1. Land area and population
•The rural population is 0.79 billion, amounting to 73% of the country’s population, and 20.2% of the world total rural population. (in 2002)
•Agrarian land area is 124.14 million hectares, standing for 13.3% of the total land area of the nation (932.74 million ha), and 9% of the world total agrarian land area 1369.11m ha. (Sources from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), March 2002.)
•Agrarian land per capita is 0.098ha, the world average per capita is 0.229ha.(FAO: Production Yearbook 2000)

2. Agricultural mechanization has made big stride in the last 50 years.
•Number of tractors increased from 14,663 units in 1957 to 18.5 million units in 2004
•Number of combine harvesters increased from 1,789 units in 1957 to 200,000 units in 2001
•Number of wheeled tractors increased to (by 2002)
  Tractors ≥ 25 hp. 48,000 units
  Tractors < 25 hp. 867,900 units
•Total agricultural power increased from 1.2 billion watt in 1957 to 4.5 billion watt in 1998
Increased export and import of farm machinery:

	2002	2003	Jan. – Jun.2004
Export (billion US$)	1.521	2.131	1.492
Import (billion US$)	1.955	4.219	3.234

3. The overall agricultural mechanization level is still quite low:
Mechanization level (2003):

Tillage:	47 %
Sowing:	27 %
Harvesting:	19 %

Mechanization level by crops (2003):

	Sowing / planting	Harvesting
Winter wheat	78 %	75 %
Paddy Rice	6.16 %	23.6 %
Corn	48.24 %	2.03 %

4. The trend of agricultural equipment and mechanization development.
•Sustained increase of farm power
•Great changes toward demand-oriented structures for farm power consumption
1) Fast increase of mid- and large tractors and implements
2) Saturated market of small tractors

5. National policy to rejuvenate agriculture
•The Central Government cancels agro-tax rate gradually from 7% in 2004 to zero in 2006.
•Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization is effective in Nov 2004. This Law is enacted to encourage and support farmers as well as organizations engaged in agricultural production and management to employ advanced and applicable agricultural machinery, to promote agricultural mechanization and to develop modern agriculture. In implementation of the law, the Central Government provides 30% subsidies for buyers of agricultural machinery/equipments listed in the national directory. Some provinces also provide matching funds as subsidies for local farmers. For details of the Law, please refer to APCAEM website
•Law on Safety and Security of Agro-Products (effective 30 April 2006)
•Law on Animal Husbandry (30 December 2005)
•Law on Promoting the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (29 July 2005)
•Law on Development of Renewable Energy (15 March 2005)
•Law on Agriculture (28 December 2002)
•Law on Water Conservation (29 August 2002)
•Strategic Programme of Agricultural Development in Science and Technology 2001 – 2010 (28 April 2001)
•Strategic Programme of Rural Poverty Reduction and Development of China 2001 – 2010 (13 June 2001)

6. Challenges
•Farmers' low income and weak purchasing capability
•Equipment manufacturing industry needs adjustments to meet market demands
•Insufficient technical innovation capability in research and development( R & D)

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