Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs ("MARA") and the General Office of the Ministry of Finance ("MOF") have distributed the Circular on Building the National Modern Agricultural Industrial Parks in 2019 (the "Circular").
The Circular reads that, major support will be given this year to building industrial parks specialized in good-quality grain and oil, modern seed industry, healthy aquaculture (cattle, sheep and aquatic products) and Chinese herbal medicines, adding that priority will be given in poverty-stricken counties where conditions permit, functional areas for grain production, conservation areas for the production of important agricultural products, areas with superiority in distinctive agricultural products, and national modern agriculture demonstration zones, in applying for building the said industrial parks. Further, the Circular states that, with a view to accelerating the revitalization of the modern seed industry, five provinces, including Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan and Gansu, where the local government attaches high importance and there are goods foundations for the seed industry and local experience in exploring ways to build the parks, will be supported to each build one more modern agricultural industrial park primarily centered on the seed industry. Moreover, the Circular expressly states that the approval for building the proposed national modern agricultural industrial parks will be organized and performed by the provincial-level departments of agriculture and rural affairs and departments of finance this year, and the MARA and the MOF will not organize reviews of the proposed industrial parks any longer.