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SCIO briefing on white paper 'Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and Contribution'

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Farmer.com.cn:

After winning the battle against poverty, the focus of the work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers has historically shifted to promote rural vitalization in an all-round way, which involves all aspects of the above-mentioned work. What's the next priority? Thank you.

Tang Renjian:

Thank you for your question. From poverty alleviation to promoting rural vitalization in an all-round way, a landmark change and strategic transition has been made in the work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. The rural vitalization efforts have been mentioned several times in the previous questions and answers. Many examples are vivid and touching. We have worked in local departments and witnessed so many stories. Therefore, for the next step, we must continue to promote comprehensive rural vitalization in line with these guiding principles, ideas, and requirements.

Promoting rural vitalization in an all-round way involves a wide range of sectors. We do need to think carefully about where to start and what we should prioritize. We need to take all factors into consideration, while at the same time focus on some major work. The focus is as follows: First, we must first ensure food security. To the people, foodstuff is all-important. This is our top priority in governing the country. We will strongly implement the food crop production strategy based on farmland management and technological application, which lay a material foundation. The key is to solve issues related to seeds and arable land and to develop the seed industry. We will work to maintain the red line of 1.80 billion mu (120 million hectares) of arable land and one billion mu of high-standard farmland, which are the cornerstone of food security. At the same time, it is necessary to provide benefits to the farmers who grow grain and to make sure the local Party committees and governments shoulder their responsibilities. We must establish a mechanism guarantee of "two supplements," which is supplement by benefits and supplement by obligations. "Supplement by benefits" refers to allowing farmers to make profits from growing grain by improving corresponding agricultural prices and subsidy policies. "Supplement by obligations" refers to consolidating the obligations and responsibilities of local Party committees and governments regarding food security. In short, our goal is to ensure that the national grain output exceeds 1.3 trillion jin (650 million metric tons) and rises steadily, not only this year but also during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). At present, the summer grain is growing very well—a good sign of the harvest to come.

Second, we will consolidate poverty alleviation outcomes. It is not easy to win the battle against poverty, and by no means easy to consolidate this historic achievement. In general, we will maintain a stable assistance policy in areas that have escaped poverty and identify a number of key counties in the western region to help them develop and promote rural vitalization. For those who are prone to falling back into poverty, a dynamic monitoring mechanism will be established to identify and assist as early as possible. In brief, efforts must be made to prevent any large-scale relapse into poverty.

Third, we will develop rural industries that can benefit people. Increasing rural residents' income is a key approach to solving many problems in rural areas. As mentioned just now, we will make use of the multiple functions of rural areas—not just agriculture—because providing food is not the only advantage of these areas. We can give full play to other advantages, including ecological conservation, leisure tourism, and cultural inheritance. We will develop new industries and business formats such as rural tourism and recreation; promote the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas; maintain industries in the countryside as much as possible; and extend the industrial chain so that farmers can participate and benefit more.

Fourth, we will build the "hardware and software" in villages, and promote the coverage of public infrastructure in rural areas and extend it to households. I mentioned in previous press conferences that infrastructure problems have been basically solved at the level of administrative villages, and some have been solved at lower levels, but there are still gaps. Therefore, going forward, our focus is to promote solutions below the level of administrative villages, especially roads, which includes roads leading to different parts in villages, main roads in villages, as well as industrial roads, resource roads, and tourist roads for industrial development. We need to build these roads. Next, we will resolve the issue of cold chain logistics for storing agricultural products and keeping them fresh. It involves the upward movement of agricultural products from villages into the cities, and the downward movement of industrial products into villages and households. Solving these two major problems will not only improve the lives of the people, but also promote agricultural production. These facilities are our next priority. At the same time, we will improve the level of public services in rural areas, strengthen improvements to rural governance, improve social etiquette and civility in villages, and strive to further advance cultural and ethical progress. After a period of hard work, the look of the countryside will change both inside and out. Thank you.