Focusing on herbicides and biopesticides, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has deployed law enforcement actions

In order to fully leverage the service guarantee role of agricultural law enforcement in the work of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and consolidate the foundation of national food security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently issued the "Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Carrying out the 2025 'Green Sword Protecting Food Security' Law Enforcement Action" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), deploying the "Green Sword Protecting Food Security" law enforcement action.

The Notice emphasizes that all regions should focus on key areas such as agricultural material quality, agricultural product quality and safety, animal and plant quarantine, and livestock and poultry slaughter, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as the production and sale of fake and inferior agricultural materials, infringement of seed license plates, and illegal use of prohibited and restricted drugs that harm agriculture, food security, and agricultural product quality and safety. This will ensure the stable and safe supply of food and important agricultural products, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of farmers, and protect the "safety on the tongue" of the people.  

The Notice requires that localities should refine tasks and strengthen responsibilities based on actual situations, strengthen inter departmental and inter regional law enforcement cooperation, improve mechanisms for information sharing, clue reporting, and coordinated response, and achieve "one discovery, multiple joint investigations, and traceability investigation". We must adhere to the concept of "law enforcement for the people and serving agriculture, rural areas, and farmers", deeply implement the benchmark system of administrative discretion, strictly regulate administrative inspections of enterprises in the agricultural field, continuously optimize law enforcement methods, and make agricultural law enforcement both strong and warm.  

Next, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will strengthen guidance to local authorities on the investigation and handling of illegal cases in key areas, as well as the application of laws to difficult cases. It will also supervise and handle cases that involve a wide range of regions, high social attention, and complex cases to ensure effective implementation.

Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Carrying out the 2025 "Green Sword Protecting Food Security" Law Enforcement Action

Departments (bureaus, commissions) of agriculture and rural areas (agriculture and animal husbandry) in various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, as well as the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

Ensuring stable and secure supply of food and important agricultural products has always been the top priority in building a strong agricultural country. In order to fully leverage the support and guarantee role of agricultural law enforcement in the development of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and continuously consolidate the foundation of national food security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has decided to launch the "Green Sword Protecting Food Security" law enforcement action by 2025. The relevant matters are hereby notified as follows.

1、 Overall requirements

Anchoring the goal of promoting comprehensive rural revitalization and building a strong agricultural country, focusing on continuously enhancing the supply guarantee capacity of important agricultural products such as food, focusing on key areas, key moments, and important links, concentrating efforts to severely crack down on illegal activities that harm agriculture, endanger food security, and agricultural product quality and safety, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of farmers, protect the "safety on the tip of the tongue" of the people, and contribute to ensuring national food security through precise and efficient law enforcement.

2、 Key tasks

Adhere to the concept of "law enforcement for the people and serving agriculture, rural areas, and farmers", coordinate and handle the relationship between comprehensive performance and key responsibilities, focus on law enforcement in areas such as agricultural material quality, agricultural product quality and safety, animal and plant quarantine, livestock and poultry slaughter, and agricultural genetically modified organism safety, and lead and drive the improvement and efficiency of law enforcement work throughout the year.

（1） Enforcement of Agricultural Material Quality Law

Pay close attention to important agricultural seasons such as spring plowing, spring management, three summers, autumn and winter planting, as well as the peak season for the production and sales of major agricultural inputs and key nodes for household farming, and strengthen the continuous rectification of counterfeit black dens, "misleading groups" of agricultural materials, and the sale of fake and inferior agricultural materials in villages and households.

Seed law enforcement should focus on the field use of major crop varieties, and severely crack down on illegal seed production, production and operation of fake and inferior seeds, infringement of licenses, promotion and sale of unapproved crop varieties, unlicensed production and operation of seeds, and other illegal activities in accordance with the law. Deeply carry out special rectification in key areas such as potato seed potatoes, edible mushroom strains, frozen semen of cattle, and illegal sale of seeds online, and increase the punishment for related illegal activities.

Pesticide law enforcement should focus on herbicides and biopesticides, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as production and operation of banned pesticides, fake and inferior pesticides, unregistered pesticides, unlicensed production and operation of pesticides (including lending pesticide production licenses and pesticide registration certificates under the name of commissioned processing), and pesticide registration test units issuing false registration test reports.

The enforcement of animal medicine law should focus on standardizing the use of drugs in livestock and poultry breeding, and crack down severely on illegal activities such as using drugs beyond the scope, dosage, and time limit, impersonating animal drugs with feed, illegally adding animal drugs, changing standard requirements for the production of animal drugs without authorization, not complying with regulations on the management of veterinary prescription drugs, illegally selling animal drugs online, illegally producing, operating, and using veterinary anesthetics and psychotropic drugs, producing and operating veterinary in vitro diagnostic products without approval, and producing and operating fake and inferior aquatic animal drugs.

