Why the way out for farmers should be in rural areas

Taking stock of the history of Chinese agriculture, it is truly a vast and sweeping epic. From ancient times to the present, agriculture has always been the top priority in China's development, and in every one of China's five-year plans today, agriculture is the most heavily emphasized part, with many support policies introduced. Over the years, assistance has been given to many impoverished agricultural regions, helping more farmers resolve the difficulties in their lives.

Although the reforms have achieved notable results, farmers are still a vulnerable group, living at the very bottom of society and providing food and warmth for the whole nation. Social development has pushed China's agricultural model toward large-scale, mechanized development. Although the results of this development look better and better on the whole, a careful analysis shows that this is not quite the case. The large-scale development of agriculture inevitably puts the real power of agriculture in the hands of a few, and it is only a few who benefit the most. The mechanized development of agriculture, meanwhile, strips a large rural workforce of the ability it relies on to survive, leaving them with no choice but to start their own businesses or go out to work. For farmers, starting a business not only lacks the necessary capital, but more importantly lacks technical and management experience, while migrant workers who go out to work are marginalized in the cities. Although they are physically in the city, their hearts have no sense of belonging, and most of the jobs they find do not even have a basic labor contract, let alone insurance and the like. This is also related to the fact that most farmers lack education and have no basic legal awareness. A large number of young and able-bodied rural workers have drained away to the cities, leaving only the elderly, the young, the sick and the disabled, and the villages have become hollowed-out villages. In such a cycle, the situation in rural areas becomes more and more severe.

Our country's agriculture needs to move toward more rational development, so that the elderly farmers are cared for in their final years, the able-bodied have work to do, and the young have room to grow.

First of all, farmers should be given work right at their own doorsteps. Yesterday, reading the newspaper, I saw a news item, "Fogang Creates Conditions for Migrant Workers to 'Find Employment at Their Doorsteps'." Isn't this a good place for farmers to go? Migrant workers no longer need to leave their homes to earn money, and while earning money they can also be reunited with their families. In this way, the problems of left-behind children and left-behind elderly people are also alleviated. Fogang County is just one example; each place should adapt to local conditions and develop enterprises, handicraft products and so on that suit its own local situation.

⟦NL> In addition, the level of rural education must be raised. Only when all farmers receive education can they develop better at their own doorsteps, use knowledge to change the current state of rural areas, and thereby also better advance the large-scale and mechanized development of agriculture.

Of course, we must also improve farmers' medical security and old-age security, so that the elderly, the young, the sick and the disabled among farmers all have support, and so that migrant workers working at their posts can devote themselves wholeheartedly to building their hometowns, building the "future of China" in the countryside.

Agriculture has always been a major issue in our country, but I believe that with the continuous improvement of policies and the development of society, the dual division between urban and rural areas will surely be broken. Rural areas and cities are merely different places to live, with no good or bad conditions to speak of. Farmers will no longer have to leave their hometowns to work, nor will they need to envy the superior conditions of city dwellers. China's rural areas will surely get better and better.