How can the agricultural national team become stronger?
In the new era, the agricultural reclamation cause can only be strengthened, not weakened
“Agricultural reclamation was established under specific historical conditions to undertake national missions. In essence, agricultural reclamation is a state-owned enterprise that relies on state-owned land, focuses on agricultural production and operation, and features economic, social and regional characteristics. After more than 60 years of hard struggle and arduous entrepreneurship, agricultural reclamation has made major contributions to safeguarding national food security, supporting national construction, and maintaining border stability.” said Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture.
According to reports, the current cultivated land area of agricultural reclamation is nearly 100 million mu, total grain output is 72 billion jin, and the commodity rate is as high as 90%; natural rubber, cotton, milk, and sugar crop output account for 45.9%, 27.3%, 11.6%, and 6.3% of the national total respectively. Agricultural reclamation has a high degree of large-scale, market-oriented and organized agricultural production, can be grasped, mobilized, and responded to urgently, and is a reliable guarantee for national food security and the supply of important agricultural products. According to estimates, the per capita cultivated land operated by employees in the national agricultural reclamation planting industry is about 2 hectares, far higher than the rural average. In recent years, large agricultural enterprise groups in agricultural reclamation have risen rapidly in competition, and 3 reclamation area groups have annual total operating income exceeding 100 billion yuan.
“Despite outstanding achievements, agricultural reclamation still has problems such as insufficiently flexible operating mechanisms, heavy social burdens, an unsound policy system, and production and operation difficulties in some state-owned farms, which require top-level design for the reform and development of agricultural reclamation at the central level.” Han Changfu said that after years of reform and development, as the backbone and representative of the state-owned agricultural economy, agricultural reclamation already has the foundation and conditions to undertake more important historical missions.
Han Changfu said that the success or failure of agricultural reclamation reform is not only related to the success or failure of state-owned agricultural enterprise reform, to national food security and the development of modern agriculture, but also to whether we can build a force capable of competing with international multinational companies and gaining competitive advantage, and moreover to whether we can grasp the initiative in the development of our country's agricultural and rural economy and consolidate the Party's governing foundation. It can be said that agricultural reclamation has a special position and important role in our country's agricultural modernization and overall economic and social development, its position is indispensable, its role is irreplaceable, and in the new era the agricultural reclamation cause can only be strengthened, not weakened.
Agricultural reclamation reform has the dual characteristics of both state-owned enterprise reform and agricultural and rural reform
Agricultural reclamation has its particularities. Han Changfu said that agricultural reclamation reform has the dual characteristics of both state-owned enterprise reform and agricultural and rural reform, and must be steadily advanced according to the principles of overall coordination, addressing both symptoms and root causes, linkage between upper and lower levels, and combining point and area. Specifically, this means “adhering to one direction, grasping two key points, holding three bottom lines, and clarifying four positions.”
Adhering to one direction means adhering to the direction of socialist market economy reform, innovating systems and mechanisms, promoting a more efficient, fairer and more sustainable agricultural reclamation economy, and through reform building agricultural reclamation into modern agricultural enterprise groups with international competitiveness.
Grasping two key points means that in development, the core is to safeguard national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products, and in reform, the main line is to promote farm enterpriseization and reclamation area groupization reform.
Holding three bottom lines means always adhering to agriculture as the foundation, focusing on developing appropriately scaled operations, ensuring the preservation and appreciation of state-owned capital, amplifying the function of state-owned capital, strictly preventing the loss of state-owned resources and assets, and absolutely not reforming away the state-owned economy, weakening agriculture, or reducing scale.
Clarifying four positions means striving to build agricultural reclamation into the national team for safeguarding national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products, a demonstration area for new-type agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, a vanguard in agricultural external cooperation, and a stabilizer for securing borders and stabilizing frontiers.
The path for agricultural reclamation reform is determined, with reclamation area groupization and farm enterpriseization as the main direction
Han Changfu introduced that the Opinions comprehensively elaborated on the ideas, principles, goals, and measures of agricultural reclamation reform, and systematically deployed agricultural reclamation reform mainly from 7 aspects including reclamation area groupization reform, focusing on answering major questions such as how reclamation areas should be reformed, how farms should be reformed, and how the personnel, asset and land management systems and mechanisms should be handled.
