The Development Direction of Agricultural Industrialization Under the New Situation
Agricultural industrialization is an innovation in China's agricultural management system and mechanism, and it is the direction of modern agricultural development. Accurately grasping the new requirements and new tasks of agricultural industrialization under the new situation, and clarifying the thinking and priorities for advancing the work, are of great practical significance for stimulating the vitality of agricultural industrialization development and accelerating the advancement of agricultural modernization.
Accurately grasp the new tasks of agricultural industrialization development
Under the new situation, in the face of the influence of the external environment and the needs of its own growth, the development of agricultural industrialization must take into account the national economy and global agriculture, consolidate its foundation and cultivate its vitality, turn challenges into opportunities, and inject new vitality into traditional functions.
(1) Better promote farmers' connection with the market. In the early stage of reform and opening up, with the gradual implementation of household contract management, the gradual development of the market economy, and the continuous adjustment of the agricultural industrial structure, the contradiction between the surge in agricultural product output and the unsound market circulation system, and between farmers' low awareness of the commodity economy and the increasingly open and active market, became more and more prominent. Against this background, industrialized agricultural operation emerged as the times required. By developing contract farming and leading thousands upon thousands of farming households into the market, it became the breakthrough solution for connecting household-based agricultural operation with the market. In recent years, on the basis of household contract management, new types of agricultural operating entities such as family farms and farmer cooperatives have developed rapidly, with larger operating scale and a higher degree of commercialization than ordinary farmers, and a more urgent need to effectively connect with the market to reduce risks. At the same time, agricultural product consumption has shown a trend toward diversification and quality, and the desire to accurately grasp market changes is stronger than ever before. Vigorously developing agricultural industrialization, encouraging leading enterprises to adopt methods such as market surveys, product design, and customer marketing, to study the market, tap the market, and open up the market, to transform effective consumer demand into agricultural product production orders, and to transform fleeting market changes into decisions on processing, sales, and storage of agricultural products, so as to fully eliminate the information asymmetry between supply and the market.
(2) Better promote the growth of farmers' income. This has always been the fundamental starting point and ultimate goal of industrialized agricultural operation. After more than 20 years of development practice, various types of agricultural industrialization organizations have continuously explored mechanisms for sharing benefits and bearing risks together, forming interest linkage methods such as employment-based operation, entrusted planting and breeding, and guaranteed-price purchasing, sharing the fruits of agricultural industrialization development with farmers, and playing an important role in continuously narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents. In 2014, the per capita net income of farmers reached 9892 yuan, a real increase of 9.2% year on year, and the gap with urban residents' income entered below 3:1 for the first time. At the same time, it must also be noted that the absolute income gap between urban and rural residents is still very large, and there is an urgent need to fully release the positive factors for increasing farmers' income. This year's Central Document No. 1 proposed promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas and deeply tapping the income-increasing potential within agriculture. Vigorously developing agricultural industrialization, cultivating and strengthening leading enterprises and other operating entities, guiding clustered and concentrated development, creating complete industrial chains, realizing deep integration and organic connection of agricultural product production, processing, sales, circulation, and services, improving the interest linkage and sharing mechanisms of all entities, realizing the "return flow" of the value of the secondary and tertiary industries to the primary industry, and making farmers the direct beneficiaries.
(3) Better promote the optimized allocation of resource factors. China's pace of development in industrialization, urbanization, and informatization has been very fast, but the development of agricultural modernization lags relatively behind. Although it is already a major agricultural country, it is not yet a strong agricultural country. In 2014, China's total agricultural added value was 5.8 trillion yuan, and the average added value created by each agricultural laborer was only more than 20,000 yuan, about one-fifth and one-quarter of the added value created by employees in the secondary and tertiary industries respectively. Compared with developed countries in Europe and America, agricultural labor productivity is even lower. This is directly related to decentralized agricultural operation and low efficiency in the allocation of production factors. Vigorously developing agricultural industrialization, integrating and intensifying resource factors, building organizational chains, value chains, and supply chains, attracting all kinds of outstanding talent to devote themselves to rural areas, guiding scientific production factor allocation methods and management models into agriculture, promoting the application of advanced production technologies and modern material equipment, advancing specialized and intensive agricultural development, and improving labor productivity and total factor productivity.
(4) Better promote leading enterprises to become bigger and stronger. Cultivating leading enterprises with competitive advantages and driving capacity is a prerequisite for developing agricultural industrialization. In recent years, under policy guidance and enterprises' own efforts, leading enterprises have maintained relatively rapid development momentum. At present, there are 126,000 leading enterprises of various types nationwide, achieving annual sales revenue of 8.6 trillion yuan. Large leading enterprises are constantly increasing in number. There are nearly 20,000 leading enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 100 million yuan, 70 leading enterprises exceeding 10 billion yuan, and 113 national key leading enterprises listed domestically or overseas. Large leading enterprises such as New Hope, Shuanghui, Mengniu, and Yili have emerged. However, compared with the four major international agricultural companies ABCD, leading enterprises are large but not strong, with obvious gaps in independent innovation capability, resource allocation efficiency, quality and efficiency, and other aspects. At the same time, looking internally within China, development between regions remains unbalanced. In the western region and old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and poverty-stricken areas, leading enterprises are few in number and weak in strength. If the dragon head is not strong, it is also difficult for the farmer cooperatives, family farms, and farmers that form the dragon body and dragon tail to become strong. Under the new normal, leading enterprises face relatively great operating pressure and are at a critical stage of transformation and upgrading. There is an urgent need to further optimize the policy environment, solve prominent problems faced by leading enterprises in their development, and create a group of large leading enterprises that lead domestic agricultural development and have a place in the international arena.
