In January 2014, China released No.1 Central Document for the year, calling for further efforts to unleash and develop productivity in rural areas, and provide a new impetus for an increase in agricultural output and farmers’ income and for a more prosperous rural society.
China has taken a new path of agricultural modernization with its own characteristics. In this process, it is crucial for the country to work faster to build a new type of agricultural operation system with a focus on the way of land cultivation, to push forward with the transformation of agricultural growth model with a focus on addressing the inadequacy of resources including land and water, and to develop high-quality and safe agricultural products with a focus on food quality and safety. Therefore, the government needs to improve the food security system, build a national food security strategy under the new circumstances, improve the price formation mechanism for grain and other important agricultural products, and improve the regulation of the agricultural product market. The international agricultural market needs to be leveraged in a rational way, and the quality of agricultural products and food safety need to be more effectively supervised.
The following measures are developed to advance rural reform across the board and make rural economy more vigorous.
First, strengthening the agricultural support and protection system. Efforts need to be made to improve the mechanism for the steady growth of investment in programs related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, to improve agricultural subsidy policies, to establish a recompense mechanism at a faster pace, to integrate government funds for rural development, to improve the management and protection mechanism for farmland irrigation and water conservancy, to promote scientific and technological innovation, to accelerate the development of modern seed production and agricultural mechanization, and to build a more robust market system for agricultural products.
Second, pressing ahead with the reform of rural land system.
Third, building a new type of agricultural operation system. For this purpose, it is important to develop a diverse range of large-scale operations, foster new types of agricultural businesses, improve the commercial agricultural service system, and accelerate the reform relating to supply and marketing cooperatives.
Fourth, facilitating innovation in the rural financial system. Measures in this regard include strengthening the role of financial institutions in serving agriculture, rural areas and farmers, fostering new types of rural cooperative financial organizations, and improving the coverage of agricultural insurance.
The coordinated social and ecological progress in rural areas requires actions to be taken in two areas. One is improving the integrated urban-rural development system. Actions to be taken include improving the living environment in villages, promoting equal access to basic public services in both urban and rural areas, and making progress in granting permanent urban residency to eligible people who move from rural to urban areas. The other is establishing a long-term mechanism for sustainable agricultural development. For this purpose, eco-friendly agriculture needs to be promoted, with pilot agricultural resources rehabilitation projects conducted, and ecological protection strengthened.
