In February 2017, China released No.1 Central Document for the year, stressing the importance of focusing on work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers and advancing supply-side structural reform as the main task concerning agriculture and rural areas in the new era.
In order to advance supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, efforts will be made to:
● Improve the product structure. The product and industrial structure will be adjusted to improve the quality and efficiency of agriculture. Steps will be taken to adjust the mix of farm produce including grain, cash crops and feed, foster large-scale and efficient breeding businesses, boost the development of dominant and featured industries, optimize the regional layout of agriculture, ensure the quality of agricultural products and food safety in an all-round way, support appropriately scaled agricultural operations, build modern agricultural parks and create a sound environment for international trade in agricultural products.
● Adjust the way of production. Measures will be taken to promote green production and enhance the agricultural sector’s capabilities of sustainable development. It is necessary to promote clean production, carry out water conservation projects on a large scale, tackle outstanding environment issues in the agricultural sector, and advance major ecological projects.
● Improve the industrial system. China will work to nurture new industries and business forms, and extend the industrial chain and value chain of agriculture. The measures include boosting agritainment and agritourism, promoting the development of rural e-commerce, accelerating the modernization of the food industry and making villages and towns better places to work and live in.
● Strengthen the supporting role of sci-tech innovation. Sci-tech innovation should play a more active role in leading the development of modern agriculture. Efforts will be made to strengthen agricultural R&D, promote the adoption of agrotechnology, improve the incentive mechanism for sci-tech innovation and advance the construction of agricultural science and technology parks.
● Consolidate the foundation for agriculture. The areas of weakness in agriculture and rural areas will be strengthened so as to allow the rural areas to better benefit from development. China will continue to develop high-standard farmland, improve the living environments in rural areas, advance the building of a beautiful, livable countryside, improve basic public services in rural areas and press ahead with the fight against poverty.
The key to rural reform lies in establishing a balance between the roles of government and of the market.
First, unleashing market vitality. The reform of the pricing regime and the collection and storage system for grain and other major agricultural products will be further deepened, and measures such as agricultural subsidies will be improved.
Second, invigorating the factors of production. The budgetary support mechanism for agriculture will be reformed, financial innovation in rural areas will be accelerated, the collective property rights system will be advanced, and land for the development of agriculture and rural areas will be guaranteed.
Third, energizing various entities. Policies will be implemented to cultivate new agricultural operators and service providers, cultivate human resources, attract competent personnel and encourage innovation in rural areas.