Advancing agricultural industrialization work requires new actions
At present, modern agricultural development is facing a new situation of profound structural adjustment and deepening reform. It is necessary to fully understand the great significance of developing agricultural industrialization from an overall and strategic height, seize new opportunities, meet new challenges, grasp the direction, make precise efforts, and make achievements.
(1) Update development concepts. What kind of development concepts are adhered to and what kind of development principles are upheld determine the general direction of agricultural industrialization at present and for some time to come. It is necessary to persist in following market laws, let the market "speak," encourage leading enterprises to compete in an orderly manner and allow the superior to prevail while the inferior are eliminated, and respect market entities' independent choice of suitable linkage models. It is necessary to persist in reform and innovation, pay attention to giving play to the innovative role of agricultural industrialization in building a new agricultural operating system and improving the basic rural operating system, and promote the common development of household operation, collective operation, cooperative operation, and enterprise operation. It is necessary to persist in integrated development, properly handle the interest relationships among operating entities such as farmers, family farms, farmer cooperatives, and leading enterprises, and actively explore new mechanisms conducive to the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas. It is necessary to persist in sustainable development, plan agriculture with modern industrial concepts, pay attention to scientific and technological innovation and ecological protection, and promote the deep development and comprehensive utilization of agricultural resources.
(2) Transform the development model. In recent years, China's agriculture has achieved remarkable results, but the ecological environment has been seriously damaged, and carrying capacity is getting closer and closer to its limit. Relying on innovation-driven development and transforming the agricultural development model is extremely urgent. Leading enterprises integrate various advanced production factors and must accelerate transformation and upgrading and play a good exemplary and leading role. It is necessary to guide scientific and technological innovation, encourage leading enterprises to establish technology research and development and product design centers, and improve independent innovation capability. Promote clustered and concentrated development of leading enterprises, carry out collaborative innovation among enterprises, break through a number of key common technologies in the industry, carry out application demonstrations, and enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of agriculture. It is necessary to encourage innovation in business formats, conform to the "Internet Plus" trend, support leading enterprises in actively using platform technologies such as e-commerce, mobile internet, big data, cloud computing, and 3D printing, and develop new business formats such as fresh food e-commerce, customized agriculture, creative agriculture, and smart agriculture. It is necessary to strengthen talent training. Bosses are the "master switch" for the transformation and upgrading of leading enterprises. Increase training for bosses so that they can broaden their horizons and enhance their capabilities, and become the "leading geese" in the transformation and upgrading of leading enterprises. It is necessary to promote green development, organically combine it with improving the agricultural ecological environment, support leading enterprises in building high-quality and ecological agricultural product bases, increase the utilization and development of by-products of agricultural product processing and their organic waste, and vigorously develop the circular economy.
(3) Innovate linkage mechanisms. Establishing and improving interest linkage mechanisms and realizing mutual assistance and win-win results between leading enterprises and farmers are the core and driving force for the healthy development of agricultural industrialization. It is necessary to guide leading enterprises to adhere to the direction of serving the people, actively develop contract farming, and improve the order fulfillment rate by standardizing contract content, clarifying responsibility procedures, and carrying out integrity education. Support leading enterprises in providing farmers with socialized services such as agricultural input purchasing and sales, technical guidance, market information, product sales, and logistics distribution. Encourage leading enterprises to set up risk funds to respond to natural, disease, and market risks and effectively protect farmers' interests. Guide farmers to invest production factors such as land management rights, funds, and technology as shares to develop industrialized operation, implement forms such as cooperative systems and shareholding systems, and transform the purchase-sale transaction relationship in the production link into a property rights cooperation relationship across the entire industrial chain. Encourage places with conditions to pilot first and explore innovative experiences that can be replicated and promoted. It should be pointed out that no matter which interest linkage method is supported for development, the principles of voluntariness, equality and mutual benefit, and shared risk must be followed, and factors such as economic and social development conditions, the level of modern agricultural development, enterprise operating capacity, and farmers' degree of understanding must be fully considered.