The Opinions clearly pointed out that groupization is the leading direction of reclamation area reform, and it is necessary to promote innovation in the operating systems and mechanisms of reclamation areas, gradually build a parent-subsidiary management system linked by capital, and build large modern agricultural enterprise groups.
“Making every effort to advance farm enterpriseization reform and focusing on building modern agricultural enterprise groups, this reform path both fits the actual situation of reclamation area development and is a strategic choice made by considering the international and domestic situations.” Han Changfu said, “At present, there is an urgent need, through reclamation area groupization and farm enterpriseization reform, to strengthen the aggregation and integration of advantageous resources, and around strategic agricultural industries build a number of modern agricultural enterprise groups with market competitiveness, industrial control, and social influence.”
Promoting the effective allocation of resource factors is also an important part of this agricultural reclamation reform. “Advancing the reorganization of resource factors is the key to improving the comprehensive strength and competitiveness of agricultural reclamation. Agricultural reclamation must unswervingly advance market-oriented reform and promote the rational allocation and efficient use of resource factors such as personnel, assets, and land.” Han Changfu said.
According to reports, according to the Opinions, agricultural reclamation will build a new labor and employment system, at the same time implement the establishment of a modern enterprise system, establish a state-owned asset supervision system that conforms to the characteristics of agricultural reclamation and focuses on capital management, build the entire agricultural industry chain with capital as the link, steadily carry out pilot mixed-ownership reform of agricultural reclamation enterprises, and increase efforts in enterprise listing and financing.
Proposing to steadily advance the capitalization and capitalization of agricultural reclamation land resources is a major highlight of the Opinions. Land is the most important means of production in agricultural reclamation, and the asset and capital value of agricultural reclamation land resources has long failed to be fully realized. To advance the reform and development of agricultural reclamation, it is necessary to make an effort on land, and manage, protect, and use state-owned agricultural reclamation land well. The Opinions clearly stipulate that for agricultural reclamation enterprises such as wholly state-owned enterprises and wholly state-owned companies approved by governments at or above the provincial level to implement authorized operation of state-owned assets, the originally operational state-owned allocated construction land and agricultural land they use may, upon approval, be disposed of by means of capital contribution at appraised value (equity contribution) or authorized operation. At the same time, the Opinions propose orderly carrying out pilot mortgage and guarantee using state-owned agricultural land use rights in agricultural reclamation. This is one of the highlights of agricultural reclamation reform and innovation.
Innovating the modes of state-owned capital operation and fiscal fund investment
Agricultural reclamation has many problems left over from history and heavy burdens. What key policies did this document introduce to support and promote the reform and development of agricultural reclamation?
Han Changfu said that advancing the reform and development of agricultural reclamation is a complex systematic project with heavy tasks and great difficulty, and relying solely on the strength of the agricultural reclamation departments is far from enough. The Opinions make clear that when local governments formulate plans in accordance with the law, such as economic and social development plans, urban and rural plans, overall land use plans, new-type urbanization development plans, and public service system plans, they must include agricultural reclamation in them and organize implementation simultaneously. Financial departments at all levels must, according to the needs of the agricultural reclamation management system and reform and development, steadily increase funding input and fully include agricultural reclamation within the coverage of national policies for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, enriching farmers, and improving people's livelihood. Han Changfu explained that agricultural reclamation consists of special enterprises, and not only are policies supporting state-owned enterprise reform applicable to agricultural reclamation, but all preferential agricultural policies and livelihood policies must also cover agricultural reclamation.
In addition, the Opinions also proposed innovating the modes of state-owned capital operation and fiscal fund investment. According to the spirit of the Opinions and the Guiding Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of State-Owned Enterprises, state-owned enterprises in agricultural reclamation must deeply advance mixed-ownership reform, carry out pilot restructuring and establishment of agricultural reclamation state-owned capital investment and operation companies, promote the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, amplify the function of state-owned capital, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state-owned capital operation. With fiscal funds as the guide, establish the China Agricultural Reclamation Industry Development Equity Fund, guide social capital to invest in reclamation area construction, form a multi-channel investment mechanism with government input as the main body, and focus on improving the effectiveness of fiscal fund input and the efficiency of capital allocation and operation.