How Agriculture Enters the 13th Five-Year Plan Against the Background of "Six Periods Converging at Once"

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”? What characteristics will the development of the agricultural and rural economy present? A reporter interviewed Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture, on this subject.

Han Changfu said that at present both the internal and external environments of China's agricultural development are undergoing profound changes. On the one hand, the material, technological and equipment foundations for agricultural development are 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 new and old contradictions are intertwined and superimposed, and the problems of imbalance, incoordination and unsustainability remain prominent. It can be said that for the development of the agricultural and rural economy during the “13th Five-Year Plan,” the starting point is higher than ever before, the challenges are greater than ever before, and the tasks are heavier than ever before, which can be summarized as “six periods converging at once.”

The “13th Five-Year Plan” is the decisive period 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 is the rural poor population. At present, farmers' incomes are still not high and are uneven. At the end of 2014, there were still more than 70 million rural people in China who had not yet been lifted out of poverty, mainly concentrated in remote rural areas with fragile ecosystems, weak infrastructure and lagging public services, and they are the hardest nuts to crack in the battle against poverty.

The “13th Five-Year Plan” is the key period for consolidating the favorable situation in agriculture and rural areas. The good 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, problems such as small operating scale and insufficient scientific and technological support are prominent, and the various supporting factors for agricultural development are already stretched tight. There is an urgent need at present to build consensus and prevent the favorable situation in agriculture and rural areas from reversing.

The “13th Five-Year Plan” is the transition period for the mode of agricultural development. China's agricultural development has achieved tremendous successes, but it has also paid a great price, and agriculture has reached a new stage in which there is an urgent need to accelerate the transformation of the development mode. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, agriculture can only take the path of sustainable development, and major adjustments must be made in development thinking, the technological system, policy support and resource allocation, vigorously advancing supply-side structural reform, optimizing the product structure and industrial structure, and improving the quality and efficiency of the agricultural supply system. This is undoubtedly a revolution that will inevitably involve growing pains and will require determination and the tackling of hard problems.

The “13th Five-Year Plan” is the uphill period for enhancing agricultural competitiveness. In recent years, China's output of agricultural products has continued to grow, and the total output of bulk agricultural products such as grain, cotton, oil, fruit, vegetables and fish all ranks first in the world, with per capita availability exceeding the world average. However, the problems that China's agriculture is large but not strong, abundant but not excellent, and weak in competitiveness have already emerged. In competition with developed countries, China's agriculture is at a disadvantage, 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” is the tough period for comprehensively deepening rural reform. At present, rural reform has already entered a tough period and deep-water zone, and the tasks of improving the new type of agricultural operation system and the agricultural support and protection system are arduous; in particular, reform matters such as contracted land, homestead land, rural collective construction land and the collective property rights system involve adjustments to the interests of multiple parties 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” is also the deepening period for advancing urban-rural integration. There is an urgent need to further improve the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, accelerate the removal of the barriers of the urban-rural dual structure, and build a new type of worker-peasant and urban-rural relationship.

“To concentrate it into one point, China has already entered the key period of accelerating the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture.” Han Changfu said that if opportunities are successfully seized and challenges effectively met, agriculture can smoothly transform and upgrade, strengthening the foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects; if the response is inadequate, the development of agriculture and rural areas may become even more lagging and will inevitably hold back the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the sense of hardship and the sense of 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” should firmly establish the five major development concepts, focus on the goal of achieving obvious progress in agricultural modernization, adhere to the main line of accelerating the transformation of the agricultural development mode, 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 consolidation, transformation of low- and medium-yield farmland, and high-standard farmland. Comprehensively improve the level of guidance for various forms of appropriately scaled operations. Guide the development of various forms of appropriately scaled operations, cultivate new types of agricultural operation 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 by 2020 a new round of variety upgrading for major crops, with the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress exceeding 60%, and the comprehensive mechanization level of crop cultivation, planting and harvesting reaching 68% or more.

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 “producing it well” and “managing it well,” and to be firm on both. Comprehensively improve the level of sustainable agricultural development. Strive to achieve by 2020 key breakthroughs in the treatment of agricultural non-point source pollution and prominent environmental problems, and initially form a modern agricultural development pattern coordinated among production, living and ecology. (Economic Daily reporter Qiao Jinliang)