An In-Depth Review of the Development Situation of Agriculture and Rural Areas in China

This year, China's agricultural and rural development continued to improve, grain production hit a new record high, the income gap between urban and rural residents continued to narrow, rural reform advanced in depth, rural livelihood improved further, rural society remained harmonious and stable, and the agricultural and rural economy achieved steady progress, improved quality and increased efficiency from a high starting point.

Grain output rose for the 11th consecutive year, providing room for transforming the agricultural development model

Data on grain output recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics show that this year's national total grain output reached 1214.2 billion jin, an increase of 10.32 billion jin over the previous year, up 0.9%.

At last, the 11th consecutive increase in grain output that farmers had been hoping for became reality. Hou Rui, a senior statistician in the Rural Survey Organization of the National Bureau of Statistics, believes that stable policies and well-implemented measures provided important support for grain production.

Policy is farmers' "backing" for growing grain. Since the beginning of this year, the central government's "four subsidies" for agriculture have continued to increase in strength. As of now, the central finance authorities have allocated 21.445 billion yuan in crop-growing subsidy funds, achieving nationwide coverage for crops such as rice, wheat and corn.

Fighting drought to secure a bumper harvest was another feature of this year's grain harvest. According to statistics, from January to September this year, the area of crops affected by disasters nationwide was 24,899 thousand hectares, down 29% from the previous year; the area with total crop failure was 2,854 thousand hectares, down 12% from the previous year.

Securing a bumper harvest in a year of severe drought owed much to solid infrastructure construction. At present, China's water conservancy contribution rate to grain production has reached more than 40%. From 2011 to 2014, the country added and restored nearly 60 million mu of irrigated area, developed more than 90 million mu of high-efficiency water-saving irrigation area, and added more than 30 billion kg of grain production capacity.

Zeng Yande, director of the Department of Crop Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the 11th consecutive increase in grain output has provided room and leeway for transforming the agricultural development model and shifting to placing equal emphasis on quantity, quality and efficiency.

Farmers' income rose rapidly for the 11th consecutive year, and the urban-rural income ratio is expected to narrow to within 3:1

Along with the 11th consecutive increase in grain output, farmers' income achieved its 11th consecutive year of rapid growth, with the growth rate set to exceed those of GDP and urban residents' income for 5 consecutive years, and the urban-rural income ratio is expected to narrow to within 3:1. Driven by crop farming, work away from home and agricultural product processing, farmers' income is no longer limited to the fields and has achieved sustained growth.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in the first three quarters of this year, the national per capita cash income of rural residents was 8,527 yuan, a real increase of 9.7% after deducting price factors; the national per capita disposable income of urban residents was 22,044 yuan, a real increase of 6.9% after deducting price factors. The growth rate of per capita cash income of rural residents was 2.8 percentage points higher than that of urban residents.

With the stable development of agricultural production, farmers' household operating income has also continued to increase. Ye Zhenqin, director of the Department of Development and Planning of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that this year new types of agricultural operating entities continued to grow and expand, achieving moderately scaled operations with obvious increases in output and efficiency. As of the end of June 2014, the area of contracted household farmland transferred nationwide was 380 million mu, accounting for 28.8% of the total contracted household farmland area, 20 percentage points higher than at the end of 2008.

Household operating income already accounts for half of farmers' income. In the first half of the year, agricultural product processing industries above designated size achieved main business revenue of 8.4 trillion yuan, up 9.5% year on year, 1.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of national industry above designated size. "The state vigorously develops rural secondary and tertiary industries and promotes intensive processing of agricultural products, which has created conditions for the growth of rural household operating income," said Zeng Yesong, an expert on rural issues at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Leisure agriculture has also become a new channel for increasing farmers' income. At present, China has recommended to society 10 of China's most beautiful villages and 108 of China's beautiful rural gardens, and carried out activities to establish national leisure agriculture and rural tourism demonstration counties and demonstration sites. According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of the year alone, national leisure agriculture received nearly 500 million visitors, with operating revenue of nearly 150 billion yuan, a growth rate of more than 10%, benefiting 30 million farmers.

Ye Zhenqin believes that the sustained growth of farmers' income, while improving farmers' production and living conditions, has also created new momentum and conditions for transforming the agricultural development model.

Rural reform advanced in a solid and steady manner, becoming a bright feature of the development of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers"

Whether it is the 11th consecutive increase in grain output or the 11th consecutive year of rapid growth in farmers' income, the core driving force is the continuously deepening rural reform.

As early as the beginning of the year, the No. 1 Central Document made arrangements for comprehensively deepening rural reform. Zhao Yang, an expert on rural issues at the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Work, said that to comprehensively deepen rural reform, exploration and innovation should be encouraged; on the premise of clear bottom lines, local areas should be supported in piloting first, and farmers' practical creations should be respected; measures should be adapted to local conditions and advanced step by step, without adopting a "one-size-fits-all" approach or seeking to accomplish everything in one step.

Looking back on this year, the confirmation and registration of contracted land was fully rolled out, reform of the rural homestead system advanced steadily, construction of rural reform pilot areas and national modern agriculture demonstration zones proceeded, reform of new types of operating entities continued to deepen, pilot reform of target prices for agricultural products was carried out, and innovation in the rural financial system continued...

The central government's top-level design for land system reform proceeded intensively. In September, the fifth meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform reviewed the "Opinions on Guiding the Orderly Transfer of Rural Land Contracted Management Rights and Developing Moderately Scaled Agricultural Operations" and the "Pilot Plan for Actively Developing Farmers' Share Cooperation and Endowing Collective Asset Shares with Share Rights." In December, the seventh meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform reviewed the "Opinions on Pilot Work for Rural Land Expropriation, Market Entry of Collective Operating Construction Land, and Reform of the Homestead System."

The central government proposed that, at the current stage, deepening rural land system reform should give more consideration to advancing agricultural modernization, solve both agricultural problems and farmers' problems, and blaze a path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics. On the premise of adhering to collective ownership of rural land, it is necessary to promote the separation of contract rights and operating rights, and form a pattern of separation of ownership, contract rights and operating rights into three rights and the transfer of operating rights. Yan Zhiyao, chief planner of the Ministry of Land and Resources, said that the "separation of three rights" is a major institutional innovation in China's rural land reform, and rural institutional reform will inevitably greatly liberate rural productive forces and create institutional conditions for transforming the agricultural production model.

At present, China's agricultural development is entering a critical period of transformation under the new normal of the economy. To accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model and stabilize the sustained positive situation in rural areas, efforts must be made to tap new potential in raising grain production capacity, open 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.