The law enforcement of feed and feed additives should focus on pre mixed feed additives, mixed feed additives, natural plant materials and their extracts that can be used for feed, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as the use of prohibited substances and illegal drugs, unlicensed production of feed and feed additives in accordance with the law.

Fertilizer law enforcement should focus on organic fertilizers and microbial fertilizers, and crack down severely on illegal activities such as insufficient effective ingredient content in registered products, illegal addition of pesticide ingredients, and counterfeiting and forgery of fertilizer registration certificates in accordance with the law.

（2） Enforcement of Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law

We will focus on cracking down on illegal use of banned and restricted drugs, illegal addition of toxic and harmful substances, illegal use of antibiotics on crops, and sales of agricultural products containing banned agricultural and veterinary drugs or chemical residues exceeding the standard in accordance with the law.

Areas with prominent pesticide residue issues in vegetables and fruits should crack down severely on illegal activities such as illegal operation, use of banned or restricted pesticides, and excessive residue of conventional pesticides in accordance with the law. Areas with prominent issues of drug residues in aquatic products should be severely cracked down on illegal use of prohibited drugs and excessive residues of conventional veterinary drugs in accordance with the law. The main production areas of cattle and sheep should crack down severely on the illegal addition of drugs and other compounds prohibited from use in food animals such as "lean meat powder" during the breeding process in accordance with the law.

（3） Enforcement of Animal and Plant Quarantine

Animal quarantine law enforcement should focus on investigating and punishing illegal transportation in accordance with the law. It should quarantine livestock that have not been quarantined, sell or purchase livestock that do not wear animal and poultry identification according to regulations, conceal relevant information or provide false materials when declaring animal quarantine, and defraud, forge, alter, transfer quarantine certificates or labels and other illegal behaviors.

Plant quarantine law enforcement should focus on seed and seedling breeding bases, production and operation enterprises, and trading markets. During critical periods of seed and seedling breeding, transportation, and circulation, strict crackdowns should be carried out in accordance with the law on illegal activities such as transporting breeding materials such as seeds and seedlings without obtaining a plant quarantine certificate or using forged plant quarantine certificates, transporting seeds and seedlings from epidemic areas, and transporting quarantine objects that do not match the information stated on the quarantine certificate.

（4） Enforcement of Livestock and Poultry Slaughtering Law

Focusing on urban-rural fringe areas, small slaughterhouses that have been closed down, and illegal slaughterhouses that have been banned, we will crack down severely on illegal activities such as providing venues and storage facilities for illegal slaughterhouses, engaging in pig slaughtering activities without designated locations, slaughtering and processing dead livestock and poultry, and injecting water, drugs, or other substances into animals and animal products in accordance with the law.

（5） Enforcement of Safety Supervision for Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms

Strictly investigate and punish illegal activities such as conducting agricultural genetically modified organism experiments, producing and selling genetically modified seeds in violation of regulations, and producing and processing agricultural genetically modified organisms without approval or in accordance with approval requirements.

3、 Job requirements

（1） Strengthen organizational leadership. All levels of agricultural and rural departments should effectively enhance their political stance, take the "Green Sword Protecting Food Security" law enforcement action as the main theme of the annual law enforcement work, and refine tasks and strengthen responsibilities based on local conditions. We need to strengthen law enforcement training, enhance law enforcement guarantees, effectively improve the quality and effectiveness of law enforcement, and ensure that actions are implemented effectively.

（2） Improve the working mechanism. Strengthen the cooperation between the agricultural comprehensive law enforcement team and industry regulatory agencies, promote the coordinated promotion and integrated guarantee of annual industry supervision and law enforcement key work. Strengthen inter regional law enforcement cooperation, establish a linkage response and information sharing mechanism, and achieve "one discovery, multiple joint investigations, and traceability investigation". Establish sound inter departmental law enforcement cooperation, improve mechanisms such as clue reporting and joint law enforcement. Strengthen the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, and promptly transfer suspected criminal cases to judicial authorities for handling.

（3） Standardize law enforcement behavior. Deepen the special action to standardize administrative law enforcement related to enterprises and strictly regulate administrative inspections related to enterprises. Thoroughly implement the benchmark system of administrative discretion, continuously optimize law enforcement methods, ensure that agricultural law enforcement has both strength and warmth, and achieve the unity of political, legal, and social effects in law enforcement and case handling.

（4） Strengthen supervision and guidance. Provincial and above agricultural and rural departments should strengthen guidance on the investigation and handling of illegal cases in key areas, as well as the application of laws in difficult cases. They should also supervise and handle cases that involve a wide range of regions, high social attention, and complex cases. Each region should conscientiously summarize the experience and practices of carrying out the "Green Sword Protecting Food Security" law enforcement action, widely publicize the advanced figures and typical deeds that emerged in the law enforcement action, and give appropriate praise to outstanding collectives and individuals in their work. Please report the progress of law enforcement actions, phased investigation cases, and typical cases in each province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government) to the Regulations Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in a timely manner.

Ministry of agriculture and rural affairs

March 27, 2025