BEIJING - China will step up reforms and innovation to speed up agricultural modernization in 2015, according to a key policy document released by the Party and government on Sunday.

As the Chinese economy, under the "new normal," shifts from high-speed to medium-to-high-speed growth, it has become a key issue to continue consolidating the position of agriculture as the foundation of the economy and to further increase farmers' income, said the document.

The "No 1 Central Document" refers to the first major policy document of each year released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

This is the 12th consecutive year in which the document has focused on agriculture and rural issues.

The document listed 5 aspects and 32 points for detailed government work on reforms and tasks related to the "three rural issues", agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

The document highlighted the challenges facing China' s agricultural sector, including surging production cost, shortage of agricultural resources, excessive exploitation and worsening pollution.

According to the document, China will strive to transform the development mode of agriculture, boost policies that benefit farmers, push forward the building of new socialist countryside, deepen rural reforms and strengthen rule of law in dealing with rural issues.

This year's document put more emphasis on "strengthening reform and innovation," compared to the one of 2014, Zhu Lizhi, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences told Xinhua.

China's agricultural modernization is expected to be accelerated with the help of the new policy document, Zhu added.

Highlighting the role of agriculture, the document said a strong agricultural sector is the prerequisite of a strong China.

It urged accelerating the transformation of agricultural development mode.

Instead of mainly pursuing high output and relying on resources consumption, China should put equal emphasis on quantity, quality and benefits, and attach importance to competitiveness, technological innovation and sustainable growth, it said.

The document urged making the transition as quickly as possible.

The goal is to blaze a modern agriculture development path featuring high efficiency, product safety, resource saving and environment friendliness, said the document.