Ministry of Agriculture Issues Guiding Opinions on Further Adjusting and Optimizing the Agricultural Structure

(Nongfa [2015] No. 2)

To comprehensively implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, the Central Rural Work Conference and the Central Document No. 1, thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the work related to “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development mode, strive to open up new paths in optimizing the agricultural structure, promote the tapping of potential, improvement of quality and increase of efficiency in agricultural development, and open up a new situation for agricultural development with Chinese characteristics, the following opinions are hereby put forward on further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure.

1. Effectively enhance understanding of further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure

Since 2004, the production of major agricultural products such as grain, cotton, oil and sugar, meat, eggs and milk, fruits, vegetables and tea, and aquatic products in our country has developed comprehensively, with ample supply, continuously improved varieties and continuously rising quality. The agricultural regional and industrial structure has become more reasonable, and farmers' incomes have continued to grow relatively quickly. In 2014, grain production achieved a historic “eleven consecutive increases”, exceeding 1.1 trillion jin for four consecutive years; farmers' income growth achieved “eleven consecutive years of rapid growth”, exceeding the growth rates of GDP and urban residents' income for five consecutive years, and the development of the agricultural and rural economy continued to maintain good momentum. In the new historical period, further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure is a proactive action and proactive optimization at a higher starting point.

(1) Further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure is a realistic choice for improving the quality and efficiency of agricultural development. At present, problems in China's agricultural development in terms of quantity and quality, total volume and structure, cost and efficiency, and production and environment are still relatively prominent. The contradiction between hard resource and environmental constraints and production development has become increasingly prominent. For many years, resource conditions have been stretched very tight, with prominent problems such as declining quality of black soil in Northeast China, excessive heavy metals in farmland in some areas, overexploitation of groundwater, and the mismatch between “transporting grain from the north to the south” and the temporal and spatial distribution of water resources. The contradiction between the variety and quality structure of agricultural products and the rapid upgrading of residents' consumption has become increasingly prominent. The development of high-quality, diversified and specialized agricultural products still lags behind, and there is still a certain gap between the production and consumer demand for high-quality beef and mutton, dairy products, fruits and vegetables and other agricultural products. The problems of loose integration between planting and breeding and poor circulation have become increasingly prominent. The structure of grain, cash crops and feed is unreasonable, the matching and connection between planting and breeding is insufficient, the decline of soil fertility coexists with the failure to effectively utilize manure from the breeding industry, and the comprehensive utilization rate of crop straw is relatively low. The problems of insufficient integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, low comparative efficiency of agriculture, and weak market competitiveness have become increasingly prominent. The level of agricultural product processing and the rate of conversion and value-added are still relatively low, the ecological, social and cultural functions of agriculture are insufficiently tapped, the industrial chain is short, added value is not high, and the ability to drive farmers' income growth is weak. These circumstances show that China's agricultural development has reached an important juncture of transformation and upgrading, and further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure is imperative.

(2) Further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure faces a rare historical opportunity. After consecutive years of agricultural harvests, the supply of major agricultural products is sufficient; as the domestic economy enters the new normal, the growth of demand for agricultural product consumption and processing may weaken somewhat, providing a favorable opportunity for further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure. The comprehensive implementation of the new national food security strategy will make the focus of agricultural production guarantees more prominent, providing a more relaxed policy environment and resource space for further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure. The accelerated upgrading of residents' consumption structure means huge potential demand for high-quality and safe agricultural products in the future. People not only require enough to eat and eat well, but also require safe, nutritious and healthy food, bringing market momentum to further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure. International supply of agricultural products is sufficient, and the stock-to-consumption ratios of bulk agricultural products are all at historical highs, providing more room for maneuver for further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure. These facts show that further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure is facing a rare opportunity, and promoting the transformation of agricultural development from focusing on quantity growth to placing equal emphasis on quantity, quality and efficiency is timely.

(3) Further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure by no means implies relaxing grain production. China is a country with a large population, and solving the issue of food is always a matter of paramount importance. In recent years, China's grain production has made tremendous achievements, but with population growth, rapid urbanization, expanded industrial uses and upgrading of the consumption structure, future grain demand will continue to grow rigidly, and the task of ensuring national food security remains very arduous. Therefore, further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure by no means means relaxing grain production. We must break out of the fixed mindset of choosing one or the other between grain production and agricultural structural adjustment, take stabilizing grain output as the premise, take enhancing grain production capacity as the foundation, build a solid and reliable national food security guarantee system, ensure that the rice bowl of the Chinese people is always firmly held in our own hands, and blaze a new path of coordinated development and mutual promotion between the two.

Agricultural departments at all levels must effectively raise their understanding of the importance of further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure, effectively unify their thinking and actions with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, effectively enhance their sense of urgency, responsibility and mission, seize opportunities and take the initiative, actively and steadily advance the optimization, refinement and deepening of the agricultural structure, and strive to achieve a new step forward in China's agricultural development from a higher starting point.

