Speech by Chen Xiwen
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Yesterday, Xinhua News Agency issued the full text of the No.1 Document of 2010 of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, entitled Proposals of the CPC Central committee and the State Council on Strengthening the Efforts of Coordinative Urban-Rural Development and Further Consolidating the Basis of Agricultural and Rural Development. Here, I would like to brief on the background and main contents of the document.
I. Background of 2010 No.1 Document
The 2010 No.1 Document of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council still focuses on agricultural and rural work. It was formulated against the following background:
(I) Agricultural and rural development in 2009 is better than expectation early this year
Looking back at 2009, thanks to the joint efforts from various regions and departments and the hard work of the vast cadres and masses, we have successfully coped with the serious impacts brought by the international financial crisis which is rarely seen in history, energetically combated the challenges of grave natural disasters and effectively solved the negative influences of abnormal fluctuations in international and domestic markets of agriculture products under the firm leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. Great achievements have been made in agricultural and rural development with overall situation prominently better than our expectation in early 2009.
First, grain production is better than expectation. In 2009, China's grain production hit 1.0616 trillion jin (530.8 billion kg), an increase of 4.2 billion jin compared with the previous year, up 0.4 percent. China's grain production increases for successive six years, the first of its kind after China's reform and opening up to the outside world.
Second, the growth of farmers' income is greater than expected. In 2009, farmers' per-capita net income reached 5,153 yuan, an increase of 393 yuan compared with the previous year, with actual growth of 8.5 percent. For the first time, farmers' per-capita annual net income exceeded 5,000 yuan, keeping a comparatively higher growth for successive six years.
Third, the employment rate of migrant workers is higher than expectation. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the fact that the international financial crisis has caused many migrant workers to go back to rural areas. Various regions and departments adopted energetic measures to effectively restrain the decrease of employment rate of migrant workers. By November 2009, the number of farmers who worked inn urban areas hit 152 million.
Fourth, people's livelihood in rural areas was improved faster than expectation. At the package plan of enhancing domestic demands and maintaining growth, China focused on infrastructure construction in rural areas to accelerate the construction and renovation of water supplies, power supplies, roads, gas supplies and housing, further improving the conditions of production and life in rural areas. China continued to attach great importance to the development of social enterprise in rural areas to boost the development in areas such as education, science and technology, culture, sanitation and healthcare there, improving the level of basic public services in rural China.
Fifth, progress of rural reform is greater than expectation. Reform on the system of collective ownership of forest was launched in an all-round way, promoting another great liberation of social productive forces in rural areas. Efforts were made to accelerate the development of specialized farmers' cooperatives. So far, there are 211,600 specialized farmers' cooperatives nationwide. The State Council specially issued documents to encourage reform and development of supply and marketing cooperatives, identifying their status as the economic cooperative organizations serving farmers. Meanwhile, other programs such as the solution to the debts of compulsory education in rural areas, institutional reforms of town level departments and reforms to financial management system in counties and towns was promoted steadily.
Sixth, social stability in rural areas was maintained better than expectation. The activity of deepening the studies and practices of the Scientific Outlook on Development was launched in real earnest in rural areas and the grassroots organizational construction in rural areas were further strengthened. Democratic and legal system construction was promoted steadily in rural areas and the relations between the Party and the masses and between the cadres and the masses were further harmonized, leading to social stability and peace in rural areas.
(II) Many prominent problems still exist in current agricultural and rural development
While summing up the achievements of agricultural and rural development in 2009, we also understand clearly that agricultural and rural development in the current stage is still facing arduous situations. In 2010, agricultural and rural development will be very complicated and difficult.
First, high base of agricultural production and weak infrastructure. In recent years, China achieved good agricultural harvest in successive years with grain production growing continuously. However, the old problems such as vulnerable agricultural development base, weak sci-tech supports and insufficient development stamina became more prominent. We need to make great efforts to maintain stability in agriculture and increase production. Second, great employment pressure of farmers and low efficiency in their agricultural work. The increase of new growing laborers in cities and towns squeezed the space of transfer employment of farmers; as the comparative efficacy in agricultural production, especially in grain production keeps decreasing, we need to make more effort in order to enable farmers to increase their income continuously.
Third, great demands for investment in rural areas but limited financial resources. In recent years, China has adopted a series of measures to develop rural public utilities and improve farmers’ livelihood, but mainly by making up the debts and filling in the gaps through establishing institutions. The overall level of public utilities in rural areas is comparatively lower. Under the circumstance of limited financial resources from the state, we still need to work harder to maintain rapid development of public utilities in rural areas.
