Ministry of Agriculture Issues New Plan for 2015 Grain Sown Area and Output
China's Ministry of Agriculture said that in 2015 it will steadily develop grain production and keep the grain sown area and output basically stable. It will strive for grain output above 550 million tonnes, while keeping the growth rate of farmers' income above 7%.
Ministry of Agriculture Issues New Plan for 2015 Grain Sown Area and Output
A related opinion published on the Ministry of Agriculture's website on Wednesday said that this year it will also advance rural reform, guide the orderly transfer of land management rights, develop appropriately scaled operations, and expand the pilot program for confirming, registering and certifying land contracted management rights, striving for pilot coverage of around 500 million mu.
This year it will strengthen the building of comprehensive agricultural production capacity and the protection of resources and the environment, and advance the sustainable development of agriculture. It will promote the designation of permanent basic farmland and resolutely implement the strictest farmland protection system and the system of intensive and economical land use.
On boosting farmers' income, the opinion proposed optimizing the regulation of agricultural product markets. It will continue the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat and encourage diverse market entities to enter the market to purchase. It will promote the improvement of the temporary purchase and storage policies for corn, rapeseed and sugar, optimize policy design, and prevent unsold goods and difficulties in selling.
In 2014 China's grain production achieved an 11th consecutive increase, with total output reaching 607.1 million tonnes, up 0.9% over the previous year. That year the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 10,489 yuan, up 11.2% over the previous year, or a real increase of 9.2% after deducting price factors.
Rural reform will also make progress this year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture's opinion, it will consolidate the existing achievements of the pilot program for confirming, registering and certifying land contracted management rights, select another 9 provinces nationwide to carry out province-wide pilots, and in other provinces have each city (prefecture, autonomous prefecture) select 1 county (city, district) to carry out county-wide pilots, striving for pilot coverage of around 500 million mu.
It will also advance the reform of the rural collective property rights system. It will explore effective forms of realizing rural collective ownership, confirm the membership status of collective economic organizations, clarify the ownership relationships of collective assets, activate various rural factors of production, and establish a new operating mechanism for the rural collective economy that meets the requirements of the market economy.
China issued the 2015 No. 1 Central Document last Sunday, focusing for the 12th consecutive year on the “three rural issues” (agriculture, rural areas and farmers). The document said it will steadily advance the pilot reform of the rural land system and advance the reform of the rural collective property rights system; in the future it will also push financial resources to continue to lean toward the “three rural issues”, carry out pilot relending backed by pledged credit assets, and provide more preferential relending rates for supporting agriculture.