2. Clarify the overall approach to further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure

(1) Guiding ideology

Thoroughly implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee, Central Document No. 1 and General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches, take ensuring national food security as the premise, take equal emphasis on quantity, quality and efficiency, enhanced competitiveness and sustainable development as the main direction, take layout optimization, industrial integration, quality improvement and circular utilization as the focus, scientifically determine the self-sufficiency level of major agricultural products and the priority order of industrial development, pay more attention to market orientation and policy support, pay more attention to deepening reform and scientific and technological drivers, pay more attention to services and the rule of law guarantee, accelerate the construction of a modern agricultural structure with coordinated grain, cash crops and feed, integrated planting, breeding and processing, and combined agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries, take the path of modern agricultural development with efficient output, safe products, resource conservation and environmental friendliness, and lay a solid foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

(2) Basic principles

—— Adhere to bottom-line thinking and ensure national food security. Firmly hold the bottom line that grain production does not decline and farmland is not converted to non-agricultural use, stabilize the farmland area at more than 1.8 billion mu, stabilize the grain sown area at more than 1.6 billion mu, and stabilize the cereal sown area at more than 1.4 billion mu, ensure basic self-sufficiency in cereals, and achieve a 100% self-sufficiency capacity for staple grains.

—— Adhere to conceptual innovation and expand the breadth and depth of agricultural development. Expand horizons and innovate thinking, firmly establish the concept of the greater ecosystem and promote sustainable development; establish the concept of the greater food supply and develop food resources in all directions and through multiple channels from the entire national territory; establish the concept of the greater market and coordinate the use of both domestic and international markets and both domestic and international resources; establish the concept of the greater agriculture and develop the multiple functions of agriculture; establish the concept of the greater science and technology and promote the matching of seeds, machinery and technology and collaboration among industry, academia and research. Guide agriculture with new concepts to advance in breadth and depth, guide farmers to make good use of the “Classic of Mountains and Seas”, sing well the “opera of forests and grasslands”, and play well the “card of fruits and vegetables”, and promote the continuous optimization and upgrading of the agricultural structure.

—— Adhere to highlighting key points and doing some things while not doing others. According to the self-sufficiency level of major agricultural products and the priority order of production, highlight key varieties and key regions. In terms of varieties, mainly ensure cereals, focus on ensuring staple grains and give overall consideration to the production of cotton, oil, sugar, vegetables and other agricultural products. In terms of regions, focus on promoting the main grain-producing areas to enhance production capacity, combine agriculture and animal husbandry and give consideration to grain, cash crops and feed, strive to enhance the self-sufficiency capacity of “shopping basket” products in large and medium-sized cities, and properly solve the problems of ecological restoration, pollution control and resource protection in areas with excessive resource use and prominent ecological and environmental problems.

—— Adhere to adapting measures to local conditions and highlighting characteristics. Comprehensively consider various factors such as industrial foundation, location advantages, market conditions and resource endowments, give priority to developing industries or products with prominent comparative advantages, make them bigger and stronger, better and more refined, cultivate and strengthen agricultural leading products, pillar industries and specialty brands with regional characteristics, prevent blind follow-the-crowd phenomena, avoid industrial isomorphism and homogeneous competition, and transform comparative advantages into industrial advantages, product advantages and competitive advantages.

—— Adhere to market orientation and respect farmers' wishes. Follow economic laws, take market demand as the guide, use market information and market methods to guide and direct agricultural production, respect farmers' wishes and decision-making autonomy in management, and give play to the decisive role of the market in allocating resources. The focus of the government is to do a good job in planning guidance and services, summarize and promote advanced experience, increase policy support and create a favorable market environment, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of various types of production and operation entities, and refrain from coercive commands and arbitrary administrative direction, and refrain from one-size-fits-all approaches and great leaps forward.

(3) Main goals

The main goal of further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure is to achieve “two stabilizations, two increases and two enhancements”. “Two stabilizations” means stabilizing grain output and grain production capacity, and achieving basic self-sufficiency in cereals and absolute security of staple grains. “Two increases” means increasing agricultural efficiency and farmers' incomes, and achieving an overall improvement in the quality of agriculture and sustained relatively rapid growth in farmers' incomes. “Two enhancements” means enhancing the market competitiveness and sustainable development capacity of agriculture, truly shifting agricultural development from being mainly driven by quantity growth to placing equal emphasis on quantity, quality and efficiency, and truly shifting from relying on resources and material inputs to relying on scientific and technological progress and improving the quality of laborers.

3. Accurately grasp the key tasks of further adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure

(1) Take “storing grain in the land, storing grain in technology and storing grain among the people” as the focal point, and adjust and optimize the path to ensuring national food security. Focusing on stabilizing area and improving soil fertility, accelerate the designation of permanent basic farmland, build on a large scale high-standard farmland that ensures stable yields despite drought or excessive rain, greatly enhance the quality of cultivated land, translate grain production capacity to fields and plots, and achieve “storing grain in the land”. Focusing on increasing per-unit yield and improving quality, accelerate the breeding of new varieties, carry out large-scale high-yield creation and green yield-increasing model research on a large scale, integrate and promote the application of comprehensive technologies, improve the incentive mechanisms for agricultural scientific and technological innovation and agricultural technology extension, strive to achieve breakthroughs in key areas such as the seed industry, and achieve “storing grain in technology”. Focusing on mobilizing farmers' enthusiasm for growing and storing grain and improving farmers' quality, improve the policy system for supporting and protecting grain production, ensure reasonable returns for farmers growing grain; improve the grain storage conditions of producers and operators, maintain and expand the grain drying and reserve scale of new agricultural operation entities, reduce post-harvest grain losses; accelerate the cultivation of new agricultural operation entities, cultivate a high-quality team of professional farmers adapted to modern agricultural development, and achieve “storing grain among the people”.