21st Century Business Herald:

We all know that industrial revitalization is the first of the five major revitalizations, and it is also an important channel to promote farmers' employment and income. What is the current development of rural industries? Next, which aspects will you focus on to promote rural industries' development and increase farmers' employment and income? Thank you.

Deng Xiaogang:

The growth of industries is crucial to rural revitalization. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the development of rural industries. He has delivered important speeches and instructions on various occasions, setting clear direction and priorities for the development of rural industries.

Over the past decade, agriculture and rural affairs departments at all levels have carefully studied and understood the principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions. With clear focus, we have strengthened guidance, increased investment, and made every effort to promote the development of rural industries and consolidate the material foundation for rural revitalization. Remarkable progress has been achieved in this respect.

First, the agricultural product processing and circulation industry has developed rapidly. We have launched an initiative to upgrade the agricultural products processing industry, shifted the industry's focus to counties, central towns, and logistics nodes, and improved key logistics networks and cold chain systems. We have built 156,000 primary processing facilities and more than 50,000 cold storage facilities in production areas. Now, 70.6% of farm produce is processed into commodities. Agricultural product processing enterprises have earned revenues of nearly 25 trillion yuan. The ratio of the output value of the agricultural product processing industry to the total agricultural output value reached 2.5:1.

Second, rural leisure tourism has developed steadily. We have worked to implement excellent projects for leisure agriculture and rural tourism, perform multiple functions of agriculture, and realize the diversified values of rural areas. We have built a number of leisure agricultural attractions and promoted more than 1,000 quality travel routes. Now there are over 300,000 leisure farms, tourist farms, and agritainment resorts nationwide, generating revenues of more than 700 billion yuan annualy.

Third, new industries and business forms have achieved vigorous growth in rural areas. We have made a big push to develop rural e-commerce and fostered more than 30,000 agriculture-related e-commerce platforms. Rural online retail sales exceeded 2 trillion yuan, and online retail sales of agricultural products reached more than 420 billion yuan. We have actively developed new services to make production and life in rural areas more convenient. Based on the special resources in rural areas, we have fostered distinctive industries according to local conditions and created several brands.

Fourth, the integrated development of rural industries has gradually become a trend. We have promoted the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas and allocated agricultural and modern industrial factors across sectors. We have built 140 characteristic industrial clusters, 250 national modern agricultural industrial parks, more than 1,300 towns with agricultural strengths, and over 3,600 model villages and towns with special products of their own. These are all high-quality and efficient engines driving rural industry development with distinctive local characteristics and prominent leading industries.

Fifth, rural entrepreneurs and innovators are dynamic. We have improved supportive policies to bolster employment and entrepreneurship by attracting returnee rural migrant workers, secondary and tertiary specialized school graduates, demobilized military personnel, and scientists and technicians to pursue business and other innovative ventures in rural areas. We have built more than 2,200 innovation and start-up parks and incubation bases in rural areas. A total of 11.2 million people have returned to their hometowns to pursue business and other innovative ventures, each creating six to seven stable jobs and 15-20 flexible ones.

Going forward, we will act on the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, prioritize helping rural residents find employment and increase their income and focus on performing multiple functions of agriculture and realizing the diversified values of rural areas, on ensuring farmers enjoy more job opportunities and share more benefits from the growth of industries. The four major tasks are as follows. The first is to develop industries that can drive rural prosperity, especially county-level industries with a large capacity for employment, continue to upgrade rural industries, extend the industrial chain, foster supply chains, and improve value chains. The second is to promote entrepreneurship in rural areas by guiding returnee migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns and villages, supporting secondary and tertiary specialized school graduates, demobilized military personnel, and scientists and technicians to pursue business in rural areas, and encouraging rural craftsmen and talent to engage in entrepreneurial activities, to create job opportunities and increase farmers' income. The third is to attract investment by optimizing the rural business environment and guiding industrial and commercial capital to invest in building green and high-quality product bases, setting up processing plants, and promoting industrial integration to help local farmers gain prosperity. The fourth is to create employment opportunities for farmers by building several platforms such as modern agricultural parks and promoting the integration of industries into villages to enable rural residents to get jobs locally or in nearby regions. At the same time, we will strengthen skills training for farmers and continue to support and guide farmers to find employment in other places.

Xing Huina:

Due to the time limit, today's press conference is now concluded. Thank you to all speakers and friends from the media. Goodbye.

Translated and edited by Gong Yingchun, Huang Shan, Mi Xingang, Wang Wei, Xu Xiaoxuan, Guo Yiming, Zhou Jing, Zhang Lulu, Wang Yanfang, Zhang Rui, Ma Yujia, He Shan, Xu Kailin, Zhang Liying, Wang Qian, Zhu Bochen, Yang Xi, Zhang Tingting, Li Huiru, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Tom Arnstein. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.

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