Central Document No. 1 will focus on rural industrial integration

The supportive policies introduced at the State Council executive meeting involve two aspects: first, supporting rural service industries, with those capable of commercial operation to be fully opened to social capital; second, strengthening policy support for leading enterprises.

The "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Development of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Industries in Rural Areas," formulated under the leadership of multiple ministries and commissions, is expected to be issued early next year, and part of its content will become an important part of agriculture during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period.

The integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas will usher in sustained policy stimulus. Yesterday's State Council executive meeting deployed efforts to advance the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas and introduced a series of policies. According to another report by the reporter, in the upcoming 2016 Central Document No. 1, the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas will also be emphasized as important content. In addition, the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Development of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Industries in Rural Areas," formulated with the participation of multiple ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Development and Reform Commission, is expected to be released early next year.

“China's agriculture has long faced difficulties of low efficiency and insufficient competitiveness, and promoting the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas is an important way to improve comparative returns and competitiveness,” said Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an interview with the Shanghai Securities News reporter.

The supportive policies introduced at yesterday's State Council executive meeting mainly involve two aspects. First, supporting rural service industries, with specific measures including: developing market-oriented services such as field trusteeship, agricultural product processing, and warehousing and logistics; promoting deep integration of agriculture with tourism, health and elderly care; and fully opening rural service industries capable of commercial operation to social capital.

Second, strengthening policy support for leading enterprises. The meeting proposed establishing an interest-linked mechanism and strengthening the incentive mechanism linking leading enterprises' connection with farmers and their role in driving farmers forward to national support policies; the central government will arrange funds to support pilot projects for integrated development of rural industries, with investment tilted toward industrial integration development projects.

Li Guoxiang pointed out that the focus of the policy to promote the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas lies in supporting leading enterprises and giving play to their leading role.

Premier Li Keqiang emphasized at the meeting that “promoting the cross-integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas is an important measure to promote the connection between agricultural modernization and new-type urbanization, and to advance agricultural efficiency, farmers' income growth and rural prosperity.”

It can be seen that advancing the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas will become a policy focus in the future, and a series of supportive policies are expected to be introduced.

The reporter learned that multiple ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Development and Reform Commission are leading the formulation of the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Development of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Industries in Rural Areas." The Shanghai Securities News reporter further learned from experts participating in discussions on the document that the "Opinions" are expected to be issued early next year, and this part of the content will also become an important part of agriculture during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period.

The highly anticipated Central Rural Economic Work Conference may be held this week, after which the 2016 Central Document No. 1 will also be released. Since 2013, the Central Document No. 1 has no longer focused on a single issue in the agricultural field, but instead has provided a comprehensive layout for advancing modernization.

“It is expected that next year's Central Document No. 1 will still focus on agricultural modernization, and the policy of promoting the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas will be mentioned as one of its important parts,” Li Guoxiang told the reporter.

In addition, it is worth noting that yesterday's meeting also emphasized cultivating new “Internet Plus” business forms such as rural e-commerce and customized agricultural products.

Since the beginning of this year, the State Council and ministries and commissions have intensively introduced multiple policies supporting rural e-commerce, and rural e-commerce has been included in the Central Document No. 1 for four consecutive years. Analysts expect that in next year's Document No. 1, content related to rural e-commerce will still not be “absent.”