How to solidly advance agricultural and livestock development in poor areas

    Agriculture and livestock are the basic industries of poor areas. The Ministry of Agriculture has fully leveraged its industry advantages, accurately grasped the key links, persistently driven poverty alleviation and prosperity through industry development, and explored and formed an effective path of poverty alleviation and development. Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture has focused on policy, funding, technology, market and other priorities, continued to increase support, and made advantageous and distinctive industries bigger and stronger, and new results have been achieved in agricultural and livestock poverty alleviation work.

Scientific planning, clarifying development ideas and priorities. The Ministry of Agriculture has persisted in combining current and long-term needs, and “blood transfusion” with “blood production”, and strengthened planning to guide development. Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with 6 departments, jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Income Increase Work through Characteristic Industries, forming a joint force to promote industrial development in poor areas. It issued the Regional Layout Plan for Characteristic Agricultural Products (2013-2020), incorporating 96 varieties from 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas into its scope. It issued the Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Agriculture on Accelerating Agricultural and Livestock Development in the Tibetan Areas of Qinghai Province, guiding all localities to solidly carry out agricultural assistance to Qinghai. It separately signed a memorandum of cooperation with the government of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on jointly promoting the adjustment of Xinjiang's agricultural industrial structure, and signed a memorandum with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on jointly promoting modern agricultural construction. It continued to implement the guiding opinions on agricultural industry poverty alleviation work, the agricultural industry poverty alleviation and development plan, and a series of plans supporting agricultural and livestock development in poor areas such as Xinjiang, Tibet, and the southern foot of the Greater Khingan Mountains.

Strengthening research, solving development difficulties. Since the beginning of this year, many leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture have gone deep into poor areas to investigate agricultural and livestock development. Through the “Hundred Townships and Ten Thousand Households Survey” activity, research teams were sent to gain an in-depth understanding of the implementation of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers and enrich farmers in poor areas, spring plowing preparations, innovation in agricultural management systems and mechanisms, and other situations. Together with Xinjiang's agriculture-related departments, it formulated 3 implementation plans for southern Xinjiang on the adjustment of the planting industry structure, the development of herbivorous animal husbandry, and the development of agricultural industrialization, further clarifying the ideas, goals, main tasks, key projects, major policies, and funding estimates for agricultural structural adjustment in southern Xinjiang. It supported poor areas in carrying out research topics on the comprehensive utilization of water and soil resources in the northwest, modern agricultural development on the plateau, grassland ecological protection and construction, increasing farmers' and herdsmen's incomes, and sustainable agricultural and livestock development, and organized experts to carry out research on the production and operation system in Tibet, providing theoretical support and policy reserves for promoting agricultural and livestock development in poor areas.

Increasing investment, cultivating and strengthening leading industries. The Ministry of Agriculture has always persisted in basing itself on the realities of agricultural development in poor areas, focusing on the industrial priorities determined by relevant plans for poor areas, and following the principle that one policy enriches the people of one area and one project drives one industry, supported and implemented in poor areas basic construction projects such as the seed project, improved variety project, standardized large-scale breeding farm (community) construction, grassroots agricultural technology promotion system, returning grazing land to grassland, rural biogas, and agricultural product quality and safety inspection and testing system, as well as fiscal special funds such as improved variety subsidies, comprehensive agricultural input subsidies, soil testing and formulated fertilization subsidies, agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, grassland ecological protection subsidy and reward, and rural labor force transfer training subsidies. According to statistics, this year, more than 30 billion yuan in various central funds will be arranged cumulatively for the 14 areas, effectively promoting the improvement of comprehensive agricultural production capacity and the increase of farmers' incomes in poor areas.

⟦NL> Poverty alleviation and intelligence support, continuously improving self-development capacity. Promoting advanced agricultural science and technology, improving farmers' quality, and helping cultivate blood-production capacity have always been the starting point and foothold of agricultural industry poverty alleviation work. Through implementing projects such as the modern agricultural industrial technology system and the reform and construction demonstration counties of the grassroots agricultural technology promotion system, a number of fine varieties and advanced practical technologies have been promoted and applied in poor areas. Since the beginning of this year, it has helped the 14 areas select agricultural applicable varieties and technologies, screening out 791 agricultural applicable varieties and 462 agricultural applicable technologies suitable for poor areas. The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences signed an agricultural science and technology cooperation agreement with the People's Government of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region to jointly promote the construction of the Northwest Agricultural Research Center and the China-Central Asia Agricultural Science and Technology Sub-center. The Ministry of Agriculture has focused on strengthening cadre exchange work and actively selected cadres to take temporary posts for study in poor areas. At present, the Ministry of Agriculture has a total of 29 cadres taking temporary posts for training in Tibet, the Tibetan areas of Qinghai, Xinjiang, as well as Hubei Enshi, Hunan Xiangxi, the southern foot of the Greater Khingan Mountains area, Guizhou Bijie area and other poor areas; it has received “Light of the West” and party and government and professional technical cadres at all levels to take temporary posts for training in the interior.

