How Agriculture Enters the 13th Five-Year Plan Period with Six Concurrent Phases
2016 is the opening year of the 13th Five-Year Plan. How can we accurately grasp the development situation of the agricultural and rural economy during the 13th Five-Year Plan period? What characteristics will the development of the agricultural and rural economy present? A reporter interviewed Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture.
Han Changfu stated that both the internal and external environments for China's agricultural development are undergoing profound changes. On the one hand, the material, technological and equipment foundation for agricultural development is more solid than ever, the supply of major agricultural products is sufficient, and new technologies, new industries and new business forms are emerging at an accelerated pace, presenting rare opportunities. On the other hand, various old and new contradictions are intertwined and superimposed, and the problems of imbalance, lack of coordination and unsustainability remain prominent. It can be said that for agricultural and rural economic development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the starting point is higher than ever, the challenges are greater than ever, and the tasks are heavier than ever, which can be summarized as "six concurrent phases."
The 13th Five-Year Plan period is the decisive phase for building a moderately prosperous rural society in all respects. To build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the most arduous and heaviest tasks lie in rural areas, and the biggest weak link lies with the rural poor. At present, farmers' incomes remain low and uneven. At the end of 2014, more than 70 million rural people nationwide had yet to be lifted out of poverty, mainly concentrated in remote rural areas with fragile ecosystems, weak infrastructure and lagging public services. These are the hardest bones to chew in the battle against poverty.
The 13th Five-Year Plan period is the crucial phase for consolidating the favorable situation in agriculture and rural areas. The favorable situation of "twelve consecutive increases" and "twelve consecutive years of rapid growth" has not come easily. With the slightest slackening, a high point may become an inflection point. At present, the agricultural foundation remains weak, with prominent problems such as small operating scale and insufficient scientific and technological support, and the various supporting factors for agricultural development have been stretched very tight. There is an urgent need to build consensus and prevent the favorable situation in agriculture and rural areas from reversing.
The 13th Five-Year Plan period is the transitional phase for agricultural development modes. China's agricultural development has achieved tremendous accomplishments, but has also paid a great price. Agriculture has reached a new stage where there is an urgent need to accelerate the transformation of development modes. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, agriculture can only take the path of sustainable development, and must make major adjustments in development thinking, technological systems, policy support and resource allocation, vigorously advance supply-side structural reform, optimize product structure and industrial structure, and improve the quality and efficiency of the agricultural supply system. This is undoubtedly a revolution that will inevitably involve growing pains, requiring determination and the tackling of tough challenges.
The 13th Five-Year Plan period is the uphill phase for enhancing agricultural competitiveness. In recent years, China's agricultural output has continued to grow, with the total output of bulk agricultural products such as grain, cotton, oil, fruit, vegetables and fish all ranking first in the world, and per capita availability exceeding the world average. However, the problems of China's agriculture being large but not strong, abundant but not excellent, and weak in competitiveness have already emerged. China's agriculture is at a disadvantage in competition with developed countries, and there is an urgent need to strengthen the sense of urgency and crisis, persistently improve the quality and efficiency of agricultural products, and continuously enhance agricultural competitiveness.
The 13th Five-Year Plan period is the tough phase for comprehensively deepening rural reform. At present, rural reform has entered a tough phase and deep-water zone. The tasks of improving the new agricultural operating system and the agricultural support and protection system are arduous; in particular, reform items such as contracted land, homestead land, rural collective construction land and the collective property rights system involve the adjustment of multiple interest relationships and can easily trigger rural social contradictions and conflicts. But these are hurdles that cannot be bypassed, and there is an urgent need to overcome difficulties.
In addition, the 13th Five-Year Plan period is also the deepening phase for advancing urban-rural integration. There is an urgent need to further improve the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, accelerate the breaking down of barriers created by the urban-rural dual structure, and build a new type of relationship between industry and agriculture and between urban and rural areas.
"To sum it up in one point, China has entered a critical period of accelerated transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture," Han Changfu said. If opportunities are successfully seized and challenges effectively met, agriculture can smoothly transform and upgrade, laying a solid foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. If the response is inadequate, agricultural and rural development may lag further behind, which would inevitably hold back the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the sense of hardship and responsibility, and come up with effective measures and practical actions to deal with complex situations.
Han Changfu believes that the agricultural and rural economic work during the 13th Five-Year Plan period should firmly establish the five major development concepts, focus on the goal of achieving notable progress in agricultural modernization, adhere to the main line of accelerating the transformation of agricultural development modes, highlight the center of promoting sustained and relatively rapid increases in farmers' incomes, and strive to achieve "six comprehensive improvements."
Comprehensively improve the level of supply security for grain and other important agricultural products. Persist in storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology, and advance on a large scale the construction of farmland water conservancy, land improvement, transformation of low- and medium-yield farmland, and high-standard farmland. Comprehensively improve the leading level of various forms of appropriately scaled operations. Guide the development of various forms of appropriately scaled operations, cultivate new types of agricultural operating entities, improve the agricultural socialized service system, and raise the level of agricultural intensification and organization. Comprehensively improve the level of agricultural technology and equipment. Strive to complete a new round of variety upgrading for major crops by 2020, with the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress exceeding 60%, and the comprehensive mechanization level of crop cultivation, planting and harvesting reaching above 68%.
Comprehensively improve the level of agricultural production and operation efficiency. It is necessary to vigorously advance cost reduction and efficiency improvement in agriculture, implement the agricultural brand strategy, develop high-efficiency and high-quality agricultural products, extend the agricultural industrial chain and value chain, develop the agricultural sharing economy, and improve labor productivity, land output rate and resource utilization rate. Comprehensively improve the level of agricultural product quality and safety. It is necessary to persist in grasping both "produced well" and "supervised well," with both hands firm. Comprehensively improve the level of sustainable agricultural development. Strive to achieve key breakthroughs by 2020 in addressing agricultural non-point source pollution and prominent environmental problems, and initially form a modern agricultural development pattern in which production, living and ecology are coordinated.