Energizing Rural Reform, Accelerating Agricultural Modernization
On February 2-3, the first training class for heads of agriculture-related media nationwide and journalists covering "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" to study and implement the spirit of the Central Document No. 1 was held in Beijing. The training class invited Chen Xiwen, deputy head and director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Work, Han Jun, deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, Chen Xiaohua, Vice Minister of Agriculture, and Zhang Hongyu, director of the Department of Rural Economic System and Operation Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, to give special reports respectively on advancing agricultural modernization, new rural construction, rural reform and increasing farmers' incomes. They agreed that at present, China's economic development has entered a new normal, shifting from high-speed growth to medium-to-high-speed growth, and how to continue strengthening the foundational position of agriculture and promote sustained increases in farmers' incomes against the backdrop of slowing economic growth is a major issue that must be solved. We must always uphold solving the issues of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" as the top priority of the whole Party's work, add momentum through reform, and use the rule of law as a guarantee, so as to achieve strong agriculture, wealthy farmers and beautiful rural areas, and accelerate the modernization of agriculture with Chinese characteristics.
On February 1, the 12th Central Document No. 1 guiding the work on "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" since the beginning of the new century, the "Several Opinions on Increasing the Intensity of Reform and Innovation to Accelerate Agricultural Modernization," was publicly released, and the Domestic Department of the All-China Journalists Association and the China National Farmers' Newspaper Association jointly held the training class to study and implement the spirit of the Central Document No. 1. The special reports of the training class took a high stance, had a broad vision and deep connotations, with thorough analysis, detailed data and clear viewpoints; they were a three-dimensional interpretation of the Central Document No. 1 and a panoramic perspective on the issues of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," providing the trainees with a thought feast of extremely high nutritional value and enabling them to clearly and thoroughly understand the major tasks, opportunities and challenges of the current work on "agriculture, rural areas and farmers."
When interpreting the spirit of Document No. 1, Chen Xiwen pointed out that although grain production and farmers' income increases had respectively achieved "eleven consecutive increases" and "eleven consecutive years of rapid growth," which are two landmark indicators reflecting the situation of agricultural and rural development, agricultural and rural reform and development also face complex contradictions and problems. The cost of agricultural production is rising rapidly, the prices of major domestic agricultural products are generally higher than those on the international market, agricultural subsidies are already close to the upper limit of the WTO amber box policy, and the resource and environmental constraints on agricultural development are intensifying. Comprehensively deepening reform and accelerating agricultural modernization so as to solve these difficult problems is a major task of the work on "agriculture, rural areas and farmers." This year's Central Document No. 1 proposed that under the new normal of economic development, with deepening reform as the driving force and the construction of the rule of law as the guarantee, and closely centering on the main goals of agricultural and rural development, efforts should be made to tap new potential in improving grain production capacity, open up new paths in optimizing the agricultural structure, seek new breakthroughs in transforming the agricultural development mode, obtain new results in promoting farmers' income increases, and take new steps in building a new countryside.
Regarding the issue of accelerating the construction of a new countryside, Han Jun pointed out that one cannot discuss rural development in isolation from rural development itself; rural development must be considered and solved against the background of new-type urbanization. Major policy issues in four aspects should be discussed with emphasis: where people should go, how to protect farmers' rights, where the money should come from, and how to build a new countryside. In the face of situations such as land urbanization being faster than population urbanization and prominent dual-structure problems within cities and towns, it is necessary to promote the equalization of public services in employment, education, medical care, elderly care and other aspects, continuously improve the rural public service system, and fully protect farmers' land rights and interests. The construction of a new countryside should advance from a single-soldier dash to comprehensive development, from a "new countryside of things" to a "new countryside of people," and from urban-rural separation to urban-rural integration. It should not only be based on promoting rural development itself, but also accelerate the breaking down of the urban-rural dual structure.
When discussing the issue of rural reform, Chen Xiaohua raised five aspects: deepening the reform of the rural land system, building a new type of agricultural operation system, reforming the rural collective property rights system, improving and perfecting the agricultural support and protection system, and reforming the household registration system. He pointed out that the reform of the rural land system is mainly the reform of the "three pieces of land," namely the reform of rural contracted land, collectively operated construction land and rural homestead land.
The reform of rural contracted land should follow the "separation of three rights," uphold collective ownership, stabilize land contracting rights, and liberalize land management rights. In the pilot reform of the rural collective property rights system, it is necessary to protect the rights of farmers as members of collective economic organizations, actively develop farmers' shareholding cooperation, and grant farmers such powers over collective asset shares as possession, income, paid withdrawal, mortgage, guarantee and inheritance.
Regarding the issue of increasing farmers' incomes, Zhang Hongyu proposed that in 2014 farmers' incomes continued to grow faster than urban residents' incomes, which was a major highlight of agricultural and rural development, but increasing farmers' incomes also faces new challenges. At present, the new normal of the national economy shifting from high-speed growth to medium-to-high-speed growth, the income gap between urban and rural residents, and the income gaps between regions and within the farmer population remain relatively large, and growth lacks a long-term mechanism. It is necessary to set phased targets for raising farmers' incomes, steadily raise the prices of major agricultural products, raise the wage levels of migrant workers, and increase farmers' property income through reform. The government should take action in strengthening agricultural subsidies and introducing subsidy policies targeting special regions and groups, and increase farmers' incomes by developing rural education, health, social security and other livelihood undertakings.
Gao Shangang, deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group and member of the Secretariat of the All-China Journalists Association, delivered a mobilization speech at the opening ceremony. Tang Yuanjie, president of the China National Farmers' Newspaper Association and secretary of the Party Committee and president of Farmers' Daily, delivered a concluding speech at the closing ceremony of the training class. More than 200 people, including heads of agriculture-related media nationwide and journalists covering "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," participated in the training.