2010 Compilation of Strong Agriculture and Benefiting Farmers Policies Released by the Ministry of Agriculture
1. The overall requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council for this year's agriculture and rural work
The year 2009 was a very difficult year for the development of the agriculture and rural economy. All regions and all departments conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, faced difficulties head-on, and worked solidly. The broad masses of farmers worked hard in the fields, consolidating and developing the good situation of the agriculture and rural economy. Grain production achieved another bumper harvest, with an increase for the 6th consecutive year, and output reached 10616 billion jin; farmers' incomes grew relatively rapidly for the 6th consecutive year, with per capita net income reaching 5153 yuan, an actual increase of 8.5% over the previous year. This won strategic initiative in responding to the impact of the international financial crisis and provided foundational support for ensuring growth, people's livelihood, and stability.
Facing the new situation and challenges, the 2010 No. 1 Central Document clearly set forth this year's goals and tasks for agriculture and rural work: strive to ensure that grain production does not decline, farmers' incomes do not stagnate, and the good momentum of rural development does not reverse; the overall requirements for this year's agriculture and rural work are to take balancing urban and rural development as the fundamental requirement for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, to take improving rural people's livelihood as an important part of adjusting the pattern of national income distribution, to take expanding rural demand as a key measure for boosting domestic demand, to take developing modern agriculture as a major task in transforming the economic development pattern, and to take building a new socialist countryside and advancing urbanization as a lasting driving force for maintaining steady and relatively fast economic development. Following the basic approach of stabilizing grain to ensure supply, increasing income to benefit the people, promoting coordination through reform, and strengthening the foundation to enhance staying power, we must work tirelessly on agriculture and rural work and continue to make new contributions to the overall cause of reform, development, and stability.
In accordance with the overall arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed that in 2010 it is necessary to stabilize the production of grain and other major agricultural products, optimize the structure of the agriculture and rural economy, focus on building a support system for modern agriculture, accelerate progress in agricultural science and technology, promote rural reform and institutional and mechanistic innovation, and advance the building of a new socialist countryside. It is necessary to achieve the “two do everything possible” and the “two strive to ensure”: do everything possible to keep grain output stable at more than 1 trillion jin, do everything possible to keep farmers' income growth above 6%, strive to ensure that no regional major animal epidemic occurs, and strive to ensure that no major agricultural product quality and safety incident occurs, consolidating and developing the current good situation of the agriculture and rural economy and providing strong support for the overall economic and social development.
2. The state substantially increases investment in agriculture and rural areas
To implement the spirit of the 2010 No. 1 Central Document and the Central Economic Work Conference and the Central Rural Work Conference, and in accordance with the requirements of sustained increases in total amount and steady increases in proportion, the state budgetary investment in fixed assets in 2010 will highlight key areas, optimize structure, further increase investment in rural livelihood projects and rural infrastructure construction, and the investment scale for “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” will reach 93.66 billion yuan. Support will focus on two aspects:
First, 49.5 billion yuan for rural livelihood projects such as “water, electricity, roads, gas, and housing”, including rural drinking water safety projects, rural power grids, rural roads, rural biogas projects, pilot projects to expand the renovation of dilapidated rural houses, settlement projects for nomadic herders in ethnic minority areas, small rural hydropower projects, rural postal services, and schistosomiasis control projects in agriculture, forestry, and water conservancy.
Second, 44.16 billion yuan for agricultural infrastructure and service system construction, specifically including water-saving renovation of large irrigation districts, newly added 100-billion-jin grain field projects and agricultural technology service systems, animal epidemic prevention systems, agricultural product quality and safety inspection and testing systems, food quality and safety inspection and testing systems, grain and oil storage facilities, the Grain for Green Project and returning grazing land to grassland in natural grasslands, standardized large-scale breeding communities for pigs and dairy cows, plant protection projects, improved seed projects for planting and breeding industries, fishery administration and fishing ports, conservation tillage, grassroots agricultural technology extension system construction, agricultural product wholesale market construction, grassland fire prevention, as well as oilseed and sugar crop production bases, dryland water-saving agriculture demonstration bases, and the Xinjiang cotton base. Through the implementation of the above facility construction, agricultural production conditions will be continuously improved, and the comprehensive agricultural production capacity will be further enhanced.
3. Improve the agricultural subsidy system
In 2009, the central government arranged 19 billion yuan in direct subsidies to grain farmers, 75.6 billion yuan in comprehensive subsidies for agricultural inputs, 19.85 billion yuan in improved seed subsidies, and 13 billion yuan in subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery, which played a positive role in mobilizing farmers' enthusiasm for farming and growing grain.
In 2010, the central government will continue to implement subsidies for grain farmers. In principle, subsidy funds are required to be paid to farmers engaged in grain production, and the specific arrangements are to be determined by each provincial-level people's government according to actual conditions. A dynamic adjustment system for comprehensive agricultural input subsidies will be established and improved. In accordance with changes in the prices of agricultural inputs such as chemical fertilizers and diesel, and following the principle of “coordinating price and subsidies, dynamic adjustment, and only increasing, not decreasing”, comprehensive agricultural input subsidy funds will be arranged promptly to reasonably offset the increased agricultural production material costs of grain farmers. On February 4, the central government pre-allocated a total of 86.7 billion yuan for the two subsidies in 2010 to local governments, striving to directly pay them into farmers' hands before spring plowing through “one-card” or “one-passbook” systems. In terms of improved seed subsidies, full coverage will be implemented for rice, wheat, corn, cotton, soybeans in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia, and rapeseed in 10 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Basin and in Xinyang of Henan and Hanzhong and Ankang of Shaanxi. The subsidy is 10 yuan per mu for early rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, and rapeseed, and 15 yuan per mu for middle and late rice and cotton. Subsidies for rice, corn, and rapeseed will adopt the method of direct cash subsidies. For wheat, soybeans, and cotton, either unified bidding and differential seed purchase subsidies or direct cash subsidies may be adopted, with specifics determined by each province according to actual conditions. At the same time, in 2010 the central government will further expand the area for subsidies for potato foundation seed production, launch highland barley improved seed subsidies in Tibetan areas, and launch peanut improved seed subsidies in some peanut-producing areas. In terms of subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery, the subsidy scope will continue to cover all agricultural and pastoral counties (farms) nationwide, the subsidy standard will remain unchanged at 30% of the machine purchase price, and the upper limit of subsidy per machine will remain unchanged at 50,000 yuan. The types of subsidized machinery cover 12 major categories, 45 subcategories, and 180 items, and on this basis each locality may add another 20 items on its own. On March 1, the central government pre-allocated 28.6 billion yuan in advance for improved seed subsidies and agricultural machinery purchase subsidies to ensure the needs of spring plowing production in all localities.
Contributed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Regulation of the Ministry of Agriculture