China unveils plan to advance agricultural, rural modernization (Part 1)

 Wheat is harvested in Hemu village, Deqing, Zhejiang. [China Daily/Wang Zheng]

The Chinese government has issued a plan to advance agricultural and rural modernization during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

The work relating to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers is the top priority in the new journey to fully build a modern socialist China. In the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025)，the focus of issues concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers has shifted to comprehensively promoting rural vitalization and accelerating the process of modernization of agriculture and rural areas with Chinese characteristics. In the new development stage based on the new situation with new requirements, the objectives of the Plan are in line with the goals of realizing basic socialist modernization by 2035. For the first time, agricultural modernization and rural modernization are designed and promoted together, putting forward the ideas, objectives, and main missions of agricultural and rural modernization in the next five years.

1. DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

During the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan, a complete victory in the decisive battle against poverty has been achieved. Specifically, these include the rural impoverished population that has shaken off poverty according to the current standard, 832 counties and 128,000 villages classified as poor has emerged from poverty. The comprehensive agricultural production capacity has been steadily improved. Grain production has been abundant with output remaining above 650 million metric tons. The contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress has reached 60%, and the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation, planting, and harvesting has reached 71%, meaning the green development of agriculture took new steps. The income level of farmers has increased significantly. The per capita disposable income of rural residents reached 17,131 yuan, more than double that of 2010. The income gap between urban and rural residents narrowed to 2.56:1.

The rural infrastructure construction has been strengthened. The sanitary toilets coverage in rural areas reached 68%. All the villages, townships, and towns in poverty-stricken areas with the right conditions were accessible by paved roads and provided with bus routes. Water and electricity supply, communication networks and other infrastructure has been dramatically improved and the rural areas have taken on a brand new look. Rural reform has been advanced in-depth. The basic rural operating system has been further consolidated and improved in terms of breakthrough progress has been made in rural land reform, collective property rights reform, and rural operating system. The rural governance system is established and the rural society maintains harmony and stability.

In the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China has set out on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects which provides a rare opportunity for accelerating the process of agricultural and rural modernization. The policy orientation is more clear. To implement the rural revitalization strategy and continuously strengthen the support and protection of agriculture, with the accumulation of more resources in the rural areas. Market-driven is more robust. To constantly stimulate rural consumption, in terms of driving new consumption needs by the development of multiple functions and values in the rural areas, which will expand a broad space for promoting agricultural and rural modernization. Science and technology support is more powerful. Biotechnology and information technology will be promoted in various agricultural fields and rural areas. The digital village construction is going on which will act as an engine for the modernization process. The integration of urban and rural areas is more in-depth. More works need to do to speed up the formation of a new urban-rural relationship with common prosperity and coordinated development. The mechanism of two-way flow and equal exchange of urban-rural factors will gradually be improved and new vitality will be added during the delivery of agricultural and rural modernization.

2. DEVELOPMENT CHARACTERISTICS

The promotion of agricultural and rural modernization must be based on the national context and agricultural condition. China implements the rural basic management system in which rural land is collectively owned by farmers and contracted by households, which fundamentally ensures the majority of farmers enjoy equal access to the basic means of production and consolidates the foundation of common prosperity. The reality of the super-large population and the super-large demand for agricultural products determines that the Chinese people must solve the issue of feeding nearly 1.4 billion of the population domestically. In the fact of the numerous and highly mobile farmers, the per capita water and land resources are scarce and poorly matched, it is necessary to accelerate the scientific and technological progress, and use modern material and technical equipment to complement the insufficiency of water and land resources.

The promotion of agricultural and rural modernization must be based on the characteristics of the agricultural industry. The agricultural production process is greatly affected by natural forces with distinctive geographical characteristics. The source endowment of different regions varies greatly, so it is important to develop industries with special advantages under local conditions. Agricultural production faces both natural and market risks, hence it is vital to strengthen the agricultural support and disaster prevention and relief, improve the market control system. The fact that agricultural family business dominates the agriculture operation entities has meant that the development of social services need to be accelerated and modern production elements need to be introduced to small agricultural family to improve the level of technology and production efficiency. China's agricultural industrial chain and value chain are still at the low end, and it is necessary to raise the modernization level, create a whole industry chain, and unlock the potential for higher quality and greater impact.

