Ministry of Finance Supports Agricultural Industrialization: 100 Distinctive Industry Clusters to Take Shape in Three Years
On November 17, the Ministry of Finance issued the "Guiding Opinions on Supporting Agriculture's Advantageous and Distinctive Industries through Comprehensive Agricultural Development to Promote Agricultural Industrialization." According to the guiding opinions, for advantageous and distinctive industries included in the priority support scope of comprehensive agricultural development, through key support and continuous support, the aim is to use 3 years to initially form 1 to 2 advantageous and distinctive industries in each comprehensive agricultural development county, about 10 in each province, and initially form 100 regional agricultural advantageous and distinctive industry clusters across the country with relatively large resource advantages, long industrial chains, integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and strong demonstration and driving effects.
The support content mainly revolves around improving the agricultural advantageous and distinctive industry chain, specifically including: in crop farming, seedling breeding, standardized planting bases, storage and preservation of agricultural products, and processing and utilization of waste; in livestock farming, breeding of breeding livestock and poultry (including aquatic products), standardized breeding bases, trading venues for livestock and poultry (including aquatic products), forage planting, feed processing, harmless treatment of manure, and organic fertilizer processing. In addition to traditional agricultural fields, processing bases, raw material warehousing, storage and preservation of finished products, cold-chain logistics, and origin wholesale markets involved in processing and circulation industries are also key support areas. At the same time, development of "Internet + agriculture" will also be encouraged, and construction of e-commerce platforms for advantageous and distinctive agricultural products will be actively supported.
The way fiscal funds support agricultural distinctive industries has also changed, shifting from the previous "leading" role to a "guiding" role. The guiding opinions make clear that it is necessary to fully leverage the guiding and leveraging role of fiscal funds on financial capital and social capital, adjust and improve the way fiscal funds support agriculture's advantageous and distinctive industries, and gradually form a diversified support system that mainly features loan interest subsidies, supplemented by fiscal subsidies, and coexists with multiple forms such as fiscal equity investment funds.
The Opinions state that limited fiscal funds for comprehensive agricultural development should be concentrated into supporting regional agricultural advantageous and distinctive industries, to solve the problems of small, scattered projects and low efficiency, fully leverage the effects of industrial agglomeration in saving costs, promoting innovation, and stimulating economic growth, and improve the efficiency of fiscal funds used for comprehensive agricultural development.
In terms of restraint mechanisms, the National Comprehensive Agricultural Development Office will include the progress of provinces in supporting agricultural advantageous and distinctive industries in the comprehensive assessment scope for provincial comprehensive agricultural development institutions. For provinces with high work enthusiasm and obvious development results in advantageous and distinctive industries, preference will be given in fund allocation in the next planning cycle.
The Opinions state that under the new situation of rising agricultural production costs and intensifying hard constraints on resources and the environment, there is an urgent need to strengthen the role of comprehensive agricultural development in supporting industrialization development, so as to improve agricultural quality and efficiency and ensure sustained increases in farmers' incomes. A dynamic management mechanism will be established for the advantageous and distinctive industries intended for support according to market changes and development trends, so as to improve the precision of industrial support.
Agricultural industrialization can solve phenomena such as excessive supply of low-quality agricultural products in the agricultural product market, improper use of agricultural resources and allocation of factors, and excessively high agricultural production costs, which cause increased agricultural output without increased income. The key to achieving agricultural industrialization lies in the active participation of multiple agricultural market entities such as enterprises, farmers and their organizations, with leading organizations as the dominant force, extending the supply chain, and organically linking different agricultural industry segments into a whole through building mechanisms for benefit sharing and risk sharing, thereby obtaining value appreciation and high added value.
——Li Guoxiang, researcher at the Institute of Rural Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Two issues need attention: First, the development planning of agricultural industrialization must also avoid overcapacity. Just like steel and cement, if all northern provinces grow apples, the result will inevitably be falling product prices, thinner corporate profits, and large stockpiles of agricultural products. In particular, industrialization also requires a period of time to cultivate, and it is not so easy to "turn around," so differentiation among regions should be noted in advance. Second, in the past, fiscal support mainly relied on tax incentives, fiscal subsidies, and project support, which made pre-evaluation, in-process supervision, and post-event accountability for supported enterprises extremely complicated and bred a large space for rent-seeking, whereas relying mainly on loan interest subsidies can effectively avoid this problem, and the scope of support will also become larger.
——Li Wenhai, financial commentator
The era of the industrial internet has arrived. China's agricultural operational efficiency is low, and there is huge room for mobile internet applications. Judging from the degree of improvement of rural internet infrastructure, national policy direction, and industry trends, the tide of "Internet + agriculture" has already risen, and the era of agricultural big data has arrived.
——Analyst at Essence Securities