A tight balance in the supply and demand of agricultural products will become the new normal
On December 23, Agriculture Minister Han Changfu, entrusted by the State Council, reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the progress of advancing the construction of a new socialist countryside.
Han Changfu explained that advancing the construction of a new socialist countryside was a major historic task put forward in October 2005 at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Party. Over the past nearly 10 years, all regions and departments have earnestly implemented the arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, introduced a series of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers and enrich rural residents, and pushed forward major progress in the construction of a new socialist countryside. However, the situation in which the agricultural foundation is weak, rural development lags behind and the urban-rural gap is relatively large has still not been fundamentally changed. In the next step, it is necessary to accelerate the development of modern agriculture and rural social undertakings, strengthen rural infrastructure construction as well as rural democratic management and cultural-ethical development, intensify environmental governance and ecological protection in agriculture and rural areas, and deepen rural reform.
Grain achieved an "eleven consecutive increases" and farmers' income grew for "ten consecutive years of rapid growth"
The report shows that China's comprehensive agricultural production capacity has steadily improved, and grain production has achieved a historic "eleven consecutive increases." In 2014, the national total grain output reached 1,214.2 billion jin, exceeding 1,100 billion jin for 4 consecutive years. In 2013, the comprehensive mechanization level of crop cultivation, planting and harvesting nationwide reached 59.5%, and the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress reached 55.2%, marking that China's agricultural production mode has shifted from relying mainly on human and animal power for thousands of years to relying mainly on mechanical operations, and that agricultural development has moved from mainly relying on increased input of resource factors in the past to a new stage of mainly relying on scientific and technological progress.
The continuous growth of farmers' income and the marked improvement in living standards are notable results since the advancement of the construction of a new socialist countryside. In 2013, the national per capita net income of farmers reached 8,896 yuan, and farmers' income growth achieved the first "ten consecutive years of rapid growth" since reform and opening up, with the growth rate exceeding that of urban residents for 4 consecutive years. The urban-rural resident income ratio narrowed from 3.33:1 in 2009 to 3.03:1 in 2013. The national poor population decreased from 122 million at the end of 2011 to 82.49 million at the end of 2013, a reduction of nearly 20 million people per year on average.
Han Changfu explained that since the "11th Five-Year Plan," the central government has cumulatively invested more than 700 billion yuan, focusing on improving farmers' production and living conditions. The quality of rural water supply has improved markedly, the drinking water safety problem of 470 million farmers has been solved, and the proportion of the rural population benefiting from centralized water supply nationwide reached 78%.
In addition, China's rural social undertakings have developed steadily, and the level of public services has continuously improved. The rural social assistance system, with the minimum living guarantee and the five-guarantees relief as its core, has provided basic living security for more than 59 million people in difficulty. Nine-year compulsory education has been fully popularized, all tuition and miscellaneous fees for students in the rural compulsory education stage have been abolished, textbooks have been provided free of charge, and living allowances for boarding students from poor families have been subsidized.
Income gaps among farming households are widening, and averages conceal the majority
In the report, Han Changfu believed that although the construction of a new socialist countryside has achieved notable results and gratifying changes have appeared in agriculture and rural areas, agriculture is still the weak link in the synchronized development of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, and rural areas are still the weak link in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
"China's grain and other major agricultural products have increased production for consecutive years, but various resource factors are already very strained, and continuing to maintain the good momentum of agricultural development from a high starting point faces many challenges," Han Changfu said. A "tight balance" in the supply and demand of agricultural products will become the new normal.
The report shows that China's agricultural infrastructure is weak and has many long-standing deficiencies, the situation of relying on the weather for food has not fundamentally changed, and low- and medium-yield farmland still accounts for 2/3 of the total cultivated land area. The exceedance rate of pollutant points in cultivated soil nationwide reached 19.4%, the area of soil erosion was 2.95 million sq km, and 90% of natural grasslands have shown varying degrees of degradation.
The contradiction between rising agricultural production costs and declining comparative returns has become more prominent. "Toiling away for one mu of farmland is not as good as going out to work for two days," reflecting that the prices of production factors such as land and labor have continued to climb, especially the rapid rise in labor costs, squeezing the profit margin of agriculture.
In 2013, the absolute income gap between urban and rural residents reached 18,059 yuan, an increase of 10,821 yuan over 2005; the absolute gap between the per capita net income of farmers in the western region and the eastern region reached 5,218 yuan, an increase of 2,603 yuan over 2005; the income gap among farming households is also widening, and the situation in which averages conceal the majority deserves attention.
Affected by the large-scale transfer of young and middle-aged rural labor, the problems of farmers aging and rural "hollowing out" are prominent, and village improvement is difficult. In some areas, village construction is divorced from rural reality, simply copying the urban model, carrying out large-scale demolition and construction, forcing farmers to move into apartment buildings, and de-ruralization, which has damaged the rural natural landscape, pastoral scenery and cultural characteristics.
In addition, in some places, problems such as vote canvassing and bribery in village committee elections, corruption among village cadres, and infringement of farmers' lawful rights and interests occur from time to time. The management of village collective funds, assets and resources is irregular and not transparent, and activities such as feudal superstition exist to varying degrees. The task of realizing civilized rural customs and democratic management remains relatively arduous.
Registration and certification of land contractual management rights to be basically completed in about 5 years
In response to the difficulties and problems faced by the construction of a new socialist countryside, Han Changfu introduced the plans for the next step.
"Focus on protecting and scientifically utilizing agricultural resources such as cultivated land and water. Implement the strictest systems for cultivated land protection, economical and intensive land use and water resource management, designate permanent basic farmland, and hold the red lines for cultivated land protection and water resource management," Han Changfu said. By 2020, 800 million mu of high-standard farmland that is concentrated and contiguous and ensures stable yields despite drought or excessive rain should be built. Strive to basically mechanize field crops such as grain, cotton, oil and sugar by 2020.
Strengthening rural infrastructure construction is very urgent. Han Changfu proposed focusing on connecting administrative villages in the western region with asphalt (cement) roads, accelerating rural road construction, and striving to achieve asphalt (cement) road access by the end of the "12th Five-Year Plan" for all qualified townships and towns, administrative villages in the eastern and central regions, and 80% of administrative villages in the western region. By means such as power grid extension and independent photovoltaics, fully solve the problem of electricity supply for the population without electricity by the end of 2015; accelerate the renovation of dilapidated rural houses, and complete the task of renovating existing dilapidated houses in poor areas by 2020.
Regarding the rural reform issues of public concern, Han Changfu explained that the state will adhere to stabilizing and improving the basic rural management system, actively and steadily advance rural land system reform, and earnestly carry out the registration and certification of rural land contractual management rights. On the basis of steadily expanding pilot programs, this should be basically completed in about 5 years.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress plans to revise the Land Contract Law. Han Changfu stated that the State Council will cooperate with the revision of the law, grant farmers the mortgage and guarantee rights of land management rights, and allow farmers to use management rights as shares to develop agricultural industrialized operation. Deepen the reform of the rural collective property rights system, carry out pilot reforms for rural collective operational construction land entering the market, and launch pilot reforms of the share rights and powers of rural collective assets. Accelerate the building of a new type of modern agricultural operation system, vigorously support new types of agricultural operation entities such as family farms, specialized large households, farmers' cooperatives and leading enterprises in agricultural industrialized operation, explore mechanisms for the government to purchase public-benefit agricultural services from operational service organizations, guide the orderly transfer of land, and develop various forms of appropriately scaled operation.