How can farmers share more of the value-added benefits of the industrial chain?

For China to be strong, agriculture must be strong; for China to be beautiful, the countryside must be beautiful; for China to be prosperous, farmers must be prosperous. Making the agricultural industry bigger and stronger, improving the entire agricultural industrial chain, and accelerating the enhancement of agriculture's overall effects are both an inevitable choice for transforming the agricultural development model and an indispensable important means and development goal for strong agriculture, a beautiful countryside and prosperous farmers.

In recent years, China's agricultural industry has developed rapidly with tremendous achievements, providing solid support for making agriculture strong, the countryside beautiful and farmers prosperous. But it is undeniable that the problems of a short agricultural industrial chain and low product added value remain very prominent. If the industry is not strong, it is difficult for farmers to increase their incomes, their wallets cannot bulge, and consumption potential cannot be unleashed. Therefore, strengthening the agricultural industry is not only about strengthening agriculture and enriching farmers themselves, but also becomes a lasting support and new driving force for China's sustainable economic development.

To strengthen the industry, we must extend the industrial chain and value chain vertically and develop the "sixth industry." Although the added value generated by the primary industry accounts for only a small share of the total economy, the vast majority of the added value derived from the primary industry occurs in the secondary and tertiary industries. This is a universal law of economic development, and it is also the market logic behind why a jin of vegetables sells for a few yuan in the market but is bought from farmers for only a few mao. To adapt to the laws of economic development, we must strengthen the primary industry, optimize the secondary industry and invigorate the tertiary industry, integrate the development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and transform traditional agriculture into the "sixth industry." "1+2+3" equals 6, and "1×2×3" also equals 6. Whether by addition or multiplication, the "sixth industry" brings rich development space to agriculture and broad creative space to farmers. Let farmers be more than just "farmers," and let agriculture be more than just "agriculture." In the integration and extension of the industrial chain, vigorously promote industrialized agricultural operations, accelerate the development of deep processing of agricultural products, and focus on improving the circulation, sales and brand building of agricultural products, so that farmers can share the benefits of different links in the advancement of the entire agricultural industrial chain.

To strengthen the industry, we must expand the multiple functions of the industry horizontally and build "functional agriculture." With China's economic and social development, agriculture has gradually broken away from its previous monotonous positioning of overemphasizing economic functions and pure industry, and has come to display multiple functions such as ecological and cultural ones. The development of agriculture's functionality injects more vivid elements and more heartfelt connotations into traditional agriculture, and also brings greater value. People yearn for green mountains, and the leisure value of agriculture emerges; people long for clear waters, and the ecological value of agriculture rises; people recall their nostalgia, and the cultural value of agriculture is created. In current industrial development, we should rely on resource elements such as the agricultural natural environment, pastoral landscapes, agricultural facilities, agricultural industries and farming culture to vigorously cultivate leisure and sightseeing agriculture, develop rural leisure and vacation products, and tap the value of rural ecological leisure, tourism and sightseeing, and cultural education; at the same time, support the construction of a number of characteristic landscape tourism villages and towns with historical, regional and ethnic features. At the macro level, we should also formulate supportive policies on land use, finance and banking to promote the development of rural tourism and leisure, and implement tax preference policies.

To strengthen the industry, we must make good use of new technologies, new business forms and new models to build "smart agriculture." At present, technological innovation and model innovation have reached an explosive momentum, and the lives of urban residents have been profoundly changed, yet the agricultural sector has advanced slowly in this process. Urban people have gradually become accustomed to online shopping for clothing, food, housing and transportation, while the circulation of our agricultural products is still in a fragile state where "one rumor can destroy an industry"; people even pick brands when buying a light bulb, yet there are still not many agricultural products with nationally renowned famous brands. There are problems with the industry itself here - capital, experience and knowledge are the innate deficiencies of farmers and agriculture; but at the same time, this is also an issue that requires sufficient attention, investment and greater effort to give farmers a push and a pull. Letting new technologies, new business forms and new models penetrate into traditional agriculture will bring a multiplier effect.

Whether it is the sixth industry, functional agriculture or smart agriculture, the ultimate goal is to center on farmers sharing in the value-added benefits. The following phenomenon must not appear: industrial and commercial capital comes in, industrial parks and processing plants are built, products sell at high prices, yet farmers have nothing to do with it; even less should farmers be harmed because these big capital players have come and local GDP has risen. Of course, it is very difficult to upgrade and transform traditional industries by relying solely on farmers themselves. A minority must come in first, bringing capital and outstanding talent, and they must have the motivation to lead more farmers to share in the benefits along the industrial chain; the key is to establish and improve a long-term mechanism linking the interests of farmers and capital, explore the establishment of a mechanism for farmers to share in the benefits of the secondary and tertiary industries, and let farmers obtain the value-added benefits of the entire industrial chain.

Accelerating the transformation of the agricultural development model, making the agricultural industry bigger and stronger, and making it more complete and better, is the foundation, the root and also the result. Only by liberating agriculture from small-scale production by individual households, organizing it in domestic and international markets, and understanding, operating, developing and upgrading agriculture with a completely new concept, can farmers become not only producers, operators and organizers of modern agriculture, but also sharers of the benefits of every link in the entire industrial chain. In this way, how could agriculture not be strong? How could farmers not be prosperous? With strong agriculture and prosperous farmers, the countryside will certainly be a beautiful countryside and certainly a happy homeland for farmers.