Leisure agriculture has achieved remarkable results in China's development

Since the reform and opening up, China's leisure agriculture has gone through the historical stages of emergence, start-up and all-round development. Since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, leisure agriculture in various regions has been advancing competitively and flourishing, showing the characteristics of an ever-expanding industrial scale, continuously rising development connotations, gradually enriching types and models, gradual transformation of development methods, and simultaneous improvement of comprehensive benefits, forming a sound momentum of "accelerated development, optimized layout, improved quality, and expanded fields". Across the country, diverse leisure agriculture types represented by farmhouse entertainment, folk custom villages, leisure farms and leisure granges have been developing competitively. Leisure agriculture management departments at all levels, responding to the rapidly growing demand for leisure consumption of urban and rural residents, have effectively promoted the sustained and healthy development of leisure agriculture through strengthening departmental cooperation, improving support policies, standardizing industry management, strengthening public services, and cultivating well-known brands.</p> <p> ——Industrial scale growing steadily. In 2013, nationwide leisure agriculture received 900 million visits, with operating revenue of 270 billion yuan, continuing to maintain a growth momentum of more than 15%. In the first half of this year, it received 500 million tourist visits, with operating revenue of 150 billion yuan, benefiting 30 million farmers. Tianjin Municipality, following the concept of "linking points into lines, linking lines into areas, and advancing as a whole", planned premium leisure agriculture routes, leading the upgrading of leisure agriculture; in 2013, its comprehensive leisure agriculture revenue was 2.63 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.5%. </p> <p> ——Rich and diverse industry types. The Ministry of Agriculture put forward requirements such as adapting to local conditions, scientific planning, rational layout and diversified development. Based on natural features, locational advantages, cultural heritage, ecological environment, level of economic development and consumption habits, various regions, on the basis of forms such as farmhouse entertainment, folk custom villages, leisure farms and leisure granges, have continuously innovated development types and expanded the economic, social, cultural and ecological functions of leisure agriculture, activating a region, giving rise to a number of industries, enriching a group of people, and building a paradise. </p> <p> ——Development methods gradually transforming. The Ministry of Agriculture and various regions, through standardized management, have continuously guided the healthy and orderly development of leisure agriculture; the industrial zones and industrial belts formed through development focus on functional linkage and complementary features, highlighting leisure experiences. The development mode of leisure agriculture has shifted from spontaneous development by farmers to planning guidance by governments at all levels; the operating scale has shifted from scattered distribution and dispersed operation to clustered distribution and intensive operation; the functional positioning has shifted from a single catering function to multiple functions such as leisure, education and experience; the spatial layout has shifted from the surroundings of scenic areas and urban suburbs to more suitable regions; and the operating entities have shifted from mainly farmer households to multiple entities. </p> <p> ——Brand building continuously advancing. The Ministry of Agriculture and various regions, through typical demonstrations, have continuously enhanced the social influence of leisure agriculture, and brand building has shown a sound momentum of "a hundred flowers blooming". At present, a total of 149 national leisure agriculture and rural tourism demonstration counties and 386 demonstration sites have been created; 140 of China's most beautiful leisure villages, 248 of China's beautiful pastoral areas and more than 10,000 creative fine works have been recommended; and 39 China Important Agricultural Heritage Systems have been recognized, including 11 Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems. In the course of development, various regions have strived to build local leisure agriculture brands, developing and forming a large number of well-known brands such as the Nanjing Agriculture Carnival and Beijing Agriculture Carnival, the Yunnan Luoping Rapeseed Flower Festival, grassland vacations in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Gansu, and village tours in Guizhou. </p> <p> Practice has proved that leisure agriculture is an industry that strengthens agriculture and enriches the people, conforming to the laws of economic, natural and social development, adapting to market demand and containing huge potential; it is a sunrise industry and emerging industry that benefits the country and the people, achieves multiple effects at once, and drives the overall situation. Leisure agriculture work is highly consistent with strategic measures being implemented by the state, such as modern agriculture construction, ecological civilization construction, integrated urban-rural development, and Beautiful China construction. The Ministry of Agriculture and leisure agriculture management departments at all levels have always adhered to reform and innovation in their work practice, focusing on six aspects to strive to promote the sustained and healthy development of national leisure agriculture: first, emphasizing organizational leadership, continuously strengthening work organization and top-level design around adding value and increasing efficiency for agriculture, increasing employment and income for farmers, and making rural areas beautiful and harmonious; second, emphasizing policy support, earnestly safeguarding farmers' interests, and strengthening guarantees in aspects such as financial rewards, project support and policy standardization; third, emphasizing planning guidance, further clarifying development ideas, principles, layout and priorities; fourth, emphasizing demonstration creation, continuously improving relevant standards and methods, and effectively giving play to the driving role of typical examples; fifth, emphasizing enhancing connotations, tapping cultural resources, and broadening the resource carriers for leisure agriculture development; sixth, emphasizing creating an atmosphere, carrying out a series of exhibition activities, and publicizing and promoting leisure agriculture from multiple perspectives. </p> <p>   </p>