An Analysis of the Policy Effects on Farmers' Income Growth

Farmers' income growth is inseparable from the influence of national policies. According to differences in channels and mechanisms, policies to increase farmers' income can be broadly divided into two categories: policies that directly promote farmers' income growth and policies that indirectly promote farmers' income growth. Direct income-increasing policies produce results directly and quickly, but their effect period is short, such as agricultural product price policies, various subsidy policies, and rural tax and fee policies. Indirect income-increasing policies are fundamental and long-lasting in nature, but they are difficult and have long cycles, such as policies on urban-rural integration, rural land, the structure of agricultural production and the construction of operating systems, agricultural infrastructure construction, the transfer of rural labor, and farmers' education and training.

Through unremitting efforts, farmers' income in our country has continued to grow relatively rapidly, and from 1979 to 2013 the per capita net income of rural residents grew by an average real rate of 7.6%. However, at present the weakest link in our country's modernization drive is still the lagging modernization of agriculture, the most prominent contradiction in the economic and social system is still the obvious obstacle of the urban-rural dual system, and the most serious constraint in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is still the excessive gap between urban and rural development and between residents' incomes.

In response to the deep-seated contradictions in the "three rural issues," the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized the need to "promote the synchronized development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization," and made clear that "urban-rural development integration is the fundamental way to solve the 'three rural issues.'" The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee further clarified agricultural reform measures in seven areas, including improving the rural land system, building a new type of agricultural operating system, improving the agricultural support and protection system, strengthening rural financial and insurance support, improving the institutional mechanisms for urban-rural development integration, promoting sustainable agricultural development, and actively advancing agriculture's opening to the outside world. The focus of these reform measures is to consolidate the agricultural foundation, make up for the weak link of agricultural modernization, accelerate the reform of institutional mechanisms, fundamentally break the institutional bottlenecks constraining the development of the "three rural issues," unleash the potential of agricultural development, and form a healthier, more open, and more sustainable agricultural pattern.

Overall, in the period ahead, ensuring national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products will be the direct goal of agricultural policy; promoting farmers' income growth and narrowing the urban-rural income gap will be the strategic goal of agricultural policy. Direct income-increasing policies will continue to be advanced and improved, indirect income-increasing policies will be further deepened and strengthened, and with direct and indirect income-increasing policies working together, farmers' income is expected to continue to increase substantially.