No.1 Central Document targets rural reform

The "No. 1 document," issued every January by the Party's Central Committee and the State Council, has focused on rural matters every year since 2004. [photo / China.org.cn]

China's top policy priorities for 2014 will be improving the rural environment and maintaining food security, according to a key policy document issued yesterday.

The "No. 1 document," issued every January by the Party's Central Committee and the State Council, has focused on rural matters every year since 2004.

This year's document also focuses on the development of "modern agriculture" and lays out improvements in the way the countryside is governed.

"Rural reform and development are confronted with a more complicated environment and an increasing number of difficulties and challenges, as the country is going through a period of transformation," the document says.

China's rapid marches toward industrialization, urbanization and information-based development are imposing pressing requirements on the development of modern agriculture, it says.

China has acknowledged that industrial contamination of water and soil, together with the overuse of pesticides and fertiliser, has caused severe environmental problems in the countryside.

The fight against rural pollution is part of China's efforts to ensure it has enough farmland, water and rural labour to feed a growing urban population without having to turn to overseas markets.