Meanwhile, viewing from the development environment of agriculture, farmer and rural area, the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area was more closely connected with macro-economy and is more directly influenced by macro-economy. As the price formation factors of agricultural production were becoming increasingly complicated, it was very difficult to predict the trends of the market prices. Extreme weather events increased dramatically with climate disasters occurring suddenly, frequently and repeatedly. All these have increased difficulties to the control of the overall situation of the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area, as well as put forward higher requirements to the prediction, pertinence and effectiveness of the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area.
(III) The overall situation puts forward higher requirements to the work of agriculture, farm and rural areas in the future
The year 2010 is an important year to achieve success in coping with the impacts of the financial crisis, maintain stable and rapid economic development and lay a sound basis for the initiation and implementation of the 12th Five Year Plan. Thus, we need to make unremitting efforts for the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area.
First, efforts should be made to prevent the trend of loosing up on the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area so as to consolidate the sound impetus of agricultural and rural development in the past successive six years. Under the circumstance that grain production keeps increasing in successive years, farmers' income goes up continuously and rural areas maintain stable, some regions diverted or reduced their efforts in the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area. The better the situation is, the more efforts we need to make in the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area by strengthening our sense of responsibility, urgency and mission, so as to ensure the good impetus of agricultural and rural development in the right direction.
Second, the work of agriculture, farmer and rural is required to make great contribution so as to promote sound and rapid economic and social development. Stable agricultural and rural development plays a vital role in coping with the international financial crisis and maintaining stable and rapid economic development. Only through continuing the efforts of agricultural production, especially grain production can we ensure effective supply and market stability; only through promoting continuous increase of farmers' income, can we further enhance domestic demands and improve people's livelihood; and only through maintaining social harmony in rural areas can we pragmatically maintain the overall situation of reform, development and stability.
Third, measures should be taken to expand visions in solving the problems of agriculture, farmer and rural areas so as to promote industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization in a coordinative way. The new situations, problems and contradictions in agricultural and rural development in the current stage cannot be fundamentally solved within agricultural sector and rural areas relying only on agriculture and rural area themselves. We need to solve the difficulties in the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area with the concept of coordinative urban-rural development according to the requirements of Scientific Outlook on Development.
II. Main ideas of 2010 No.1 Central Document
Except for Forward and Conclusion chapters, 2010 No.1 Central Document consists of 27 clauses in five chapters. The idea of consolidating the basis of agricultural and rural development put forward in the document, with abundant connotation and pregnant meanings, includes the basic knowledge of strengthening the most important section, implementing the basic tactics of urban-rural development in a coordinative way, stabilizing and improving the basic policies of the Party in rural areas, relying on the basic supports of agricultural science and technologies, strengthening the basic infrastructure in agriculture and rural areas, improving the grassroots system of socialized agricultural services, intensifying the grassroots organizations with the Party organizations at the core in rural areas and building up the basic talent teams of constructing new countryside. The document puts forward a series of new important measures on the basis of maintaining the continuity and stability of the policies that support and benefit farmers.
(I) The basic concept of agricultural and rural work
The document summarizes the basic concept of agricultural and rural work in 2010 and in near future with "stabilizing grain production to ensure supply, increasing farmers' income to benefit their life, deepening reforms to promote overall planning and strengthening basis to increase development impetus." In terms of stabilizing grain production to ensure supply, we mean to continue our efforts in major agricultural production like grain production so as to ensure market stability, maintain reasonable price levels and resolutely prevent decline of grain production; increasing farmers' income to benefit their life means to take various measures to promote continuous and rapid growth of farmers' income so as to improve their life and production conditions and resolutely avoid fluctuation of farmers' income; in terms of deepening reforms to promote overall planning, we mean to make efforts to construct the long-term mechanism of promoting agricultural development through industrial development and boosting rural development through urban development, promote industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization in a coordinative way and resolutely prevent the emergence of the trend of neglecting and loosing up on the work of agriculture, farmer and rural area in the process of coordinative urban-rural development; by strengthening basis to increase development impetus, we mean to further strengthen basic construction, intensify basic supports and improve the capacity of sustainable agricultural and rural development in an all-round way so as to resolutely prevent reversion of the sound agricultural and rural development impetus.
