143.4 billion yuan in three agricultural subsidies allocated by the central government
Recently, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice allocating 143.4 billion yuan for 2015 in three items of funding: comprehensive agricultural input subsidies, direct subsidies to grain farmers, and crop improved seed subsidies, to support this year's agricultural production. The notice also made arrangements for adjusting and improving agricultural subsidy policies.
The notice made clear that in this adjustment and improvement of agricultural subsidy policies, the state's overall level of support to farmers will not be reduced, but subsidies for farmers with different grain planting scales and business models will be adjusted, with emphasis tilted toward moderate-scale grain operation entities, and different forms of moderate-scale operation encouraged in different ways. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture require all provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning) to adjust and set aside 20% of the comprehensive agricultural input subsidy funds allocated by the central government, plus pilot funds for large grain growers and incremental subsidy funds, to be coordinated for use in supporting moderate-scale grain operation, with emphasis tilted toward new-type business entities such as large grain growers, family farms, farmers' professional cooperatives, and agricultural social service organizations. The two ministries will soon issue guiding opinions to guide all localities in doing a good job of adjusting and improving agricultural subsidy policies.
The notice requires all localities, in accordance with policy requirements and management regulations, to accelerate the progress of subsidy fund allocation and disbursement, and promptly pay out to farmers the funds directly subsidized to them as quickly as possible. They should, in light of local conditions, adopt effective methods such as agricultural credit guarantees, interest subsidies, direct cash subsidies, and subsidies for the extension of major agricultural technologies to support new-type business entities in solving the problems of difficult and expensive financing in moderate-scale grain operation, improve the level of intensification and socialization of grain production, and transform the development model of grain production.