Importance of work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers categorically clear: China Daily editorial

The rising risks and uncertainties in the external environment — from climate change to regional geopolitical tensions — serve as a sober reminder to China's policymakers of the need to consolidate the foundations of development and security. In this context, work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers has acquired even greater strategic significance.

Over the past four decades, China's urbanization rate has surged from about 20 percent to over 65 percent. Rather than diminishing the importance of rural and agriculture-related issues, this transformation has called for policymakers to place greater emphasis on food security, narrowing the urban-rural development gap and enhancing the well-being of rural residents.

In the process, China uses about 7 percent of the world's arable land to feed about one-fifth of the global population, a feat achieved through sustained investment in agricultural science, strict farmland protection and continuous improvements in productivity. In addition, the country has also lifted nearly 800 million people out of poverty.

These achievements are inseparable from the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China that guides the country's pragmatic rural reform, infrastructure building, targeted poverty alleviation and coordinated urban-rural development.

To build on these achievements, the country will continue to advance its rural work. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for solidly advancing rural vitalization across the board and promoting integrated urban-rural development, with a strong focus on agricultural and rural modernization. Xi made the remarks in his instructions on work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, which were learned at the annual central rural work conference held on Monday and Tuesday in Beijing.

The conference also discussed draft opinions of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the State Council on agricultural and rural modernization and advancing rural vitalization.

One of the foremost tasks is continuing to ensure grain production. According to the conference, efforts should be made to advance a new round of initiatives to increase grain production capacity by 50 million tonnes, improve crop varieties, and ensure that the total area of farmland remains above the specified red line.

To that end, China should strengthen its push for breakthroughs in core agricultural technologies in key fields, promote the efficient application of scientific and technological advances, and develop new quality productive forces in agriculture tailored to local conditions.

Meanwhile, the country needs to keep the prices of important agricultural products such as grain at a reasonable level and promote stable income growth for farmers, as Xi stressed. This was reinforced at the conference, in which it was made clear that authorities at all levels must strive to enhance the efficacy of policies that strengthen agriculture, benefit rural areas, and enrich farmers.

Since a large number of farmers earn their living in cities during the slack season of farming, coordinated services for the migrant workers, along with support for those returning to their hometowns to start businesses or look for jobs, should be provided to help ensure stable employment and broaden income channels in rural areas as the job market becomes more competitive.

Additionally, the completion of the rural poverty alleviation campaign does not mean related work can enjoy a respite. On the contrary, greater efforts are needed to integrate regular assistance mechanisms into the overall rural vitalization strategy, improve monitoring and support systems, and continue targeted assistance for less developed regions, so as to prevent rural residents from lapsing or relapsing into poverty on a large scale.

Another key task to help narrow the urban-rural development gap is to adopt region-specific measures to build a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in.

As emphasized at the conference, deepening rural reforms is indispensable to injecting lasting vitality into rural development. The country should continually deepen rural reform, including carrying out province-wide pilot programs to extend rural land contracts by another 30 years upon the expiration of the second-round contracts.

Work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers concerns security, development, equity and sustainability. With clear priorities set for the next year by the just-concluded central rural work conference and diligent, pragmatic efforts by authorities at all levels, China can take advantage of what it has achieved in this regard to steadily advance comprehensive rural vitalization and modernize its agriculture in the new five-year plan period.

The country should strive to build its agriculture into a major modernized sector and basically ensure modern standards of living in rural areas so that farmers can enjoy a more prosperous life.