How can the reform and development of state farms in the new era be solidly advanced?
August, Beidahuang. File photo
On November 27, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Advancing the Reform and Development of State Farms," making comprehensive arrangements for the reform and development of state farms in the new era. Recently, Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu proposed that it is necessary to accurately grasp the broad background, broad thinking, broad goals and broad pattern of the Fifth Plenary Session, fully understand the new situation and new challenges facing agricultural and rural economic development during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, and, standing at the overall height, plan agricultural and rural economic development within the overall situation of economic and social development. In the next step, state farms nationwide must base themselves on the overall situation of agricultural and rural economic development, seize the historic opportunity of the central government's issuance of the state farm document, resolutely implement the five major development concepts, give full play to their own unique advantages, implement all policy measures, break through reform bottlenecks and development difficulties, and form a new pattern of reform and development that is active and steady, coordinated and innovative, and advancing together.
Remember history, keep the mission firmly in mind, and comprehensively and systematically summarize the experience of state farm reform and development
Looking back and summarizing the long course of development of the state farm cause, the achievements have not come easily, and the experience is extremely precious. First, always adhere to obeying and serving the needs of the national strategy. The development issue of state farms is determined by the state-owned nature of state farms and by our country's basic economic system, special national conditions and strategic needs. Whether it was stationing troops to open up wasteland and guard the frontiers to maintain border stability, or developing agricultural production to support national economic construction; whether it was settling demobilized officers and soldiers and educated youth, or safeguarding the supply of important agricultural products such as national grain and rubber; whether in special periods such as revolutionary wars and natural disasters, or in emergency moments such as “SARS” and the Wenchuan earthquake, state farms resolutely implemented the decision-making arrangements of the central government, completed national directives at the first opportunity, and played the role of a national team that can be held onto, mobilized and relied upon in emergencies, providing strong foundational support for maintaining overall stability. Second, always adhere to the market-oriented reform direction of enterprise operation, group operation and industrialization. With the continuous deepening of reform and opening up, state farms clearly put forward the reform orientation of enterprise operation, group operation and industrialization. At the farm level, pilot projects for building a modern enterprise system were carried out, taking reform of the property rights system as the entry point and carrying out large-scale reorganization and integration of farm-run enterprises; at the reclamation area level, the relationship between government and enterprise and between society and enterprise was rationalized, group-oriented reform was actively advanced, a parent-subsidiary management system was built, and the corporate governance structure was continuously improved; at the industry level, the industrial structure was adjusted and optimized, the entire agricultural industry chain was built, and comprehensive agricultural, industrial and commercial operations were explored. At present, 17 group-oriented reclamation areas such as Beijing have become concentrated representatives of the core competitiveness of state farms and the main force fulfilling the national mission of state farms. Third, always adhere to taking the leading of our country's modern agricultural construction as an important responsibility. Agriculture is the foundation for the establishment and development of state farms. State farms have always upheld this historical responsibility and mission of demonstrating and leading modern agricultural construction, persisted in strengthening, improving and expanding around the word “agriculture,” actively explored effective paths for state farms to take the lead in realizing agricultural modernization, and continuously promoted the transformation and upgrading of modern agriculture through piloting agricultural science and technology, strengthening material and equipment construction, building an agricultural industrial system, and cultivating modern agricultural enterprises. In particular, they vigorously developed agricultural social service industries such as land trusteeship, commissioned cultivation, planting and harvesting, and technical services, showing farmers how to do it and leading farmers in doing it in aspects such as mechanization, intensification, industrialization, scale and standardization, and played an important demonstrative and leading role for surrounding rural areas. Fourth, always adhere to taking safeguarding and improving people's livelihood as the starting point and foothold of state farm reform and development. State farms have always closely centered on the core of the interests of workers and the masses, effectively increased infrastructure construction, strengthened community service functions, and advanced new urbanization development in reclamation areas, not only enabling the people of reclamation areas to share in the fruits of reform and development, but also giving state farm reform and development an endless source of internal impetus. Long-term practice has proven that only by adhering to relying on workers and the masses in reform and development can a virtuous cycle of economic development and livelihood improvement be achieved.
