CCP’s 2025 No. 1 Document: Food Security as the Core, Rural Reforms Reflect Political Trends

Online videos show that "agriculture management" has damaged the tobacco, vegetables, and other crops planted by farmers.

[People News] The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently released its 2025 "No. 1 Central Document," once again emphasizing the importance of food security and agricultural modernization, reaffirming that rural affairs—agriculture, rural development, and farmers ("Sannong")—remain central to national governance. However, a notable shift in this year’s document is the significant reduction in references to "the Party's leadership over rural affairs," sparking speculation about whether CCP leader Xi Jinping’s authority within the Party is facing challenges.

According to Voice of America (VOA), on February 23, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Deepening Rural Reforms and Solidly Advancing Comprehensive Rural Revitalization," marking the first official CCP document of 2025. The document highlights the need to strengthen agriculture’s foundation, ensure food security, and prevent large-scale rural poverty amid a complex international environment and escalating geopolitical risks.

Six Key Areas and 30 Measures

The 2025 No. 1 Document outlines six major areas with 30 specific measures: Enhancing the supply security of grain and other key agricultural products; Consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation; Strengthening county-level industries to boost rural prosperity; Advancing rural construction efforts; Improving rural governance systems; Optimizing resource allocation mechanisms for rural development.

Chinese media interpretations of the document vary. Xinhua News Agency, the CCP’s official news outlet, commented that 2025 marks the final year of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the last year of the five-year transition period following poverty alleviation efforts. This makes rural policy particularly crucial. The report also highlighted the "Three Increases" (三增) principle—boosting agricultural output, farmers' income, and rural prosperity—stressing that these must be achieved through reforms. The "main reform line" is the establishment of a land contracting and management rights registration system, while the "bottom line" is preventing the reduction of arable land and ensuring that grain production capacity is not weakened. Additionally, two "red lines" were set: ensuring national food security and preventing large-scale rural poverty.

The CCP’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily, stated on February 25 that food security remains the top priority in the 2025 No. 1 Document, emphasizing that China must firmly grasp food security, ensuring a stable and secure food supply. It warned, "We must not assume that food production is no longer a concern just because grain prices are temporarily low."

Meanwhile, Guancha.cn (Observer Network) reported on February 26 that, for the first time, the No. 1 Document has separately highlighted "strengthening county-level industries to boost rural prosperity." It specifically calls for the development of regional economies with unique characteristics, supporting labor-intensive industries that create rural jobs and increase farmers' incomes. This move is seen as an echo of Xi Jinping’s directives at the December 2024 Central Rural Work Conference, where he emphasized the "Three Increases" strategy for rural policy.

Ensuring food security is the top priority

Chen Jianfu, the director of the Mainland Research Center at Tamkang University in Taiwan, stated in an interview with Voice of America that the 2025 Central Document No. 1 continues the previous focus on the 'three rural issues,' but is more concise than in previous years. Through the framework of 'two continuities' and 'four major focuses,' it clarifies that the central government's work priorities this year still center on food security as the main task, while actively promoting agricultural modernization and industrial upgrading.

He emphasized that 'focusing on stabilizing the production and supply of food and important agricultural products' reflects the central government's strong commitment to food security, which is linked to current geopolitical risks and the instability of the global food supply chain. The encouragement to expand soybean and oilseed production highlights concerns over reliance on imports.

Additionally, 'strengthening the technological support for agriculture and rural areas' indicates that the central government aims to promote industrial upgrading through smart agriculture and digital technology. However, the acceptance of technology and resource accessibility among grassroots farmers remains a significant challenge. The call to 'deepen rural reform and open up agriculture to the outside world' suggests that the central government still seeks to introduce market mechanisms and foreign investment, but how to protect farmers' interests is yet to be determined.

However, he cautioned: 'When examining the documents from the Central Committee of the Communist Party, we must understand that some issues are not explicitly stated or are only vaguely mentioned, which are currently key focal points for the CCP, such as the challenges of preventing large-scale poverty return that are referenced here.'

He also stated, "Another clear point is that we need to enhance the development of livable and business-friendly beautiful villages. Conversely, this highlights that the overall public service facilities in rural areas are still quite inadequate. For instance, there remains a significant disparity between urban and rural areas in terms of elderly care, healthcare, and education." 

Is Xi Jinping's authority within the party facing challenges? The content regarding 'Party leadership over agriculture, rural areas, and farmers' is diminishing 

Notably, in contrast to the 2024 No. 1 document, which includes a dedicated section on 'strengthening the party's comprehensive leadership over agricultural work,' the 2025 document only briefly mentions this topic in a single sentence, prompting speculation. You Zhiwei, an associate professor at the Central Police University in Taiwan, suggests that this adjustment may be linked to recent rumors about challenges to Xi Jinping's power within the party. 

"From a more optimistic viewpoint, it could be that the internal power struggles within the Communist Party have empowered professionals with greater influence in the policy-making process, thereby reducing the emphasis on ideological dominance. A more pragmatic possibility might be that Xi Jinping's leadership position is indeed under pressure, leading to a decrease in his level of intervention in such matters," You Zhiwei analyzed. 

Additionally, this year's document introduces a clause on 'supporting the development of animal husbandry,' which calls for enhanced monitoring of pig production capacity, assistance for the beef and dairy industries, and mentions the need to stabilize the foundational capacity of animal husbandry. 

"This raises the question of whether there is a food crisis in mainland China, or if there is a significant imbalance in people's diets, with insufficient consumption of vegetables or fruits. Personally, I tend to lean towards the former," You Zhiwei remarked. 

