How Are National Modern Agriculture Demonstration Zones Built? Summary of Key Points from the Symposium
On the first day of the 13th China International Agricultural Trade Fair, at 2:30 p.m. In the comprehensive exhibition area of National Modern Agriculture Demonstration Zones, Huang Jinming from Sunqiao Village, Taicang City, Jiangsu Province, was busy introducing his “crab rice” to visitors in front of the booth: “Crabs and rice grow together, so the rice is definitely not sprayed with pesticides and almost no fertilizer is used, otherwise the crabs could not stand it.” With crabs serving as the “notary” of rice quality, this bag of rice printed with the words “National-Level Taicang Modern Agriculture Demonstration Zone” sold for 15 yuan per jin.
While Huang Jinming was busy receiving visitors, the National Modern Agriculture Demonstration Zone Construction Symposium, with the theme of “innovation, transformation, leadership,” was also being held. The exhibition area was crowded with people, and the conference hall was packed.
Yu Xinrong, deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group and vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, delivered a keynote speech at the symposium. He pointed out that innovation is the first priority in demonstration zone construction, transformation is the pursuit of the times in demonstration zone construction, and leadership is the glorious duty of demonstration zone construction. As pioneering areas for modern agricultural development, demonstration zones should continue to serve well as the “vanguard” and “lead goats,” making new contributions to leading the development of modern agriculture across the country.
As the host of this year's Agricultural Trade Fair, Fujian Province has successively established 9 national-level modern agriculture demonstration zones, including Fuqing and Zhangzhou, and built 9 provincial-level farmers' entrepreneurship parks and 64 provincial-level farmers' entrepreneurship demonstration bases. Huang Qiyu, vice governor of Fujian Province, introduced Fujian's new measures for building modern agriculture demonstration zones at the symposium: increase policy support so that demonstration zones become a policy “lowland” for modern agriculture; implement project-driven development, encouraging and supporting demonstration zones to undertake various types of modern agriculture project construction; cultivate leading industries, determining 1-2 characteristic and advantageous industries in each demonstration zone; deepen reform and innovation, with each demonstration zone focusing on 2-3 key reform and innovation priorities.
In the process of striving to take the lead in realizing agricultural modernization, Jiangsu Province has focused on the construction of agricultural demonstration zones. Xu Ming, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and vice governor, introduced related practices at the symposium: highlight ensuring supply and increasing income, focusing on developing an agricultural layout of “one grain and two vegetables”; highlight basic support, advancing the transformation of cultivated land into high-quality farmland, equipment and facilities, and agricultural mechanization; highlight strengthening agriculture through science and technology, introducing and cultivating improved varieties, and establishing scientific cultivation models; highlight reform pilots, taking the lead in advancing various rural reform pilots within demonstration zones; highlight the construction of main entities, creating new leadership for modern agriculture demonstration and driving development.
⟦NL> In 2013, Jiangxi Province launched the Hundred Counties and Hundred Parks project across the province. Over the past 3 years, Jiangxi has created 11 national-level demonstration zones and 66 provincial-level demonstration zones. In the view of Yin Jianye, a member of the provincial government's Party Leadership Group, the achievements in demonstration zone construction were mainly due to five persistences: persisting in innovative concepts to develop parks, persisting in combining points and areas to promote parks, persisting in industrial integration to prosper parks, persisting in scientific and technological leadership to strengthen parks, and persisting in reform-driven development to invigorate parks.
Firmly Treat Innovation as the First Priority
Demonstration zone construction has blossomed across all provinces, with gratifying achievements. At present and for a period to come, as pioneering areas for modern agricultural development, it is necessary to unswervingly fully implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, hold high the banner of innovation, treat innovation as the first priority in demonstration zone construction, and carry it through the entire process of demonstration zone construction.
Yin Chengjie, former executive vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, specially invited researcher of the Counselors' Office of the State Council, and president of the Chinese Association of Agricultural Economics, pointed out in his speech that at present, agriculture in countries around the world is both interdependent and mutually exclusive, both complementary and mutually squeezing, both learning from one another and competing with one another, and both opening to one another and avoiding one another. Facing this new normal, it is necessary not only to accelerate the progress and innovation of agricultural science and technology, but also to accelerate the reform and innovation of agricultural institutions.