Emancipate the mind, innovate concepts, and earnestly compile the “13th Five-Year Plan” for state farm economic and social development
The national state farm system must further emancipate the mind, break through institutional and mechanistic obstacles, innovate working methods, and, in accordance with the reform and development goals set by the "Opinions on Further Advancing the Reform and Development of State Farms," plan the “13th Five-Year Plan” for state farm economic and social development.
⟦NL> First, adhere to innovative development and focus on improving the quality and efficiency of the state farm economy. State farms must strive to innovate industrial development ideas, effectively integrate various modern agricultural production factors, and build an entire agricultural industry chain with full quality traceability from field to table. They must actively create an industrial development pattern, based on comprehensive production capacity, actively cultivate product supply capacity and market competitiveness, and form a development pattern in which large reclamation area groups drive industrial companies, state-owned farms, new business entities and traditional farmers.
Second, adhere to coordinated development and focus on optimizing the industrial structure of the state farm economy. State farms must actively guide the effective allocation of resources such as capital, technology, information and talent, integrate various reclamation areas and farms through methods such as capital operations, form a community of shared responsibility and shared interests, and realize coordinated development among different reclamation areas and among different farms. Through various forms of reform paths, the relationship between society and enterprise must be gradually rationalized, internal separate accounting must be realized, external mutually promoting development must be achieved, and coordinated economic and social development of reclamation areas must be realized.
Third, adhere to green development and focus on enhancing the sustainable development capacity of state farms. State farms must increase the intensity of agricultural scientific and technological innovation, strengthen the promotion and application of new technologies such as soil testing and formulated fertilization and precise and scientific application of pesticides, strictly control the use of agricultural inputs and pollution of the production area environment, create a large-scale green and safe production model, and comprehensively improve the safety level of agricultural product production. They must advance the transformation and upgrading of state farm quality traceability work, expand the applicability of the traceability system and the coverage of traceable products, and realize full traceability coverage of key reclamation areas, key enterprises and key products. On the basis of scale and standardization, they must strengthen green development on the production side and brand building on the market side, ensure safety through scale, achieve safety through standardization, consolidate safety through green development, and maintain safety through branding, establish a production system of scale, standardization, green development and branding, and ensure the sustainable development capacity of state farms.
Fourth, adhere to open development and focus on promoting win-win cooperation between reclamation areas and between reclamation areas and localities. State farms must open their thinking, uphold the development concept of win-win cooperation, break through the “bottleneck” of social influence and market control, and strive for a greater market voice through multiple methods combining direct and indirect approaches, capital and contracts, and international and domestic approaches. They must increase the intensity of “going out of the reclamation area,” improve new models of cooperation between reclamation areas and localities such as “government + farm + farmers,” promote the orderly flow of production factors between farms and rural areas, and enhance the attractiveness and driving force for surrounding rural farmers. They must seize the favorable opportunity of the national implementation of development strategies such as the “Belt and Road,” make full use of both international and domestic markets and both types of resources, and take the lead in laying out in processing, warehousing, logistics and channels, and deepen international agricultural cooperation.
Fifth, adhere to shared development and focus on safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of state farm workers. It is necessary to steadily advance pilot work on the capitalization and assetization of state farm land resources, actively revitalize land resources, and fairly share land dividends. It is necessary to plan scientifically, implement effectively and supervise strictly, actively apply various policies benefiting agriculture, livelihood policies and state-owned enterprise reform policies, and scientifically share policy dividends. It is necessary to improve the modern enterprise system, improve the mechanism linking the interests of farms and workers, encourage workers to participate in industrialized operations through various forms, and, through their own entrepreneurship, innovation and creation, activate the internal vitality of farms, effectively improve the level of industrial development, and mutually share industrial dividends. It is necessary to increase workers' income through multiple channels and jointly share the dividends of state farm development.
