Rural vitalization crucial for national growth

The central authorities issued their latest opinions on comprehensively advancing key works on rural vitalization on Tuesday.

It is a conventional practice for the central authorities to dedicate the first document of a year to agricultural work and related problems, showing the great attention they attach to the sector that is the foundation of the national economy and of strategic significance to national security and stability.

In the document, the central authorities call on governments of various levels to pay special attention to the grain production and supply of major agricultural products, promote the modernization of agriculture and improve rural governance.

The document makes guaranteeing national food security and preventing rural residents struggling slightly above the poverty line from slipping back into poverty two bottom lines.

To further tap into the potential of grain production, as the document suggests, the country should do more to increase the grain output per unit of farmland by giving full play to agricultural science and technology and improving water-use efficiency.

Notably, the central authorities urge local governments to maintain the grain-growing acreage and spare no effort in enhancing the production capacity of soy beans and other oil crops nationwide to ease the country's reliance on imported soy beans.

Also, the vitalization of the rural regions, as the document indicates, primarily depends on the modernization of agriculture and the development of county economies, which should prompt local governments to improve the living environment and public services for farmers and upgrade the infrastructure in the countryside so that the rural residents will have more choices apart from working as migrant workers to increase their income and livelihoods.

The vitalization of rural areas entails not only fast development of the countryside but also that the development gap between rural and urban areas can be effectively narrowed so that the national development is not a zero-sum game between cities and villages.