Modern agricultural development cannot be separated from modern financial support. In demonstration zone construction, a group of financial institutions such as China Development Bank and Postal Savings Bank of China have continuously innovated to provide financing and intellectual support for modern agriculture. Mei Shiwen, deputy director of the Third Evaluation Bureau of China Development Bank, introduced to officials from demonstration zones the bank's practices in innovating financing models, promoting the construction of the “vegetable basket” project in northern regions, advancing pilot mortgage loans on rural land contractual management rights, and coordinating the promotion of modern agriculture, new rural construction, and new urbanization.
Persist in Taking Transformation as the Pursuit of the Times
Against the background of agricultural structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading, demonstration zones must inevitably take the lead in transforming the agricultural development model and embark on a path of agricultural modernization featuring high output efficiency, safe products, resource conservation, and environmental friendliness.
Many demonstration zones are also major grain-producing counties and have long been trapped in the strange cycle of “increasing production is not difficult, increasing income is difficult; output is not low, efficiency is low; contributions are not small, returns are small; major grain-producing cities are financially poor cities.” Under the new situation of consecutive years of bumper grain harvests, accelerating transformation and upgrading has become an urgent task.
Yushu City in Jilin Province, long known as the “number one granary under heaven,” has firmly occupied first place since the state began evaluating major grain-producing counties in 2004. However, behind the halo, the original agricultural development model had also reached a point where it was difficult to continue. At the symposium, Xu Ge, vice mayor of Yushu City, introduced that in recent years Yushu City has accelerated agricultural transformation and upgrading, aiming at large-scale operation and striving to cultivate new types of business entities; aiming at industrial integration and fully advancing integrated development; aiming at facility-based production and striving to raise the level of material equipment; aiming at socialized services and focusing on improving various service organizations; and aiming at ecologicalized environment and devoting efforts to enhancing sustainable development capacity.
Promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas is an effective way for demonstration zones to achieve transformational leaps. Zhu Ming, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Engineering, proposed at the symposium that the integration of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries can form many new industries, new business forms, and new models, stimulate farmers' vitality for creation, innovation, and entrepreneurship, help cultivate new economic growth points, and better meet the consumption needs of urban and rural residents.
Always Take Leadership as a Glorious Duty
As the “lead goats” of modern agricultural construction, demonstration zones bear the mission of driving the accelerated development of agricultural modernization in larger regions and broader areas. In the view of Zhai Huqu, a member of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress and former president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, demonstration zones, as important demonstration entities for building modern agriculture, should not only play a driving role at the material level in window display, technology promotion, and industrial leadership, but also actively explore in such aspects as farmland institutions, farming systems, rural finance and insurance, and agricultural management methods and organizational forms.
In January this year, Shanghai launched a new journey of building a national modern agriculture demonstration zone on a whole-institution basis. Sun Lei, director of the Shanghai Municipal Agricultural Commission, introduced at the symposium that from this year to 2020, Shanghai will advance demonstration zone construction by implementing two three-year action plans. In the first three-year action plan, Shanghai will complete eleven tasks and build a total of 42 key projects in 9 major categories.
Mechanism innovation in demonstration zones has always been a major magic weapon for leading the transformation and upgrading of modern agriculture, and the “four-ticket mechanism” of Wuxing District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, is one example. Wang Xiuqin, deputy district head of Wuxing District, Huzhou City, introduced to various demonstration zones the district's specific practices in innovating the “rice ticket” mechanism in large-scale land transfer operations, innovating the “housing ticket” mechanism in rural housing demolition and resettlement, innovating the “stock ticket” mechanism in the operation and distribution of collective assets, and innovating the “land ticket” mechanism in revitalizing village-level retained land.
At the symposium, relevant officials from various demonstration zones felt greatly gratified by past construction achievements, and were even more aware that future demonstration zone construction requires redoubled efforts, using reform and innovation as the driving force to lead the transformation and upgrading of modern agriculture.