Increase rural employment opportunities so that farmers can find work close to home

On September 24-25, the 16th National "Village Heads" Forum was held in Chengdu, Sichuan. More than 600 people attended the forum, including well-known "village officials," outstanding college-graduate "village officials," ethnic minority "village officials," and renowned experts and scholars from all over the country.

At the forum, Chen Xiwen, former deputy head and director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, gave a profound exposition of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on the "three firm imperatives": "Firmly deepening rural reform, firmly accelerating rural development, and firmly maintaining rural harmony and stability are the general guidelines we must grasp in these five years. Among these, the main indicator for measurement is increasing farmers' income." Chen Xiwen said that in recent years farmers' income has grown rapidly, and last year the national per capita disposable income of farmers reached 11,422 yuan, with the urban-rural income ratio narrowing to 2.73:1. "The 13th Five-Year Plan proposes that by 2020 the national per capita income of farmers should reach 15,649 yuan, and the task of increasing farmers' income in most regions is still very arduous. In particular, in recent years prices of grain, pork and other products have been low, while reforms such as urban capacity reduction have reduced farmers' opportunities to find work outside their hometowns. Therefore, through the 'Village Heads' Forum we should further explore how to develop new industries and new business forms in rural areas, so that farmers have more employment opportunities in rural areas and can achieve local transfer of employment."

Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua fully affirmed the development achievements of villages in various places and the platform role of the "Village Heads" Forum. In response to the situation and tasks faced during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Chen Xiaohua pointed out that the next step in rural development should focus on four areas: first, implement new development concepts to solve new difficulties in agricultural and rural development; second, advance supply-side structural reform to improve agricultural efficiency and competitiveness; third, uphold farmers' principal position to enhance farmers' well-being; fourth, build platforms for cooperative development to achieve joint construction and sharing.

"Rely on innovation to stimulate the vitality of rural development, rely on coordination to make up for the shortcomings of rural development, rely on green to guide the direction of rural development, rely on openness to expand the space for rural development, and rely on sharing to promote the enhancement of farmers' well-being." Chen Xiaohua said that China's agricultural development is currently in the midst of transformation and upgrading. A new round of agricultural structural adjustment should take the path of integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and should promote coordinated planning of grain, cash crops and feed, integration of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries, and the combining of planting, breeding and processing; it should shift from focusing mainly on quantity to improving quality, change from production orientation to consumption orientation, arrange production around market demand, reduce ineffective and low-end supply, and expand effective and mid-to-high-end supply; it should respect farmers' pioneering spirit, stimulate and mobilize their creative vitality, and innovate rural governance and social management methods.

During the forum, the Sichuan Provincial Association for the Promotion of Village and Community Development was officially inaugurated with a plaque. At the same time, a series of activities were held, including the 55 ethnic minority "village officials" (2016) annual meeting, the China Famous "Village Officials" Sichuan Report Meeting, the main forum on "Smart Sharing and Cooperative Development," the China Rural Investment and Development Conference, the China Agricultural Park Symposium, and the Exchange Meeting on the Application and Development Prospects of Drones.