China has made great improvements in the green agricultural development from 2019 to 2020 in terms of green theory, evaluation, production, technology and other dimensions, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on Saturday.

Compared with last year, this year's report involved more data and quantitative evaluation, as well as theories and local examples on green development, said Mei Xurong, vice-president of the academy.

The report establishes a 13-item index system that evaluates China's green agricultural development in terms of resource conservation, environmental safety, green product supply, and people's prosperous life.

Based on this system, the index of green agricultural development in China rose from 73.46 in 2012 to 77.14 in 2019, up 5.01 percentage points, the report said.

By the end of last year, 5,479 standards were set in the agriculture sector, covering the green agricultural development.

In 2019, 13.8 million hectares of land were being monitored as the production areas of green and healthy food, seeing a year-on-year increase of 32.4 percent.

Last year, the utilization rate of fertilizer and pesticide on three staple grains respectively hit 40.2 percent and 40.6 percent, increasing 5 and 4 percentage points, respectively.

The utilization rate of straw reached 86.72 percent last year while that of livestock and poultry manure exceeded 75 percent. The recycling rate of agricultural plastic hit 80 percent, effectively controlling the white pollution in key areas.

More than 65 percent of rural areas now have toilets, and the rural waste collection and disposal system has covered over 90 percent of the villages, according to the report.

Last year, the ministry identified 16 experimental stations, including the CAAS's Changping station in Beijing and Hulunbuir station in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, as the first batch of long-term observation posts for green agricultural development.

However, Mei said China was still in its initial phase of developing green agriculture in the past five years. The utilization and spatial arrangement, in particular, of agricultural products including grains and hogs need to be improved.

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021-25), rural vitalization, high-quality life and a new round of technological revolution will provide opportunities for green agricultural development," he added.