Preventing large-scale return to poverty

Wang Kunyi, Chairman of the Taiwan International Strategic Association, stated that the annual No. 1 document released by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) addresses the 'three rural issues'—agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. This document serves both ceremonial functions and provides a framework for addressing these issues.

For instance, the 2024 'Central No. 1 Document' outlines a plan to learn from the 'Thousand Villages Demonstration, Ten Thousand Villages Rectification' initiative (referred to as the 'Thousand-Wan Project'), which includes two key assurances: 'ensuring food security' and 'preventing large-scale return to poverty.' In 2023, the guidance was more general, focusing on 'comprehensively advancing key work in rural revitalization,' and similarly highlighted the importance of 'safeguarding food security,' 'preventing large-scale return to poverty and other critical thresholds,' and 'accelerating the development of a strong agricultural nation.'

Wang Kunyi told Voice of America, 'It can be said that enhancing food security and preventing farmers from falling back into poverty are the primary tasks of the CCP's rural governance, which is a common theme. The distinction this year is that the CCP has introduced more ideas regarding rural governance, including concepts such as new productive forces in agriculture, the Southern Breeding Silicon Valley, the Great Food Concept, forest granaries, and courtyard economies.'

He explained that the 'Great Food Concept' refers to ensuring a reliable supply of various foods, including eggs, milk, meat, vegetables, and fruits, in addition to staple grains like rice and wheat. It emphasizes the need to develop food resources through multiple avenues, but to 'bring all food into the bowls of the Chinese people,' it is essential to 'source' food from different regions without excessive demands.

Wang Kunyi stated, "Under the 'Great Food View', the Chinese Communist Party mandates that to secure the land necessary for agricultural production, the country must maintain at least 1.8 billion mu of arable land. In light of the strict requirements of the arable land red line, various regions are compelled to restore or compensate for arable land that has been illegally occupied. This has led to the phenomenon known as 'roads turning into farmland', commonly referred to as 'returning forest to farmland', although the official term is 'rectification and restoration of cultivation'."

First Mention of New Quality Agricultural Productive Forces

According to Chinese media, the term 'new quality agricultural productive forces' was introduced for the first time in this year's No. 1 document. This concept refers to the application of technological innovations such as biological breeding, drones, artificial intelligence, and digital technology in agriculture and rural areas, which aims to transform traditional production models. It also seeks to promote agricultural standardization and large-scale production by responding to the demands of urban and rural residents, thereby facilitating rural revitalization.

Additionally, the Chinese Communist Party's 'National South Breeding Silicon Valley Construction Plan (2023-2030)', released on January 31, 2024, aims to establish a 'South Breeding Silicon Valley' for breeding and cultivating summer crops like rice, corn, and cotton in subtropical or tropical regions during the winter. This initiative has also emerged as one of the key terms in this year's No. 1 document.

Moreover, the 'courtyard economy' highlighted by the People's Daily in January has been specifically identified as a significant term in this year's No. 1 document. This economic model enables farmers to utilize their courtyard space for distinctive planting or breeding, thereby developing unique rural tourism industries.

The hot terms reflect existing inadequacies

Other terms highlighted by the Chinese Communist Party's official media include 'forest granary', 'Four Good Rural Roads', 'Three Supports and One Assistance Program', and 'inter-provincial horizontal benefit compensation for grain production and sales areas'.

However, Chen Jianfu (陳建甫), the director of the Center for Mainland China Studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, noted that 'new quality agricultural productivity' indicates a widespread lack of technology and adaptability among Chinese farmers. The promotion of agricultural technology still faces significant barriers, which is why there is a call for an increase. While the 'courtyard economy' has been suggested as a way to boost farmers' incomes, many farmers struggle with issues related to funding, technology, and market integration, making it difficult to establish a truly sustainable economic model.

He further elaborated: 'Concepts such as the Southern Breeding Silicon Valley and the so-called forest granary reflect that current rural areas are primarily operating under traditional agricultural models. There is a notable deficiency in concepts related to technology or environmental sustainability.'

You Zhiwei (游智偉), an associate professor at the Central Police University in Taiwan, believes that there is a connection between 'new quality agricultural productivity' and 'Southern Breeding Silicon Valley', as both emphasize enhancing agricultural productivity through technology. This may represent a more reasonable direction, moving away from the 'leap-forward' policy style of 'surpassing the UK and catching up with the US', and instead focusing on using advanced technology to improve both yield and quality. However, this could involve the interests and conflicts of various departments or political elites, which will be worth monitoring in the future.

The long-term challenges facing rural China include land, labor, and financial pressures

Experts have analyzed that China's rural areas face several challenges, including the need to prevent large-scale returns to poverty, significant gaps in public services, and the practical difficulties of technological and industrial upgrades. Additionally, there are underlying issues related to homestead rights, labor loss, development challenges, local financial pressures, and difficulties in grassroots implementation.

You Zhiwei pointed out that for nearly two decades, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) No. 1 Document has consistently focused on the issues concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, repeatedly emphasizing the need to prevent rural poverty from returning. This highlights that these issues remain unresolved, with a substantial number of individuals in rural areas who have escaped poverty still facing instability. Any economic downturn or disaster could easily push them back into poverty.

He remarked that, to be fair, the problems in China's rural areas are not only structural but also exhibit a strong path dependence, stemming from the CCP's historical denial of rural and agricultural issues. Since the reform and opening up, there has been a significant outflow of young and middle-aged people from rural areas, driven by the higher wages available in cities and coastal regions. This situation is difficult to avoid. Unless the CCP is willing to offer greater wage subsidies to young and middle-aged individuals in rural areas or those returning to farming, the fundamental issues concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers are unlikely to be resolved. However, it is important to note that even if such a strategy is implemented, it could lead to more severe corruption and misappropriation of resources.