Protecting the ecological environment, promoting sustainable agricultural development. Most poor areas have relatively fragile ecosystems and low resource and environmental carrying capacity. The Ministry of Agriculture has adhered to the principle of balancing grass and livestock, and through the project of returning grazing land to grassland and the grassland ecological protection subsidy and reward policy, together with development and reform, finance and other departments, invests about 17 billion yuan annually to carry out the return of grazing land to grassland, forage base and pen construction, promoting the restoration of the grassland ecological environment and the transformation and upgrading of grassland animal husbandry in poor areas. It actively supports poor areas in carrying out rural biogas construction, eliminating agricultural waste pollution, and promoting the healthy circular development of planting and breeding industries. It has effectively protected the ecological environment and initially formed a circular agriculture development pattern with biogas as the link and coordinated development of planting, breeding and processing, providing a strong guarantee for the sustainable development of the local agricultural and rural economy.

Opening up markets, helping solve the difficulty of selling agricultural products. The Ministry of Agriculture pays attention to supporting the connection between production and sales of agricultural products in poor areas and helping open up agricultural product markets. By organizing special agricultural product promotion meetings, carrying out online production-sales connection and transactions and other forms, it actively promotes advantageous and characteristic agricultural products in poor areas, promotes the connection between production and sales, and helps farmers and herdsmen broaden sales channels. By opening columns and free advertisements on CCTV Channel 7, China Agricultural Information Network, Farmers' Daily and other forms, it increases publicity and promotion efforts and enhances the influence and visibility of characteristic agricultural and livestock products in poor areas. This year, in the Xinjiang characteristic agricultural product production-sales connection activity organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, 24 enterprises signed purchase and sales agreements on site worth 1.3 billion yuan, and the annual transaction volume of eight major varieties including Xinjiang Hami melon, grapes, fragrant pears, red dates, beef and mutton operated by 16 domestic wholesale markets will reach 12.57 billion yuan.

Strengthening deployment, continuously improving the working mechanism. At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture organized a meeting of the leading group for poverty alleviation and development and assistance to Xinjiang and Tibet to study and deploy the year's work. In June, Vice Minister Yu Xinrong presided over a symposium on regional development and poverty alleviation in the southern foot of the Greater Khingan Mountains area, further improving the paired assistance system, expert consultation system, temporary post training system and inter-ministerial liaison meeting system for the southern foot of the Greater Khingan Mountains area. In July, Minister Han Changfu presided over the National Agricultural Department Directors Symposium and Agricultural Industry Poverty Alleviation Work Symposium in Harbin, further guiding and mobilizing the national agricultural system to strengthen agricultural industry poverty alleviation work. In August, Minister Han Changfu presided over the National Agricultural Assistance to Qinghai Cooperation and Connection Activity in Xining, Qinghai, where agriculture-related departments of provinces and cities with counterpart support and cooperative relations and relevant prefectures and states of Qinghai Province, and mainland enterprises and Qinghai enterprises signed cooperation agreements worth 3.3 billion yuan. In September, the Ministry of Agriculture held the National Agricultural Assistance to Xinjiang Work Symposium in Urumqi, which will focus on southern Xinjiang and do a good job in supporting six aspects of work including agricultural and livestock infrastructure construction, agricultural and livestock structural adjustment, talent training, sustainable agricultural development, and agricultural product market development.

The Ministry of Agriculture will continue to thoroughly implement the Opinions on Innovating Mechanisms and Solidly Advancing Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Work issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, base itself on the resource advantages and environmental conditions of poor areas, give play to the overall joint force of the national agricultural system, take concentrated contiguous poverty-stricken areas as the main battlefield, take increasing farmers' and herdsmen's incomes and improving production and living conditions as the goal, take promoting sustainable agricultural and livestock development as the direction, take reform and innovation as the driving force, help poor areas strive to strengthen agricultural infrastructure, make characteristic industries bigger and stronger, increase scientific and technological innovation and farmer training, open up agricultural product markets, effectively improve the capacity for self-development and sustainable development, and gradually embark on a path of modern agricultural development in poor areas with Chinese characteristics.