SCIO press conference on 'China's Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity' white paper
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 30, 2021
Xinhua News Agency:
We often say that "Whether China has achieved prosperity will be judged by the conditions of the rural areas." After the victory in poverty alleviation, we will now comprehensively promote rural vitalization. How has progress been made over the years since the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy? In the next step, what are the considerations and arrangements for promoting the continuous increase in farmers' income and further narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents?
Liu Huanxin:
Let me answer this question, and thank you for your attention to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. The implementation of the rural vitalization strategy is a major deployment made by the 19th CPC National Congress, focusing on achieving two centenary goals. After nearly four years of hard work, the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy has made great headway. First, we have a bumper grain harvest for 17 years in a row, which remains above 650 billion kilograms for six consecutive years. This year, despite the impact of COVID-19 and natural disasters such as floods, both summer grains and early season rice have increased production, and autumn grain is on course for an increase in output, forming a solid foundation for securing the year-round grain harvest. Also, the production capacity of live pigs has been restored. The food supply for 1.4 billion Chinese people has been secured through our own efforts. Second, agricultural modernization has been significantly accelerated. China has built a total of 800 million mu of high-standard farmland, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress exceeds 60%, the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvest has reached 71%, and the application of fertilizers and pesticides has experienced negative growth for four consecutive years. The ratio of agricultural product processing output value to total agricultural output value has increased to 2.4:1. New industries and new business formats such as rural tourism and rural e-commerce keep booming. Third, the overall victory has been won in the fight against poverty. A total of 98.99 million rural poor people were all lifted out of poverty, which historically solved the problem of absolute rural poverty. This year, we have established a dynamic monitoring and assistance mechanism for preventing a return to poverty. We have provided precise assistance to more than 5 million people identified as prone to return to poverty, and we have been dynamically clearing this to zero. We will firmly hold the bottom line of preventing large-scale poverty return. Fourth, solid progress has been made in rural construction. Electric power, hardened roads, and 4G networks are basically connected to each village, and sanitary toilets are used by more than 68% of rural households, and a unified basic pension, basic medical, and critical illness insurance system for urban and rural residents has been established. This year we have formulated an implementation plan for rural construction actions and strive for new achievements in the development of rural area during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Fifth, rural governance has been more efficient. The construction of rural grassroots Party organizations has been strengthened, a rural governance system that combines autonomy, the rule of law, and the rule of virtue is gradually established, governance methods such as point system, inventory system, and digital empowerment are innovated and developed in various places, and more outmoded and undesirable habits and customs are updated, and the cultivation of civilized rural customs was accelerated.
Through the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy, agriculture develops steadily, rural areas are harmonious and stable, and farmers are happy and healthy, which vividly reflects the quality of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. But after completing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, there are still problems of uneven and insufficient development, and agriculture and rural areas, in particular, remain weak links, shortcomings, and weaknesses. In recent years, the income of farmers has continued to grow relatively fast, and the income gap between urban and rural residents has continued to narrow. However, the gap in development between urban and rural areas is still large, and the task of promoting the common prosperity of rural areas and farmers is very arduous. At present and in the future, we will continue to promote farmers' income as the central task of implementing the rural vitalization strategy, continuously optimize policy provision, expand income-increasing channels, enlarge the proportion of middle-income rural groups of people, and increase the income of low-income rural groups, and promote farmers' income to a new level, so that hundreds of millions of farmers can catch up and will not be left behind on the road to common prosperity. There are four main ways to increase farmers' income:
First, increase income through industrial vitalization. Prosperity of the industries is a prerequisite for solving all problems in the countryside, and it is also a bedrock of increasing farmers' income. At present, farmers' net operating income accounts for about one third of farmers' income. We must give top priority to industrial vitalization when it comes to rural vitalization and increase farmers' income by promoting high-quality development of rural industries. Especially, more income will be generated by high-quality agricultural products, the industrial chain, and cost reduction.
Second, increase income by expanding employment. Wage income accounts for more than 40%, which is the bulk of farmers' income. On the one hand, we must create more local jobs to increase income, implement supportive policies in finance, banking, land use, and talents to foster innovation and entrepreneurship and bolster employment and income growth, thus enabling farmers to be employed and make money locally. On the other hand, we will encourage farmers to seek a job in cities to increase their income, strengthen vocational education and skills training for farmers, improve their technological and cultural quality, improve pro-employment policies, and do everything possible to ensure migrant workers have stable jobs.
Third, increase income by deepening reforms. There are still a lot of "sleeping" resources in rural areas. They are the biggest source of potential for increasing property income and they must be activated through reforms.
Fourth, increase income by improving policies. Increasing the transfer income of farmers is an important part of improving the redistribution adjustment mechanism. We must focus on two types of groups: the first type is small agricultural households. For them. we must improve the agricultural support and protection system, stabilize and strengthen farmers' grain subsidies, and distribute beneficial agricultural funds to farmers on time and in full. The other type is low-income farmers. For them, we must establish and improve a normalized assistance mechanism, weave a dense social security safety net, and maintain the bottom line of preventing large-scale returns to poverty. Thank you.
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