How can urban modern agriculture be accelerated? The General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture issues guidelines
In order to thoroughly implement the deployment of the "National Modern Agriculture Development Plan (2011-2015)" on adhering to classified guidance, key breakthroughs, and phased progress, encouraging the suburbs of large and medium-sized cities to take the lead in achieving agricultural modernization, and to fully leverage the emergency support function of urban agriculture, the following opinions are hereby put forward on accelerating the development of urban modern agriculture.
I. The significance of developing urban modern agriculture
(1) It is conducive to comprehensively optimizing the layout of agricultural productivity. In recent years, around deepening the strategic adjustment of the agricultural structure and optimizing the regional layout of agricultural products, our Ministry has successively promulgated and implemented the regional layout plans for superior agricultural products and the regional layout plans for specialty agricultural products, which have played an important role in leveraging the comparative advantages of agriculture and building industrial belts for bulk agricultural products and specialty agricultural products. On this basis, clarifying the overall approach and key tasks for developing urban modern agriculture is of great significance for accelerating the formation of a national agricultural productivity layout featuring positive interaction between urban suburbs, superior agricultural product production areas, and specialty agricultural product production areas.
(2) It is conducive to ensuring the effective supply of agricultural products in large and medium-sized cities. As city scales continue to expand and populations continue to increase, the demand for agricultural products in large and medium-sized cities is growing rigidly. Practice in recent years has shown that large-scale, long-distance cross-regional circulation of agricultural products, especially fresh agricultural products, not only increases purchase and sales costs and heightens quality and safety risks, but also means that production fluctuations in main producing areas caused by various reasons quickly spread to urban agricultural product markets. Therefore, accelerating the development of urban modern agriculture in large and medium-sized cities and maintaining a certain capacity for self-sufficiency in fresh food is an important foundation for ensuring the supply of agricultural products and stabilizing agricultural product markets.
(3) It is conducive to improving the urban ecological and living environment. Rice fields are artificial wetlands, and vegetable fields are artificial green spaces. Urban agriculture integrates production, living, and ecological functions, and plays an important role in flood control and drainage, water conservation, soil and water conservation, and air purification. In particular, it can provide green natural landscapes and tangible expressions of farming civilization, meeting the growing spiritual needs of urban residents for experiencing pastoral life, tourism, and leisure. Accelerating the development of urban modern agriculture is an important way to improve the urban ecological and living environment, enrich the cultural life of urban residents, maintain urban ecological balance, and promote the coordinated development of humans and nature.
(4) It is conducive to promoting farmers' employment and income growth. Although farmers in the suburbs of large and medium-sized cities have higher income levels than those in agricultural and pastoral areas, there is still a relatively large gap compared with urban residents. While continuing to promote the transfer of rural labor, accelerating the development of urban modern agriculture and vigorously guiding urban capital, technology, talent, and other advanced production factors into agriculture, promoting the development of leisure agriculture, agricultural product processing, and facility agriculture, and raising the level of agricultural industrialization and socialized services will help create more employment and income-generating opportunities for farmers and even urban residents.
(5) It is conducive to achieving “synchronization of the three urbanizations.” Urban agriculture is geographically located around cities, functionally serves urban development, and interacts closely with urban industry and commerce in terms of resource factors. It is an effective carrier for advancing “synchronization of the three urbanizations.” The "National Modern Agriculture Development Plan (2011—2015)" explicitly lists “multi-functional agricultural areas in the suburbs of large cities” as areas to “take the lead in achieving regional modernization.” Accelerating the development of urban modern agriculture is conducive to giving play to the functions of demonstration, driving, and radiation, raising the level of synchronized development of the “three urbanizations,” balancing urban and rural development and coordinating industry-agriculture relations, and promoting the formation of a new pattern of integrated urban and rural economic and social development.
II. Goals and tasks of developing urban modern agriculture
(6) Take the lead in achieving agricultural modernization. Following the general laws of modern agricultural development and the actual needs of urban agriculture development, in accordance with the overall requirements of building high-yield, high-quality, efficient, ecological, and safe agriculture, take balancing urban and rural development as the basic strategy, take ensuring the safe and effective supply of major agricultural products and promoting farmers' income growth as the primary task, take gathering advanced production factors as an important means, and take innovating systems and mechanisms as a powerful driving force. Continuously optimize the layout and structure, develop the multiple functions of agriculture, accelerate the transformation of the development mode, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, improve comprehensive agricultural benefits, and strive for the suburbs of large and medium-sized cities to take the lead in achieving agricultural modernization. On the basis of stabilizing grain production, strive through 3-5 years of effort to build urban agriculture into an important supply area for urban “shopping basket” products, a demonstration area for agricultural modernization, a gathering area for advanced agricultural production factors, a model area for multi-functional agricultural development, and a pioneering area for rural reform.