(4) Contribute to building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. In building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the focus and difficulty lie in rural areas, and the key lies in increasing farmers' income. Agricultural industrialization has always played an important role in this regard, and at present it is necessary to closely combine with promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas and make new contributions. In increasing agricultural benefits, vigorously develop one village one product, tap the multiple functions of agriculture, and cultivate and form leading industries with distinctive advantages locally; actively develop the "sixth industry," realize nearby purchase and storage of agricultural products and local processing and transformation, and leave the value-added benefits of agricultural product processing to the locality and to farmers. In increasing farmers' employment and entrepreneurship, support leading enterprises in giving priority to hiring local farmers, incorporating them into the modern production and operation system, carrying out professional technical training, cultivating a group of high-quality farmers who are cultured, understand science and technology, and know management, and enabling them to obtain the income effect of human capital spillover. Encourage leading enterprises to expand service networks and provide strong support for farmers to start businesses according to local conditions around leisure agriculture, primary processing of agricultural products, and distinctive planting and breeding, promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation. In increasing farmers' income, guide leading enterprises to drive the common development of ordinary farmers and large-scale operators, strengthen production-sales connection, and let farmers share the value-added income of the secondary and tertiary industries in the form of guaranteed-price purchasing, premium purchasing, and secondary profit rebates. It is necessary to fully recognize that the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is the process of the great development of agricultural industrialization. The higher the level of moderate prosperity, the more necessary it is to accelerate the development of agricultural industrialization.
Strengthen supportive policies and measures for agricultural industrialization
Market guidance, government services, and policy support are important guarantees for promoting the healthy development of agricultural industrialization. Agricultural industrialization authorities at all levels should proactively take their positions, proactively shoulder responsibilities, base themselves on reform and innovation, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, plan comprehensively, and make thousands upon thousands of farmers, family farms, farmer cooperatives, leading enterprises, and others active, gathering them into a huge driving force for agricultural industrialization development.
(1) Improve understanding and grasp of the situation. On the whole, the tasks of agricultural industrialization at each stage are different. In the exploratory initial stage, the focus was on solving the problem of connecting millions of small producers with the ever-changing large market. In the rapid growth stage, the focus was on responding to the challenges of WTO accession and improving the competitiveness of China's agriculture. In the stage of prosperous development, the focus is on promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas and accelerating the transformation of the agricultural development model. The thread running through these three stages is promoting farmers' income growth and modern agricultural development. It is necessary to adapt to stage-specific changes, improve understanding of trends, and strengthen strategic planning and forward-looking deployment.
(2) Give play to the decisive role of the market in allocating resources. In industrial development, it is necessary to proceed from reality, adapt to local conditions, develop whatever industry is suitable, and develop whatever has advantages, encouraging localities to embark on paths of agricultural industrialization with distinctive features. In cultivating leading enterprises, strengthen the dominant position of enterprises and focus on stimulating their vitality and creativity. It is necessary to adhere to principles. The original intention of cultivating and strengthening leading enterprises is to drive industry and drive farmers. It is not permissible, for the sake of supporting the strong and the excellent, to grant many policy preferences and conveniences without principle, distorting the value orientation of leading enterprise development. In operating behavior, what leading enterprises and farmers produce, how much they produce, what methods they use to produce and process, where it circulates, what the price is, and so on, as long as they do not violate laws and regulations, must not be interfered with. In driving models, fully respect the wishes of operating entities, and do not engage in forced matching, forcibly promote production-sales connection, or assign tasks to leading enterprises such as poverty alleviation, increasing employment, transferring land, and purchasing agricultural products, thereby increasing enterprise burdens. In dispute handling, respect the market entity status of all parties involved and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of both farmers and leading enterprises.
(3) Better give play to the role of the government. On the one hand, do a good job in policy support. In subsidy policy, the focus is on supporting and guiding leading enterprises to closely link interests with farmers. Through the method of rewarding instead of subsidizing, support leading enterprises in providing loan guarantees for farmers and farmer cooperatives, support leading enterprises in making secondary rebates to cooperating farmers, and encourage leading enterprises to absorb farmers' shareholding for dividend distribution. In tax policy, the focus is on creating a fair and sustainable tax environment. In financial policy, the focus is on using fiscal funds to leverage financial capital. In foreign trade policy, the focus is on supporting leading enterprises in going global to open up markets in countries along the "Belt and Road." Do a good job in guidance and services for leading enterprises going global, conduct in-depth research on the import quota issue for agricultural products produced overseas by leading enterprises, use government diplomacy to study and solve major problems, and boost leading enterprises going global to achieve new development.
On the other hand, do a good job in supervision. Adhere to the strictest farmland protection system, and strictly prohibit illegal non-agricultural construction under the pretext of developing agricultural industrialization; effectively protect farmers' interests, urge leading enterprises to strictly fulfill order contracts, not depress grades or prices, not accept less or refuse to accept goods, and promptly pay raw material payments, share dividends, wages and benefits, land transfer rent, and so on; protect consumer rights and interests, maintain market order, and ensure the supply of agricultural products; implement the main responsibility for quality, and prevent substandard products from entering the market; encourage industry associations to organize and issue self-discipline norms or conventions and regularly release social responsibility reports. Resolutely eliminate from the ranks of leading enterprises those enterprises that have major quality and safety problems, illegally use farmland, or even cheat and harm farmers, and establish a good image for leading enterprises.