Increase agricultural investment to comprehensively consolidate the foundation of agricultural development
Recently, the State Council issued the National Agricultural Modernization Plan (2016-2020) (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which has become a programmatic document for implementing the new development philosophy and advancing agricultural modernization during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. To strengthen investment guarantees and ensure the realization of the Plan's goals, the National Development and Reform Commission will thoroughly implement the Plan's requirements on increasing the intensity of policies that strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich rural areas, and on integrating and optimizing national agricultural investment, adhere to making agriculture and rural areas a key guaranteed area of national fixed asset investment, highlight weak links and key projects, and lay a solid foundation for advancing agricultural modernization.
National agricultural investment is an important guarantee for improving the conditions for agricultural and rural development and accelerating agricultural modernization. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the state will further establish and improve the mechanism for sustained growth of agricultural investment, adhere to making agriculture and rural areas a key area of national fixed asset investment, and ensure that the intensity does not weaken and the total amount increases. Focusing on "shoring up shortcomings" in agricultural infrastructure, the structure of central budgetary investment will be continuously optimized, with priority given to areas such as consolidating the foundation of agricultural production, strengthening support for agricultural technology and equipment, and improving agricultural sustainability. Adhere to giving play to the guiding role of the National Agricultural Modernization Plan and various special plans, do a good job in integrating national agricultural investment funds, and concentrate efforts on building a number of major infrastructure and major projects that both benefit the present and serve the long term. Make good use of every cent of national agricultural investment, improve the performance assessment mechanism for the use of funds, improve the measures for fund use and management, and ensure that the completed infrastructure and major projects deliver benefits over the long term.
To accelerate agricultural modernization, it is necessary to implement the strategy of "storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology," build production bases for grain and important agricultural products, and ensure food security and the effective supply of bulk agricultural products. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, high-standard farmland will be built on a large scale, and the National Overall Plan for High-Standard Farmland Construction (2011-2020) and the National Plan for Adding 100 Billion Jin of Grain Production Capacity (2009-2020) will be fully implemented, ensuring the completion of 800 million mu and striving to complete 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland by 2020, and continuously improving the comprehensive production capacity of bulk agricultural products such as grain, cotton, oil, and sugar. Relying on the main functional zone division and the layout of advantageous agricultural products, and on the basis of the work of designating permanent basic farmland, establish grain production functional zones and important agricultural product production protection zones, assign the production capacity of agricultural products such as rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, rapeseed, and sugarcane to specific plots, take the lead in advancing high-standard farmland construction in the "two zones," and form core production areas and high-yield, stable-yield supply bases for grain and other important agricultural products.
To accelerate agricultural modernization, it is necessary to build and improve the modern agricultural science and technology innovation and extension system, and focus on strengthening material equipment and technological support for agriculture. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, key special projects and programs for agricultural science and technology innovation will be implemented, with key breakthroughs in key technologies and equipment in fields such as biological breeding, agricultural machinery and equipment, smart agriculture, and ecological and environmental protection. Deepen the development of the modern seed industry, deepen the reform of the agricultural science and technology system, implement the modern seed industry development project, improve the breeding system for improved livestock and poultry varieties, and advance the construction of national-level breeding and seed production bases in Hainan, Gansu, and Sichuan. Accelerate the research and development of high-end agricultural machinery and equipment and key core components, focus on breaking through operational bottlenecks in rapeseed, cotton, sugarcane, and others, and raise the level of full-process mechanization in the production of major crops.
To accelerate agricultural modernization, it is necessary to promote the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas, and comprehensively build a modern agricultural industrial system. Continuously introduce new technologies, new forms of business, and new models into agriculture, use modern concepts to lead agriculture, use modern technology to transform agriculture, promote the extension of the agricultural industrial chain, form a modern industrial system featuring cross-integration of agriculture with the secondary and tertiary industries, and enhance the overall competitiveness of domestic agriculture. Build a number of rural industrial integration development parks with complete supporting service systems and clustered industrial development, and support a number of leading agricultural industrialization enterprises with long industrial chains and close interest linkage mechanisms with farmers. Implement the "Hundred Counties, Thousand Townships, Ten Thousand Villages" pilot demonstration project for rural industrial integration development, and support local areas in focusing on entity cultivation and policy innovation to form a number of replicable and promotable business models.
To accelerate agricultural modernization, it is necessary to firmly establish the concept of green development, and protect, systematically restore, and comprehensively manage "mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, and lakes" as a whole. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, continue to implement and improve the overall plan for addressing prominent agricultural environmental problems, increase efforts to prevent and control agricultural non-point source pollution, build demonstration zones for agricultural non-point source pollution control in typical river basins such as the Songhua River, Haihe River, Huaihe River, Hanjiang River, and Taihu Lake, as well as in key areas such as the Three Gorges Reservoir area and the water source areas of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, increase support for the management of reclaimed and abandoned grasslands and the pilot protection of black soil in Northeast China, and carry out comprehensive management in groundwater funnel areas, heavy metal polluted areas, and areas with severe ecological degradation. Implement the plans for allowing farmland, grasslands, rivers, and lakes to recuperate, adhere to the strictest farmland protection system, carry out crop rotation and fallow pilot projects, implement a new round of the project of returning farmland to forest and grassland, steadily expand the scope of implementing the return of grazing land to grassland, carry out the return of farmland to lakes and wetlands, fundamentally reduce the carrying pressure on agricultural resources, and promote the natural restoration of agricultural ecology.