China’s "No. 1 Central Document" is the first policy document jointly released every year by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, for the most important policy theme. Agriculture, rural community and farmer related issues are the topic of 2016 China’s No. 1 Central Document, for the purpose of applying innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development concept in the rural sector to make the process more efficient, inclusive and environment-friendly. The main goal is to make marked progress in agriculture by 2020 to achieve moderate prosperity in rural areas. Food security remains the top priority of the central government. China has grown out of a food shortage period, but structural problems remain unsolved: some produce is over-supplied and some in short supply. The Document provides that grain output should be increased, and food security through the supply of major farm produce guaranteed. According to the Document, at least 53 million hectares of high-quality farmland will be created by 2020, which will be highly productive to ensure stable yields and able to withstand natural disasters such as floods and droughts. The Document also requests to strengthen agricultural research and development of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), as well as the supervision and administration thereon, and promote GMO with cautious on the basis of ensuring safety. In light of China’s resource constraints and problems of pollution, the Document calls for faster transformation of agricultural models through structure reform to realize green development and sustainable utilization. Supply-side structural reform in agriculture was thus emphasized and the importance of innovation was also underscored in the document. Sustainability will come through improved efficiency of resource use and environmental protection. Policies and technological support will protect resources and raise efficiency, preventing resources from over-exploitation. China will follow its "red-line" system and guarantee that land dedicated to farming never shrinks to less than 120 million hectares. Water resource management in China will be tightened, level of groundwater will be watched closely. By 2020, woodland coverage will be above 23 percent and wetland acreage will be above 800 million mu (53.33 million hectares). More farmland will be turned into forests or pastures. New national standards on food safety will be prioritized and standards on pesticides residues and veterinary drugs will reach the international standards by 2020. Supply-side structural reform aims to not only improve productivity but also to realize people-first development. In this sense, the Document calls to alleviate poverty, help rural workers find employment and increase their incomes. Meanwhile, the government will continue to push on-going rural reform of pricing and subsidy mechanisms but with a new emphasis on developing agriculture insurance mechanisms and rural finance system innovations. The government will encourage rural workers to find jobs or establish their own businesses in nearby regions. The migrant rural labor force will be stabilized and expanded and rural workers will be offered support to start businesses in their hometowns. County-level economies and rural service industries will be improved, while more training will be offered to rural workers. Local funds should be established to support females working in the countryside, and they should have better access to small loans and training. In addition, the document outlined that "hukou" (household registration) reforms, which will see 100 million rural workers secure urban residential status, must be expedited. After they become registered urbanites, rural workers' land rights should be protected and support given to those who transfer their land rights. Production structure must meet diverse consumption demands with enterprises encouraged to "go overseas" to balance exports and imports, according to the document. The measures aim to better provide for high-quality goods and services as well as to address problems such as overcapacity. Training for farmers, increased investment in technology, modernization of the seed sector and diverse business entities and models will increase the pace of change. The government will offer subsidies to infrastructure projects in key rural destinations while guiding private capital to projects that are beneficial for farmers. In order to let rural households share the profits of every step of the industrial chain including production, processing, and sales, new mechanisms such as distributing shares of leading firms to farmers should be encouraged. In addition, measures shall be taken to strengthen the construction of rural disaster prevention and mitigation system, including: speed up rural infrastructure construction; strengthen the protection of rural drinking water sources; take the agricultural sector as a key area for fixed-asset investment and channeling more funds to poor farmers, construction of irrigation programs, and wholesale produce markets; etc.
中国 · 2016-01-27