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Table 4.9 Central Government fiscal appropriations for the agriculture sector, 2018
Title Legal basis: Subsidy for a new round of returning cultivated land to forests and grassland
MOF Circular Cai Nong No. 66, 2018
Objective(s): To improve the ecological environment and promote sustainable development
Subsidy: Provided to provincial governments to be distributed to farmers to return cultivated land to forests and grassland
Start date: 2018
Budgetary allotments (CNY million): 2018: 12,789

4.23. (...) information on new support programmes introduced during the review period (which are not covered in China's latest SCM notification) was not available. However, it would appear that since 2018, at least two additional new programmes have been introduced: (i) an environmental tax exemption for farming enterprises under which a temporary environmental protection tax exemption is provided for agricultural production pollutant discharges (excluding large-scale breeding) ; and (ii) a subsidy fund for farmland construction that aims to optimize the layout of farmland and improve its quality, and to attract talent and social capital to invest in agricultural development. With respect to the latter, it would appear that farmland construction subsidy funds (comprising investment subsidies and loan discounts) are used for the construction of high-standard farmland and farmland water conservation. (...).

4.24. A few subsidy programmes to support farmers at the sub-Central Government level were also notified to the WTO. [24]

[24] (...) These programmes were: (i) a grant for returning farmland to forests or pastures (Shanxi Province); (...) (iv) a fund for treating domestic sewage in farming and pastoral areas (Qinghai Province); and (v) a grant for turning the cultivated land into forestry (Dalian City, Liaoning Province).

4.26. Grain reserves of maize, rice, soya beans, and wheat are maintained by the Central Government and local governments; according to the authorities, the reserves are used only to cope with major natural disasters or other emergencies.

4.27. Under a subsidized agricultural insurance scheme, insurance premiums are subsidized by the Central Government and local governments, so that farmers pay only a balance of 20% 30% of the premium. The insurance scheme covers natural disasters such as rainstorms, floods, and droughts, but not income or levels of production. The distribution of financing between the Central Government and local governments varies by crop. (...).

4.37. (...) In 2018, MARA revised the Provisions on the Administration of Fishing Licences (MARA Decree No. 1, 2018 ), and certain articles of these Provisions were further amended in 2020. The objective was to strengthen the management of fishing vessels and fishing licences; protect fishery resources; (...) and address problems such as illegal shipbuilding, inconsistent ship certificates, and off-site anchoring, which have made supervision difficult. (...).

4.39. The main government strategy for the fishing sector implemented during the review period was the 13th Five-Year Plan on Fishery Development (2016-20). (...) The Plan's basic principles are to: (i) adhere to ecology as a priority and promote green development, with a shift in focus from quantity growth to improving quality and efficiency; (...). The Plan also stipulates the continued implementation of support policies for: (...) (ii) ensuring special funds for fishery administration, resource investigation , species resource protection, disease prevention and control, quality and safety supervision, fishing port supervision, safety production supervision, and fishing vessel inspection supervision; and (iii) increasing aquatic breeding, disease prevention, resource conservation, fishery equipment, and other technological innovations and promotion support. (...).

4.43. (...) The authorities indicate that China has taken measures recently to strengthen monitoring and control of fishing vessels, enhance its international compliance capability, fulfil its international obligations to conserve high-seas fishery resources, and prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities (Box 4.1). They also indicate that China has undertaken investigations into various kinds of illegal fishing activities, and punished illegal enterprises and fishing vessels in accordance with the law. According to the authorities, between January 2018 and early 2021, the Government imposed different levels of penalties on 84 deep-sea fishing vessels belonging to 51 enterprises.

4.44. China has acceded to various international conventions or agreements related to fisheries. [36] (...) China has not acceded to the FAO's Port State Measures Agreement; the authorities state that they are studying this possibility and that the Government has included the list of IUU fishing vessels released by the acceding regional fisheries organizations into the controlling scope of Chinese ports. They note that China prohibits fishing vessels on the list from entering Chinese ports; refuses such fishing vessels to refuel, resupply, or repair in Chinese ports; and refuses the catches carried by such fishing vessels to be unloaded, transhipped, packed, or processed in Chinese ports.

[36] These conventions/agreements include: (i) the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT); (ii) the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC); (iii) the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC); (...).

Box 4.1 Fisheries conservation measures, 2018-20
1. January 2019 – Notice on Further Strictly Adhering to International Tuna Management Measures issued by MARA. Objective: to implement resource conservation and management measures adopted by the International Tuna Conservation Organization.