of new agricultural operators to take the lead in bringing yield delivery services to farmers to help increase the yield of grain and oil crops on a large scale. Funding will continue to be allocated in 2026 to support large-scale grain and oil grower yield improvement actions, and to reward large-scale grain growers who have applied key technical measures and achieved yield improvement goals. Advanced and applicable technologies, such as large-scale yield increases in grain and oil crops, are used as important elements to support eligible service providers such as farmers' cooperatives, family farms, and agricultural service companies to provide social services to small-scale farmers and other production and management entities. By the end of 2024, there were 1.677 million grain-growing family farms and 546,000 grain-growing cooperatives nationwide. Among them, 248.75 million mu of food crops were planted on household farms across the country, and the average yield per mu reached 468.1 kg.

In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, will continue to carry out special work for new agricultural operators to take the lead in bringing yield delivery services to farmers, increase policy support, and increase the enthusiasm of small-scale farmers, especially large-scale operators, to grow food.

4. On regulating land circulation and promoting large-scale management

In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has continuously strengthened rural land transfer management and services, further promoted the standardized development of rural property rights transfer and trading markets, guided all regions to develop various forms of moderate-scale management according to local conditions, and encouraged farmers to increase their income steadily. Improve the land transfer policy system. The “Administrative Measures on the Transfer of Rural Land Management Rights” were formulated and promulgated, and the “Rural Land Management Rights Rental Contract (Model Text)” and “Rural Land Management Rights Investment Contract (Model Text)” were issued together with relevant departments to further standardize the management of circulation contracts. Launch a pilot project to standardize rural property rights transfer transactions, guide all regions to implement relevant requirements for standardized construction, and improve the rural property rights transfer transaction policy system. By the end of 2024, there were more than 1,500 rural property rights transfer and trading markets with legal personality across the country. Promote moderate-scale operations according to local conditions. Deeply implement actions to upgrade new types of agricultural operators, highlight the development of two types of agricultural operators, farmers' cooperatives and family farms, and cultivate a number of new agricultural operators of moderate scale. Implement organizational forms such as “service entity+new agricultural operator+farmer” and “service entity+rural collective economic organization+farmer”, and develop service models such as single-link and multi-link trusteeship according to local conditions. By the end of 2024, 1,111,000 operating entities across the country had carried out social services, with an annual service area of more than 2.29 billion mu, serving nearly 93 million small-scale farmers.

In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, will continue to improve the policy system, strengthen supervision and management, do a good job of risk prevention, effectively improve the management and service level of contracted land management rights, and develop various forms of moderate-scale operations according to local conditions.

5. On raising the purchase and protection price of food

In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has strengthened policy support, taken more measures to stabilize food prices, and made every effort to guarantee the income of farmers growing grain. Factors such as grain production costs, market supply and demand, domestic and foreign market prices and industrial development are comprehensively considered, and the minimum purchase price level is reasonably determined to stabilize farmers' income expectations from growing grain. Formulate and issue implementation plans for minimum purchase prices for rice and wheat, promptly launch them in eligible regions, and effectively play a supporting role in policy. Guide all regions and relevant enterprises to rationally grasp the timing and rhythm of government reserves rotation, strengthen throughput linkages, form joint regulatory and control efforts, and promote the maintenance of food prices at a reasonable level. In 2026, the minimum purchase prices for early indica rice, middle to late indica rice, and japonica rice remained at the level of the previous year, at 1.28 yuan, 1.29 yuan, and 1.31 yuan per catty, respectively, with a limited purchase volume of 50 million tons. The minimum purchase price level for wheat is fixed every two years. In 2026, 1.19 yuan per catty will be maintained, and the total purchase volume will be limited to 37 million tons.

In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will work with relevant departments to adhere to and improve the minimum purchase price policy for grain, guarantee farmers' basic income from growing grain, and provide basic support for safeguarding the country's food security.

Thank you for your interest in the work of our department and hope to continue to support the work of the “Three Rural Communities”.

Contact: Department of Development Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

July 19, 2026

This article was edited by the Ministry of Rural Agriculture, Zhitong Finance Editor: Chen Wenfang.