Fresh from declaring war on coal and steel consumption, China is now turning its guns on chemical fertilizers as part of a state campaign to clean up its industry.

Scientists and officials say chemical fertilizers are heavily overused on Chinese farms. Last year, the government said one-fifth of the country’s arable land is contaminated by industrial pollution. Runoff from chemical fertilizers has been blamed for one of the country’s most damaging environmental phenomena: thick, viscous algae blooms that have in some areas ruined agriculture, beaches and aquatic ecology.

Beijing now wants growth in consumption of chemical fertilizers to fall to zero in five years, Agriculture Vice Minister Chen Xiaohua said at a press conference on Friday. The current growth rate is around 9.2%, according to official data. “We also want to make comprehensive use of animal waste and recycle discarded plastic as part of efforts to prevent and control farmland pollution,” Mr. Chen said.

China is the world’s biggest consumer of pesticides and fertilizers. Eschewing fertilizers might put a strain on the government’s other big goal: to maintain annual grain production at a minimum of 550 million metric tons. But Beijing is mulling other means of boosting grain output to feed rising middle-class meat demand, such as using more effective planting techniques or eventually allowing genetically modified food to be marketed domestically for human consumption.

These measures are part of a renewed push under President Xi Jinping to redraw the shape of China’s industry. Worried by waste and overcapacity, the government has taken measures that last year caused the first annual reduction in coal consumption in 14 years – the likely start of a long-term consumption decline termed “peak coal.” Steel consumption, another culprit for environmental pollution, likely flatlined or declined slightly last year, potentially signaling another “peak” event for a key industrial commodity, officials say.