The promotion of agricultural and rural modernization must be based on the local characteristics of villages. The village integrates production and living functions as a unity. It is necessary to take overall consideration of industrial development, population layout, public service, land utilization, ecological conservation, and so on, and rationally plan the spatial layout and facilities construction of rural areas. Villages have their characteristics and should not simply copy urban practices, but retain ethnic, regional, and local characteristics. Villages should be integrated with natural environs and preserve plenty of excellent traditional local cultures, and inherit farming culture with the development of modern civilization to show the unique charm of rural civilization. As the construction of rural areas is a long-term process, it is essential to main historical patience, plan first, focus on quality, and proceed gradually.

3. STRATEGIC POSITIONING

Based on a domestic basis, the Plan prioritized the solution to the problem of food for the Chinese people. To ensure the security of the supply of important agricultural products such as grain is the number one issue, not only to ensure the production quantity, but also to ensure diversity and quality, to deal with the external uncertainty with stable domestic production supply, and to firmly maintain the bottom line of national food security.

Consolidating and improving the basic operating system in rural areas. To adhere to the fundamental status of farmers' collective ownership of land and household contract operating system, to maintain a stable and long-term rural land contract relationship, to properly handle the relationship between farmers and land with the respect of their willingness to safeguard their rights.

Guiding small-scale farmers onto the track of modern agriculture. To give full play to the leading role of new agriculture on small-scale farmers, to improve the professional agricultural socialized service system, to establish a policy system to support and serve small-scale farmers, and to realize the organic integration of small-scale farmers and modern agriculture development.

Strengthening agricultural technology and equipment support. To rely on the progress of agricultural technology and to insist on self-reliance, to focus on the key technology research and consolidate the conditions of agricultural facilities and equipment, to create and use new types of agriculture machinery and equipment, to improve the agricultural disaster prevention system and ensure the improvement of quality and effect in agriculture.

Promoting the development of the entire agricultural industry chain. To follow the laws of industrial development, to develop the multiple agricultural functions and multiple values of rural areas, to promote the extension of agriculture from farming and breeding to the secondary and tertiary industries such as processing and circulation, to extend the grain industry chain, to build a supply chain, to upgrade value chain, and to improve the overall agricultural benefits.

Promoting rural construction in an orderly manner. To uphold the rural development construction rules and build for farmers, to focus on the conservation of characteristics of rural areas, to promote rural infrastructure and basic public services to cover villages and each household, and to achieve the goal of quantity following quality and progress following effectiveness.

Strengthening and innovating rural governance. To attach equal emphasis to material progress and cultural-ethical progress, to innovate the grass-root governance system and mechanism, to improve the rural legal service, to strengthen intellectual and moral standards in rural areas, to promote the formation of civilized rural customs and good family customs, to modernize the rural governance system and management capability, and continuously enhancing the farmers' sense of happiness and security.

Promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas. Taking counties as the key to promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas, giving priority to ensuring and improving people's livelihood in rural areas. To uphold the principles of "agriculture to the forefront and industry to follow" and "urban first and rural to follow, to accelerate the establishment of the urban-rural integrated development system and mechanism, to promote overall planning of public resources at the county level, and realize the goal of urban-rural integration with common prosperity.

Promoting the sustainability of agriculture as well as rural areas. To firmly establish and practice the concept that clear waters and green mountains are invaluable assets, to follow the agriculture production laws, to emphasize the local characteristics, to promote the green development of agriculture and form a green and low-carbon production and lifestyle, and to develop a sustainable and green development that conserves resources and is environmental friendly.

Promoting common prosperity of farmers and rural areas. To promote common prosperity, the most arduous task is still in the rural areas. It is necessary to consolidate and expand the achievement of poverty alleviation, comprehensively promote rural revitalization and make more rural residents work hard to become rich, migrant workers in cities to have stable employments with increased income, and to promote prosperity for all.

Source：

<http://www.moa.gov.cn/govpublic/FZJHS/202202/t20220211_6388494.htm>

<http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2022-02/11/content_5673082.htm>

<http://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202202/11/content_WS620654d4c6d09c94e48a4f38.html>

Edited and translated by GUO Xinxin