(7) Stabilize grain production. Large and medium-sized cities should attach importance to grain production, clarify the grain production capacity targets and necessary self-sufficiency rate targets within their jurisdictions, share the responsibility for national food security, and establish and improve the assessment mechanism for grain production tasks. Rationally divide agricultural functional zones and cultivated land protection zones, strictly implement the compensation system for cultivated land requisition and occupation, resolutely eliminate situations such as “occupying without compensating,” “occupying more and compensating less,” and “occupying superior land and compensating with inferior land,” ensure that the area of cultivated land does not decrease, its use does not change, and its quality improves, and effectively stabilize the grain sown area. Strengthen agricultural infrastructure construction, carry out high-standard farmland construction, renovate low- and medium-yield fields on a large scale, vigorously develop water-saving agriculture, and vigorously promote soil fertility improvement measures such as raising soil organic matter and soil testing and formulated fertilization. Improve field irrigation and drainage ditches, motor-pumped wells, and other farmland water conservancy facilities, increase the effective irrigated area of farmland, improve supporting facilities such as tractor roads and manure accumulation facilities, and enhance disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities. Accelerate agricultural science and technology innovation and the promotion and application of technology, develop modern seed industry, vigorously advance agricultural mechanization, and promote the matching of improved varieties with improved methods and the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomic techniques, providing strong support for the stable development of grain production.
(8) Do a good job in the “shopping basket” project. Promote the implementation of the “shopping basket” mayor responsibility system, build the “vegetable garden” well, and manage the “vegetable stall” well. Rationally determine the retained quantity of land for producing “shopping basket” products, especially for leafy vegetables, fresh eggs, fresh milk, aquatic products, and other products with relatively high requirements for transportation and freshness preservation, ensure that the existing self-sufficiency capacity does not decline, and effectively strengthen the emergency support function for urban “shopping basket” products. Accelerate the construction of a number of facility vegetable bases, large-scale livestock and poultry farms, and standardized healthy aquaculture demonstration farms, and focus on raising the level of facility-based production and pest and disease prevention and control. Strengthen the construction of field pre-cooling, cold storage and preservation, and other facilities in main producing areas, improve cold-chain logistics, and promote balanced market availability of fresh agricultural products. Promote the upgrading and transformation of agricultural product wholesale markets, and improve the retail terminal system including farmers' markets, community vegetable stores, chain supermarkets, and weekend vegetable markets. Support cooperatives and leading enterprises in direct supply and direct sales, actively develop e-commerce, and provide convenience for the daily lives of urban residents. Study and solve the problems of vehicles transporting and delivering fresh agricultural products entering the city and parking. Strengthen cooperation with out-of-town production bases, implement the reserve system for important “shopping basket” products, improve the measures for using the non-staple food price adjustment fund, innovate the use of agricultural insurance and other financial instruments, and explore the establishment of a price stabilization mechanism for “shopping basket” products. Improve the market information monitoring system for “shopping basket” products, increase the release of production and sales information, and guide smooth production and sales.
(9) Strengthen supervision of agricultural product quality and safety. Accelerate the improvement of agricultural product quality and safety testing, certification, emergency response, and risk assessment systems in large and medium-sized cities, comprehensively establish public service institutions for township agricultural product quality and safety supervision, and vigorously strengthen capacity building for agricultural product quality and safety assurance. Establish and improve the systems for origin clearance and market access, do a good job in production-sales linkage and joint prevention and control, and ensure that agricultural products marketed in large and medium-sized cities are quality and safe and that consumers can eat with confidence. Firmly focus on production bases, leading enterprises, professional cooperatives, family farms (ranches), and large-scale breeding households, take the lead in implementing standardized agricultural production, and raise the quality and safety level of agricultural products. Strengthen supervision of agricultural inputs, carry out governance of the production environment, standardize technical operating procedures, implement production record-keeping and packaging labeling management, and fully use modern information technology to take the lead in achieving traceable management throughout the entire process from field to table. Firmly focus on wholesale distribution markets, key distribution enterprises, and major large-scale merchants, adopt methods such as setting up quality inspection stations and mobile testing vehicles, strengthen inspection and supervisory spot checks of out-of-town products entering the market, resolutely prohibit unqualified products from being marketed and traded, and promptly notify the agricultural departments in the places of origin.
(10) Actively develop leisure agriculture and ecological agriculture. Adhere to taking agriculture as the foundation, farmers as the main body, and rural areas as the carrier, focus on the agricultural production process, farmers' working life, and rural customs and landscapes, coordinate planning and design, strengthen distinctive creativity, and do a good job in creating demonstration bases, cultivating well-known brands, building service systems, tapping local culture, and creating premium routes. Protect ancient villages, ancient dwellings, and rural landscapes, and focus on cultivating a number of leisure agriculture demonstration sites and clustered villages with distinctive themes and prominent characteristics. Innovate the public service model for leisure agriculture, rely on the existing information networks of agricultural departments to gradually establish and improve a public service network for leisure agriculture, and build a seamless matching mechanism between urban demand and rural supply. Firmly establish the concept of green and low-carbon development, and strictly control the transfer of urban and industrial “three wastes” to rural areas. Actively develop healthy aquaculture, strengthen pollution prevention and control in livestock and poultry breeding, integrate and promote practical technologies such as water saving, fertilizer saving, and energy saving, promote cleaner agricultural production, and effectively prevent and control agricultural non-point source pollution. Expand the scale and scope of rural clean engineering construction, build facilities for the treatment and utilization of organic waste such as straw, manure, domestic garbage, and sewage according to local conditions, develop rural biogas, promote the resource utilization of rural waste, and build a beautiful homeland for farmers to live happily.