(II) Basic requirements of agricultural and rural work
Based on the macro-situation at home and abroad and the changes of agriculture and rural areas after the 16th National Party Congress, the document focuses on the overall situation and the future, and put forward basic requirements in five aspects to the Party committees and governments of various levels: First, making the coordinative urban-rural development as the basic requirement of constructing a well-off society in an all-round way. Currently, the imbalanced urban-rural development is the prominent contradiction facing China's modernization construction. For China, a populous developing big country with large agricultural proportion, there is no national modernization without agricultural modernization; there is no nationwide prosperity and stability without prosperity and stability in rural areas; and there is no all-round well-off society for all the Chinese people without all-round well-off society for farmers. The fundamental reason for strengthening the efforts of urban-rural development in a coordinative way is that China's agricultural base is still very weak and needs strengthening, China's rural development still lags behind and needs supports; farmers still have difficulties in increasing their income and we need to accelerate the process of increasing their income. Second, making the improvement of rural livelihood as the important contents of adjusting the distribution patterns of the national revenue. To change the backward conditions in rural areas, we should stick to the principle in favor of agriculture, farmer and rural area in national revenue distribution, put the emphasis of public utility development in rural areas in a pragmatic way and take more measures of improving livelihood to benefit farmers so as to constantly increase the efforts of promoting agricultural development through industrial development and boosting rural development through urban development. Third, making the enhancement of demands from rural areas as the key measures to spur domestic demands. Rural areas possess the largest potentials of enhancing domestic demands. The key measures are to consolidate the basis of agricultural and rural development and promote farmers' continuous income increase. After the basis of agricultural and rural development is consolidated and farmers' income increases, the purchasing power in rural areas will go up steadily to provide continuous impetus for China's economic growth. Fourth, making the development of modern agriculture as the important mission of transforming economic development mode. China is currently in the important stage of transforming the mode of economic development and improving the quality of economic development. Owing to the backward infrastructures, weak sci-tech supporting capacity and prominent pollution and emission, the task of reforming traditional agriculture is more urgent. This is an important area of transforming the mode of economic development. Fifth, making the construction of new socialism countryside and promotion of urbanization as the long-lasting impetus of maintaining stable and rapid economic development. Driving by the "two engines" of urbanization and new countryside construction is the important characteristic and the necessary road of China's modernization construction. Based on the current fact of backward rural development, we should make efforts in accelerating development of agriculture, farmer and rural area so as to promote and coordinate the "two engines" synchronously and realize sound interaction and common prosperity between urban and rural areas.
(III) Major policies and measures of agricultural and rural work
First, improving the policy system that supports and benefits farmers to promote resource elements allocation to rural areas. The documents requires continuing to increase investments from the state to agriculture and rural areas, improving the system of agricultural subsidy and mechanism of market adjustment, lifting up the quality and level of rural financial services, actively leading social resources to agriculture and rural areas and energetically exploring rural markets.
Second, improving the equipment level of modern agriculture to promote transformation of the mode of agricultural development. The document requires stabilizing and developing the production of staple agricultural products such as grains, launching standardized production of vegetable basket products, highlighting construction of irrigation infrastructure, energetically constructing high-level farmlands, improving the capacity of sci-tech innovation and promotion in agriculture sector, perfecting market systems of agricultural products and building solid barrier of ecological security.
Third, accelerating the improvement of people's livelihood in rural areas to narrow down the gap in public utility development between urban and rural areas. The document requires promoting farmers' employment and business startup, lifting the development level education, healthcare and culture in rural areas, improving the level of rural social security, strengthening construction of water supplies, power suppliers, roads, gas supplies and housing, and continuing to do the work of poverty alleviation.
Fourth, promoting urban-rural reform in a coordinative way to enhance the impetus of agricultural and rural development. The document requires stabilizing and improving the basic business operation system in rural areas, promoting the reform of land management system in rural areas in order, making efforts to lift the level of organizational operation of agricultural production, actively promoting forestry reform, continuing to deepen comprehensive reform in rural areas, promoting and accelerating system innovation of urbanization and lifting the level of opening up agriculture sector.
Fifth, strengthening construction of rural grassroots organizations to consolidate the ruling basis of the CPC in rural areas. The document requires strengthening and improving grassroots Party construction in rural areas, further improving grassroots ruling mechanisms suitable for Chinese national situations in rural areas and pragmatically maintaining social stability in rural areas.
In the end, the document stresses that the Party committees and governments of various levels should pragmatically strengthen and improve the leadership of the CPC to the rural work on the overall and strategic height.
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