How agriculture and rural areas can achieve new development under the new normal

Looking back at 2014, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and with the joint efforts of the vast number of farmers and rural workers, agricultural and rural development achieved remarkable results, becoming a bright scenic line under the new normal of economic development. Looking ahead to 2015, how to continuously consolidate the sustained positive momentum of agriculture and rural areas after years of bumper harvests and rising incomes is a difficult problem that must be proactively addressed and vigorously solved.

The just-released "Several Opinions on Increasing the Intensity of Reform and Innovation and Accelerating Agricultural Modernization," namely the 2015 Central Document No. 1, gives a clear answer to how to achieve new development in agriculture and rural areas under the new normal of economic development. That is, in accordance with the general requirements of stabilizing grain production and increasing incomes, improving quality and efficiency, and driving development through innovation, continue to comprehensively deepen rural reform, comprehensively advance the rule of law in rural areas, earnestly implement the “five new” requirements put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and strive to tap new potential in raising grain production capacity, open up new paths in optimizing the agricultural structure, seek new breakthroughs in transforming the agricultural development model, obtain new results in promoting farmers' income growth, and take new steps in building a new countryside. Further make agriculture stronger, make rural areas more beautiful, and make farmers richer.

Tap new potential in raising grain production capacity. As long as grain production capacity is stabilized and raised, we can “sit firmly on the fishing platform no matter how the wind and waves rise,” and always keep the rice bowl of the Chinese people firmly in our own hands. To tap new potential in grain production, we must first resolutely hold the red line for farmland protection, accelerate the designation of permanent basic farmland, coordinate and strengthen the construction of high-standard farmland, implement actions to protect and improve farmland quality, and strive to ensure that farmland does not decrease and that soil fertility improves. We must also speed up the construction of a number of major water conservancy backbone projects, do a good job in the major article of giving priority to water conservation, and solve the “last mile” problem in farmland water conservancy. Ultimately, we must rely on science and technology, improve the incentive mechanism for agricultural scientific and technological innovation, promote breakthroughs in key areas of agricultural science and technology, and quickly transform them into real productivity.

Open up new paths in optimizing the agricultural structure. Market demand is the “navigator,” and resource endowments are the “locator.” We must better leverage regional comparative advantages, better adapt to personalized and diversified consumer demand, promote the optimization and upgrading of the agricultural structure, and enable limited agricultural resources to produce more, better, and safer agricultural products. To open up new paths in optimizing the agricultural structure, we must scientifically determine the self-sufficiency level of major agricultural products, and under the premise of ensuring “basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple food,” carry out systematic planning on what to focus on safeguarding, what to relax, how much to safeguard, and how much to relax, so as to have a clear picture in mind. We must accelerate the development of the grass-based livestock industry and promote the coordinated development of the three-part structure of grain, cash crops, and feed. We must vigorously cultivate specialty agriculture, implement projects to improve the quality and efficiency of horticultural products, and advance large-scale, intensive, and standardized livestock and poultry breeding and healthy aquaculture. We must raise the quality and food safety level of agricultural products and ensure safety on the tip of the people's tongues.

⟦NL> Seek new breakthroughs in transforming the agricultural development model. How to break the “double squeeze” of rising agricultural production costs and the inversion of domestic and international prices of major agricultural products, and how to break the “double constraint” of agricultural resource factors being stretched tighter and tighter and the carrying capacity of the ecological environment getting closer and closer to its limit, there is only one way out: accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model, and as quickly as possible shift from extensive management that mainly pursues output and relies on resource consumption to intensive development that places equal emphasis on quantity, quality, and efficiency, focuses on improving competitiveness, focuses on agricultural scientific and technological innovation, and focuses on sustainability, and take the path of modern agricultural development featuring high output efficiency, safe products, resource conservation, and environmental friendliness. In the past, in order to “have enough to eat,” we over-exploited agricultural resources and overused chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural film, running up ecological and environmental debts. In the future, we must not only put an end to incurring new debts, but also gradually repay old ones. Land that should be returned to forest or grassland must be returned, ecological restoration that should be carried out must be carried out, and governance that should be done must be done promptly. It must be made clear that whether optimizing the agricultural structure or transforming the agricultural development model, it absolutely does not mean relaxing grain production, and must never weaken the comprehensive agricultural production capacity.

Obtain new results in promoting farmers' income growth. Whether we have achieved moderate prosperity or not depends on our fellow villagers, and at the core is looking at our fellow villagers' “money bags.” Whether, under the new normal of economic development, we can promote the continued relatively rapid growth of farmers' incomes and maintain the momentum of the continuously narrowing income gap between urban and rural residents is a major test for the work related to “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers.” To promote farmers' income growth, we must give priority to ensuring investment in agriculture and rural areas; no matter how tight the finances are, we must ensure that agricultural investment only increases and does not decrease. We must develop new industries, new business forms, and new models, extend the agricultural industrial chain, actively develop the multiple functions of agriculture, tap the value of rural ecological leisure, tourism and sightseeing, and culture and education, and promote the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas. We must promote the transfer employment and entrepreneurship of farmers and expand income-increasing channels outside rural areas. We must fight the tough battle of poverty alleviation and development and accelerate the pace of rural poor people escaping poverty and becoming well-off.

Take new steps in building a new countryside. In building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, we cannot leave rural areas behind. In accelerating the advancement of a new type of urbanization, we cannot neglect the building of a new countryside. To advance the building of a new countryside, we must adhere to planning first, strengthen the scientific nature and binding force of village planning, raise the level of rural infrastructure, and promote the equalization of basic public services between urban and rural areas. We must comprehensively advance the improvement of the rural living environment, focus on doing a good job in garbage and sewage treatment and in improving water supply and toilets, accelerate the improvement of village sanitation conditions, and make rural areas a beautiful homeland where farmers can live and work in contentment. We must give full play to the radiating and driving role of the new type of urbanization in agricultural modernization, advance in a categorized manner the settlement of the agricultural transferred population in cities and towns, ensure that migrant workers entering cities and their accompanying family members equally enjoy basic urban public services, and guide migrant workers with skills, capital, and management experience to return home to start businesses.

Fully implementing the “five new” requirements for agricultural and rural development is a major task for the work related to “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” in the period ahead. Only by always treating the proper resolution of issues related to “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” as the top priority, proactively adapting to the new normal of economic development, having the courage to face challenges directly, daring to tackle difficulties, adding momentum through reform, and using the rule of law as a guarantee, can we better promote the synchronized development of the new type of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, and provide strong support for the sustained and healthy development of the economy and society.