(11) Continuously enhance the capacity for radiation and driving. Support main producing areas in setting up direct sales windows, distribution centers, and specialty stores in cities. Vigorously develop the agricultural convention and exhibition economy, cultivate a number of distinctive brand exhibitions, and promote interregional agricultural cooperation. Actively provide convenient services for main producing areas to carry out promotional activities in cities, and promote production-sales linkage of agricultural products in multiple forms, at multiple levels, through multiple channels, and with high efficiency. Actively develop primary processing and deep processing of agricultural products, enrich product structure, extend the industrial chain, and meet the diverse food needs of cities. Cultivate a number of large processing and circulation enterprise groups, encourage and support leading enterprises to improve processing facilities and equipment conditions, promote the clustering and agglomeration of leading enterprises, promote the organizational model in which leading enterprises connect with farmers' professional cooperatives and drive farmers, and enhance the ability to drive the development of production bases around cities. Build a number of high-standard, high-starting-point, and high-level agricultural demonstration bases or parks, improve the infrastructure and production conditions of the bases or parks, raise service levels, make the bases or parks important platforms for enterprise incubation, technology research and development, achievement transformation, and talent exchange, and better drive the development of surrounding agriculture.
(12) Lead the informatization of agricultural production and operation. Accelerate the integrated application and demonstration of modern information technologies and equipment such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and new-generation mobile communications in urban modern agriculture, achieve deep integration of information technology and urban agriculture, advance the digitization, automation, and intelligentization of urban modern agricultural production, and accelerate the process of urban agricultural modernization. Accelerate informatization construction in the circulation field of urban modern agriculture, and improve informatization capabilities in product trading, logistics distribution, product quality testing, and other aspects. Encourage the construction of agricultural e-commerce platforms, carry out online transactions, bidding auctions, and product distribution, and provide information services for urban residents and agricultural producers. Vigorously promote informatization construction among agriculture-related enterprises and farmers' professional cooperative organizations in large and medium-sized cities, and actively promote the deep application of information technology in agricultural production, operation, management, and services.
III. Safeguard measures for developing urban modern agriculture
(13) Strengthen organizational guidance. Promote the implementation of the “shopping basket” mayor responsibility system, further strengthen organizational leadership, clarify the division of responsibilities, strengthen coordination and cooperation, form joint work forces, improve working mechanisms suited to the development of urban modern agriculture, and ensure that all policies and measures are implemented effectively. All localities should promptly formulate special plans for the development of urban modern agriculture and actively strive to incorporate them into overall plans such as urban development and land use, promoting the coordinated and sustainable development of urban modern agriculture.
(14) Strengthen pilot demonstrations. Encourage all localities to pioneer and experiment first and take the lead in development, strive to form a number of typical examples that can represent the development direction of urban modern agriculture, and use points to drive broader development and demonstrate and drive development in other regions. The Ministry of Agriculture will, in conjunction with advancing the construction of modern agriculture demonstration zones, select and recognize a number of urban modern agriculture demonstration zones with good basic conditions, great development potential, and strong demonstrative and leading roles, and actively explore ways to advance the construction of urban modern agriculture.
(15) Strengthen policy support. Focus on aspects such as developing the production of “shopping basket” products, improving the agricultural insurance system, improving the agricultural ecological compensation mechanism, promoting agricultural science and technology innovation and extension, invigorating agricultural product market circulation, and developing leisure and ecological agriculture, study and issue targeted policy measures, and accelerate the improvement of the policy system supporting the development of urban modern agriculture. Continuously increase financial support for the development of urban modern agriculture, and gradually build a diversified investment pattern guided by government investment and with enterprises and farmers as the main investors.
(16) Strengthen information and publicity. Establish and improve the statistical system for urban modern agriculture, grasp the supply situation and market dynamics of agricultural products in large and medium-sized cities, strengthen information release, and rationally guide farmers' production and residents' consumption. Carefully summarize the experiences and practices of various localities in developing urban modern agriculture, carry out publicity and promotion in multiple forms, and form a good atmosphere of mutual learning and mutual promotion. Pay attention to theoretical research, explore the laws of urban modern agriculture development, use practical results to enrich theoretical content, use theoretical innovation to promote practical exploration, and better provide theoretical support for the development of urban modern agriculture.
General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture
August 6, 2012