Unite and cooperate, strive for achievements, and comprehensively implement the central government's decision-making arrangements
First, thoroughly implement the spirit of the central documents and meetings and promote the landing and taking root of the central government's various policies and measures. State farm management departments at all levels must assume the main responsibility for implementing reform measures and fulfill the central government's requirement of “not only personally grasping reform arrangements, but also personally grasping reform supervision, with each level grasping the next and pressure transmitted level by level.” When specifically implementing important reform arrangements, they must uphold bottom-line thinking, adhere to a problem orientation, break away from traditional path dependence, and focus on investigation and research, problem feedback and practical innovation; they must pay attention to overall coordination to ensure that reform tasks are mutually coordinated, reform processes are mutually connected, and reform results are mutually supporting; they must resolutely open up the “last mile” of reform advancement; and they must, in light of the vastly different actual conditions of different places, adapt measures to local conditions and proceed step by step, seeking both momentum and practical results, following one step closely after another, and continuously exploring and accumulating experience in practice for the next step. When supervising reform work, they must inspect promptly and evaluate promptly, promptly find and fill gaps in key work, promptly summarize and feed back major suggestions, promptly analyze and study plans that need improvement, and promptly point out and correct existing problems.
Second, comprehensively deepen state farm reform and accelerate the process of farm enterprise operation and reclamation area group operation reform. Along the path of enterprise-oriented development, it is necessary to gradually realize the enterprise-oriented economic functions and localized social functions of state-owned farms and build farms into true market entities. It is necessary to steadily advance the separation of government and enterprise and the separation of society and enterprise in state-owned farms, fully separate out social functions that can be transferred, and for farms that temporarily do not meet the conditions, realize internal separation of government and enterprise and of society and enterprise, and comprehensively rationalize enterprise operation, social management and public service functions. It is necessary to continue to improve the dual-layer agricultural operation system based on workers' family operations and with large farms coordinating small farms, actively advance appropriately scaled operations, and strengthen the unified operation, management and service functions of state-owned farms. In accordance with the direction of group-oriented reform, it is necessary to rationalize the management system and operating mechanism of reclamation areas, build a parent-subsidiary management system linked by capital, improve the modern enterprise system, improve the corporate governance structure, and continuously raise the level of internal enterprise management and market operation capacity. For reclamation areas that already have a group-oriented management framework, it is necessary to stabilize and improve the management system, accelerate the establishment and improvement of a corporate governance structure with coordinated operation and effective checks and balances, and realize full institutional group operation as soon as possible. For reclamation areas where state-owned farms are managed by cities and counties, it is necessary to actively create conditions and adopt market-oriented means to establish specialized and regional modern agricultural enterprise groups.
Third, accelerate modern agricultural construction and cultivate competitive state farm modern agricultural enterprise groups. State farms must give play to their unique advantages of a high degree of organization, prominent scale characteristics and a sound industrial system, and continue to be at the forefront nationwide in the promotion and application of scientific and technological achievements, the level of agricultural mechanization and industrialized operation capacity. At the same time, through vigorously developing new agricultural operation models such as “group company + farm + family farm,” they must strengthen the radiating, leading and demonstrative driving role for agricultural modernization. It is necessary to accelerate the implementation of the strategy of joint alliances and joint operations, focus on rice industry, dairy industry, rubber, seed industry and circulation to establish “China State Farm”-prefixed joint-stock companies, take capital as the link, accelerate the realization of a strategically coordinated layout of the entire industrial chain, promote the effective connection of links such as agricultural production, processing, circulation and trade marketing, and accelerate the transformation from a “large grain barn” to a “large grain merchant.” Based on the agricultural product quality traceability platform and with the building of the China State Farm brand as the starting point, promote resource integration and industrial structure adjustment, and accelerate the building of a food safety guarantee system from field to table and a modern agricultural industrial system with “resources, technology, capital and brand” as the core. (Wang Shoucong, the author is director of the State Farms Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture)