How Agricultural Modernization Helps Advance Human Civilization
The 2015 World Expo in Milan, Italy, themed "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life," opened on May 1, and the China Pavilion opened the same day. President Xi Jinping delivered a welcome address via video, noting that China is vigorously advancing agricultural modernization and is willing to exchange agricultural technology and experience with other countries, jointly safeguard world food security, and jointly promote the progress of human civilization.
Xi Jinping noted that China attaches great importance to the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, regarding them as the top priority of all the country's work. Indeed, since 2004, the No. 1 Central Document has focused on the theme of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" for 12 consecutive years. With strong support from the decision-making level, China's rural reform has advanced effectively, agricultural production has moved toward modernization, and farmers' living standards have continued to improve.
However, China's sustainable agricultural and rural development has encountered a double "constraint" of resource conditions and the ecological environment. How to vigorously advance a new type of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics featuring advanced production technology, an appropriate scale of operation, strong market competitiveness and a sustainable ecological environment is a major challenge facing the highest decision-making level and all Chinese people under the new normal of the economy.
To vigorously advance agricultural modernization, it is necessary to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model. China's urbanization process has already entered "deep water." Against this backdrop, only by taking the construction of high-standard farmland as the foundation and intensifying farmland protection can localities ensure stable grain production. This is the great foundation for safeguarding national food security and agricultural modernization. Without this great foundation, the issues of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" will be difficult to resolve effectively. With this great foundation, it becomes possible to actively cultivate new types of agricultural operating entities, strengthen the development of the agricultural socialized service system, and develop various forms of appropriately scaled operations.
To vigorously advance agricultural modernization, it is necessary to fully leverage the radiating and driving role of new urbanization. China has a vast territory and varying degrees of economic development. Localities need to proceed from their own realities, further optimize the layout of urban and rural development planning, improve systems and mechanisms, and promote the two-way flow and sound interaction of factors such as urban and rural population, land, capital and technology. Only by steadily developing one village, one product and one town, one product, and striving to invigorate towns through industry and promote villages through towns, can we drive town-village linkage and the integration of industry, towns and villages, realize the two-wheel drive of new urbanization and new rural construction, mutual promotion and coordinated development, and also be able to effectively improve the rural living environment and contribute to building a "Beautiful China."
To vigorously advance agricultural modernization, reform and innovation must be the fundamental driving force. To solve the issues of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," we must first effectively enhance the awareness of opportunities, risks and responsibilities, because deeply advancing rural and agricultural reform and building "smart villages" requires being both very proactive and very steady. Comprehensively advancing agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics requires both drawing on advanced international experience and, even more, "down-to-earth" independent innovation. Without reform, it will be difficult to ensure the organic unity of stabilizing grain production, broadening channels for increasing farmers' incomes, and improving the sustainability of agricultural development; without innovation, it will be difficult to ensure that "reform makes progress" and "reform achieves results."
Advancing agricultural modernization is also a protracted battle. We must insist that progress submit to quality, must respect farmers' wishes, and must comply with rural realities. Seeking solutions through reform, China's agriculture will surely prosper; planning development strategies with innovative thinking, China's rural areas will surely thrive; and accelerating construction with a pragmatic work style, China's farmers will surely become wealthy.
Advance agricultural modernization, safeguard world food security, and vigorously promote the progress of human civilization. China's reform achievements can stand the test of history, and China's agricultural modernization can also stand the test of the future.