Opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Policies to Increase the Income of Rural Residents

Opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Policies to Increase the Income of Rural Residents

Zhong Fa [2004] No. 1

December 31, 2004

Under the auspices of the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the localities and departments, in accordance with the requirements of the Central Committee of the CPC, made strenuous efforts in solving the problems of rural areas, rural residentes and agriculture ("three agriculture-related" problems), overcome the adverse and severe impact of SARS, effectively managed to save lives and property that were in danger during frequent occurrence of various natural disasters, and successfully carrying out various agricultural reform which has brought with it, the steady structural transformation and development of rural economy, steady increase of rural residentes' income, improved standard of living and has guaranteed the stability of the rural society in the year of 2003.

However, we need to remind ourselves and keep an open mind that there still exist many challenges and problems confronting development of agriculture and rural areas, especially the difficulty in increasing rural residentes' income. The rate of increase of the per capita net income of rural residentes of the whole country has been slow for several consecutive years, the increase rate of the income of rural residentes of the major food production areas is lower than the average level of the whole country, the income of some peasant rural residente-households has not been increased or even has declined in most cases in real terms, and the income gap between urban residents and rural residents has been widening. If the income of rural residentes can not be increased in the long run, not only the improvement in living standard of rural residentes, but also the food production and agricultural product supply will be affected; ditto for the economic development of the rural areas that will also result in limiting the growth of the whole national economy; not only the social advancement of the rural areas, but also the attainment of the objective of all-around construction of a well-off society may not be realized; and the problem is not only a significant economic issue but also a significant political one. The whole party must, from the perspective of implementing the important thought of the "Three Represents" and of achieving, maintaining, and developing the fundamental interests of the peasant rural residentes, further enhance the sense of urgency and the initiative in the work of increasing rural residentes' income.

The challenges in increasing rural residentes' income at the present phase is a realistic reflection of the profound change of the internal and external environment of agriculture and rural areas, and it is also a manifest reflection of various deep conflicts generated over a long period in respect of the urban-rural dual structure. Against the background that the restrictions on the market of agricultural products are strengthened and the sources of rural residentes' income are diversified, we must embrace a new line of thought to promote and ensure the increase of rural residentes' income, adopt holistic measures and have a scientific-based structural change in terms of development strategy, economic system, policies and measures, and work ethics.

The overall requirements with respect to the work of increasing rural residentes' income in the present time and for the near future are as follows: the party committees and governments at various levels shall earnestly implement to the letter, the spirit of the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, firmly establish scientific ideas of development, comply with the requirements of the overall plan of economic and social development of urban and rural areas, stick to the principles of "granting more, collecting less, and enhancing flexibility", adjust the structure of agriculture, create jobs for rural residentes, accelerate the advancement of science and technology, deepen the reform of rural areas, increase inputs for agriculture, reinforce support and protection of agriculture, strive to achieve relatively fast increase of rural residentes' income, and change as soon as possible the widening gap between the income of urban dwellers and rural residents.

Article 1 Efforts shall be geared on supporting the development of food industry of the major food production areas, and to promoting to see to the increase in rural residentes' income
1. The building of food production capacity of the major food production areas shall be strengthened. At present, the recurrent decimal is the low efficiency in food production, making it difficult to increase rural residentes' income in the major food production areas. Therefore, powerful and effective measures must be taken to solve this problem. The major clog to increasing rural residentes' income would have been removed if the problem of increasing the income of food-producing rural residentes is solved; the fundamental base for food production will be enhanced if rural residentes are well-motivated to be creative; and the food security of the whole country will be guaranteed if the food production capacity of the major food production areas is protected and enhanced. Beginning 2004, the state will adopt and implement projects of high-quality food industry, in which some large food-producing counties and state-owned farms that have the necessary wherewithal and potential will be selected to form a group based on the strength of specialization on high-quality and special food. Support shall be provided to the major food production areas, especially food production areas in the middle part of China, to cultivate basic farmland with guaranteed yield notwithstanding drought or water-logging and with stable and high yield. The scale of fertile soil projects shall be expanded, thus enhancing the quality of the tillable land. More efforts shall be made in the projects promoting the use of hybrid varieties and of prevention of plant diseases and insect pests for major types of food, the capacity of technology integration shall be strengthened, and support based on priority shall be provided to the major food production areas in increasing the use of varieties of hybrid seeds and seedlings and making use of advanced and applicable technologies that guarantee maximum yields. Centering on the basic cultivation of farmland, the construction of small-and medium-scale irrigation facilities shall be accelerated, the effective irrigation area of farmland shall be expanded, and the capacity of lightening water-logging and fighting droughts shall be enhanced. The level of agricultural mechanization shall be improved, and subsidies shall be granted for the purchase and replacement of large agricultural machines by individual rural residentes, employees of farms, agricultural machinery specialists, and agricultural machinery service organizations directly engaging in agricultural production.
2. Support shall be given to the major food production areas to engage in processing. The major food production areas shall, relying on their advantages in food production, strive to ensure increase of rural residentes' income and development of regional economy, and shall expand and strengthen the food industry according to the market demands. The abundant feedstuff resources of the major food production areas shall be fully utilized to actively develop stock raising industry in agricultural areas, such methods as small loans, interest subsidies, and insurance services shall be employed to support the rural residentes and enterprises to purchase good varieties of domestic animals and fowls and to make mass-use of those good varieties, thus to derive the benefits associated with value-added through development of breeding industry. The layout of agricultural product processing industry shall conform to the requirements of the industrial policies of the state, the major food production areas shall be supported to develop the agricultural products processing industry of which the major raw materials are food, and the emphasis shall be put on the development of deep processing. The state shall, through such measures as interest subsidies for technology reform loans, investment and shareholding, and tax policies, etc., support the major food production areas to establish and reorganize a group of large agricultural products processing enterprises, seed selling enterprises, and agricultural scientific and technological enterprises.
3. Inputs into the major food production areas shall be increased. The existing agricultural fixed assets investment, agricultural comprehensive development fund, and land reclamation fund, etc., shall be used in a relatively concentrated manner and with priority being put on the major food production areas. The agricultural comprehensive development fund shall continue to be increased and the increased part shall be mostly used in the major food production areas. New fund sources shall be explored in order to earnestly support the major food production areas to boost the economy and increase rural residentes' income.
　　......