Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua called for more efforts on developing rural industries in a bid to promote comprehensive vitalization of rural areas at a national meeting on rural industry revitalization held Friday in Yangzhou city, East China’s Jiangsu province.
He urged more support for secondary and tertiary industries relying on rural resources and leaving the added value of the agricultural industry chain and job opportunities for farmers.
The approach of marketization should be insisted, and research on final consumer products such as food should be strengthened to facilitate the agricultural transformation and upgrading, said Hu.
Efforts should also be made to develop different major industries based on differentiated local conditions in rural areas and farmers should be motivated to play a leading role in rural industrial development, Hu added.
Lou Qinjian, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, delivered a speech at the meeting and introduced the exploration and practice of Jiangsu's efforts for the promotion of agriculture and rural affairs. Han Changfu, director of the Central Agricultural Office and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, presided over the meeting.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the CPC Central Committee has continued to step up its support for rural communities. Issues concerning agriculture, rural development and the wellbeing of farmers now top the agenda of the Party. The first document issued by the central authority during each calendar year since 2003 had a rural focus. Plans for integrated urban-rural development were proposed in the reports to the 17th and 18th CPC national congresses, providing an important boost to agricultural development and farmers’ income.
Meanwhile, the urban-rural imbalance remains the most serious imbalance, and rural development remains the most serious development challenge. A rural revitalization strategy was thus unveiled in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress as one of the seven strategies for reaching the goal of building a moderately prosperous society.
The strategy emphasizes the importance of rural development, including the need to develop rural businesses, create a pleasant living environment, promote civility and effective governance, and improve the living standards of rural residents. To this end, enabling mechanisms and policies are needed to promote integrated urban-rural development, and speed up agricultural and rural modernization. The key to rural revitalization is developing rural businesses.
The strategy calls for in-depth rural reform to improve the basic rural economic structure. Especially important is rural land tenure reform aimed at separating ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights. Rural land contracting practices will remain unchanged; and existing contracts will be extended for another 30 years upon expiration. Reform of the rural collective ownership system will proceed to safeguard property rights of rural residents, and strengthen the collective economy.
(Source: ourjiangsu.com)
