How can farmers' incomes be increased? Finding answers from the farmers' perspective

Moderate prosperity or not, the key lies with our fellow rural residents. The core of the “three rural issues” is the issue of farmers, and the core of the issue of farmers is the issue of increasing farmers' incomes. Weak growth in farmers' incomes affects the improvement of farmers' living standards and constrains the development of the rural economy. Only when farmers become prosperous and live a good life with ample food and clothing can the Chinese Dream come true. In the past, the issue of increasing farmers' incomes was mostly considered from a top-down perspective. It is suggested to analyze the issue of increasing farmers' incomes from the individual micro perspective of farmers, from the bottom up.

Land is the foundation for increasing farmers' incomes. It is necessary to accelerate the reform and innovation of the rural land system. Reform the rural land requisition system, adjust the land revenue distribution policy, substantially raise the compensation standards for land requisition, further improve the compensation mechanism of “land for social security,” and thoroughly solve the livelihood problems of land-lost farmers. Actively explore methods such as land shareholding, leasing and real estate development, so that farmers can obtain long-term returns from land development. Adhere to the principles of being lawful, voluntary and compensated, standardize the rural land transfer mechanism, and guarantee farmers' land management rights and income rights. Coordinate urban and rural labor resources, and use market-based operation methods to strengthen the management of and services for farmers working in cities. Establish a long-term mechanism for the transfer of rural labor, provide relatively complete services such as information services, job introduction, employment guidance and labor contract signing for the transfer of surplus rural labor, and drive income growth for farmers through full employment.

⟦NL> The difficulty of financing is a chasm lying across the path to increasing farmers' incomes. Increasing the input of credit funds is an important part of increasing farmers' incomes. Various financial institutions should actively explore multiple forms of microcredit, and further expand small-amount credit loans to rural households and rural household joint guarantee loans. Accelerate the construction of a credit guarantee mechanism, focus on developing credit guarantee institutions serving rural households and leading enterprises, and actively explore and implement various guarantee forms such as chattel mortgage. Let farmers, like urban residents, be able to obtain mortgage loans through immovable property such as houses. Help farmers increase their incomes by strengthening credit support. At the same time, through policy measures, reduce farmers' expenditures and thereby achieve income growth in disguised form. Continuously increase investment in rural basic education to reduce farmers' education expenditures. Strengthen the construction of the rural public health system; on the basis of strengthening the construction of rural medical and health networks, improve the new rural cooperative medical care system centered on pooled funds for major illnesses, and minimize farmers' medical burden to the greatest extent. Continuously expand the participation rate and insured amount of rural old-age insurance, and eliminate farmers' worries. Improve the rural social assistance system, such as the rural medical assistance system, the rural student assistance system, and the disaster relief and relief system.

Adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure is the key to increasing farmers' incomes. Crop farming is still the main source of income for most farmers, and the income growth situation of crop farming still plays a decisive role in the growth of farmers' incomes. It is necessary to further optimize the varieties and quality of agricultural products, with the focus on developing the production of pollution-free foods, green foods and organic foods. Agricultural leading enterprises have unique advantages and an irreplaceable role in driving income growth for farmers. In line with the idea of “high level, large scale, specialization and export orientation,” accelerate the pace of developing leading enterprises. Improve and perfect the mechanism for adjusting the interest linkage between agricultural leading enterprises and rural households, and achieve a “win-win” of enterprise development and income growth for rural households through various forms such as contract farming, protective-price purchasing, shareholding dividends and profit returns. By establishing specialized cooperatives, forming specialized agricultural product associations and developing agricultural product intermediary organizations, play an important role in guiding farmers on what to plant and raise and in helping farmers sell their products, so that increasing farmers' incomes becomes a reality.

The government, especially the township government, is the front line directly in contact with the rural masses. In accordance with the requirements of the market economy for a “small government and big society,” adjust the content and methods of management and services, and realize the transformation from “managing farmers” to “serving farmers.” When the matters farmers care about are handled well and many problems in farmers' production and life are effectively solved, increasing farmers' incomes will have a firm foundation and guarantee. At the same time, in order to meet the needs of modern agricultural development, improve farmers' quality as an internal condition for increasing farmers' incomes. Vigorously develop rural vocational and technical education, with the content of education focusing on agricultural technical education and skills education, and strengthen education and training in advanced agricultural planting techniques, livestock and poultry breeding techniques with good market prospects, and skills such as driving and cooking. Provide farmers with “menu-style” education in which farmers choose the training content themselves, and enhance the relevance of education and training. The government should allocate a certain amount of fiscal funds to purchase training services. The methods and means of education and training for farmers should be flexible and diverse, with special attention to doing a good job in skills training for migrant workers and enhancing their ability to find employment and start businesses independently.