Recently, four departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC"), have jointly distributed the Circular on Accelerating the Overall Reform of Agricultural Water Pricing (the "Circular").
The Circular states that according to the implementation plan for the reform for all regions in 2019, additional farmland of more than 120 million mu will be covered by this reform this year, adding that in provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government) where reform tasks need to be completed by the end of 2020, including Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, efforts should be made to ensure the accomplishment of key reform goals this year. Meanwhile, the Circular expressly states that each region shall systematically review the reform practices, obtain one or more reform approaches from its experience that fit local characteristics and could be reproduced and promoted there, exchange its experience through convening on-site meetings and publishing representative cases of the reform, play its leading role to a larger scale and strive to promote such useful approaches across the local province (autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government). Furthermore, the Circular highlights the need to properly determine the scope of implementation of the reform, adding that for a handful of farmland that is no longer irrigated in fact as a result of the change to the purpose for which the land is used or the adjustment to the planting structure, although it has been irrigated effectively, such farmland will not be covered by the reform.