The Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK) held a symposium on accelerating the development of dryland farming on the loess plateau in Beijing and Northwest China's Shaanxi province via a video link on May 13.

In his speech, Zheng Jianbang, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), pointed out that developing dryland farming on the loess plateau helps support regional growth, further reduce poverty and boost rural vitalization.

The RCCK Central Committee attaches great importance to dryland farming on the loess plateau and has made preliminary surveys in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, hoping to work out practical measures for its development through the online symposium, said Zheng, who is also the executive vice-chairman of the RCCK Central Committee.

He said that the RCCK Central Committee will perform its duties, pay close attention to the economic and social development of the loess plateau, and continue to provide suggestions for the ecological civilization and high-quality development of the region.

Zheng proposed top-level design and overall planning, and better understanding the role of dryland farming in increasing farmers' income and ecological restoration and improvement.

Efforts should be made to innovate the system and mechanism for dryland farming development, gain experience through experiments in pilot zones, develop a scientific and technological innovation system for the modern dryland farming water conservation industry, increase water storage, and promote corn mechanical harvesting, degradation film and straw crushing and returning to the field.

Zheng also urged speeding up the construction of high-standard dryland farmland, improving low- and medium-yield field, protecting high-quality land on the loess plateau, and building high-quality grain and fruit industrial belts and areas with agricultural specialties.

He suggested giving full play to the seeding industry in dryland farming and selecting a number of new crop varieties that are drought-tolerant, high-yield and disease-resistant and can adapt to the environment of the loess plateau.