Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: Key Support Policies to Drive High-Quality Development of "Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers"

Regarding the Third Session of the 13th National People's Congress, No. Response to Proposal No. 5495

Fang Zhonghua and others 6 delegates:

　　The proposal you've put forward regarding the comprehensive advancement of We have received your suggestions for high-quality development of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. After consulting with the Ministry of Finance, we hereby provide the following response.

　 　I. On Strengthening the Development of Modern Agricultural Parks

　　In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in line with the central government's strategic plans and deployments, has worked closely with relevant departments to deepen the supply-side structural reform in agriculture, accelerate the development of modern agriculture, and strive to enhance the quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of the agricultural sector.

　　First, we will build grain production functional zones and important agricultural product protection areas. As directed by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has completed the delineation process. 1.088 billion mu of grain production functional zones and important agricultural product protection areas have been precisely mapped to individual plots and entered into a digital database. This represents a strategic re-optimization of agricultural productivity layouts, built upon the foundation of permanent basic farmland—and serves as the core area for ensuring the production of grain and other critical agricultural commodities. According to estimates, the grain and other key agricultural products produced within these "two zones" can already meet 95% of China's staple food needs, 85% of its corn consumption, 14% of its soybean demand, and 45% of its rapeseed oil requirements. By successfully establishing and maintaining these "two zones," we can further strengthen the solid foundation that underpins the nation's supply security for grain and other essential agricultural products.

　　Second, we will advance the construction of modern agricultural industrial parks. Since 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has fully launched and actively promoted the construction of modern agricultural industrial parks. Central financial investment has reached 9.174 billion yuan, with 138 parks approved for establishment and 49 national-level modern agricultural industrial parks officially recognized. These initiatives have also spurred local governments to create more than 1,800 provincial-level parks and over 3,800 city- and county-level parks across the country. The development of modern agricultural industrial parks has become a key platform for revitalizing rural industries and fostering new drivers of rural economic growth in the new era.

　　Third, we will launch initiatives to develop advantageous and specialized industrial clusters as well as strong agricultural towns. To implement the State Council’s Guiding Opinions on Promoting Rural Industrial Revitalization, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, has leveraged China’s unique urban-rural resource endowments. Focusing on leading industries, they have concentrated efforts on building a number of distinctive, moderately sized industrial clusters and agricultural towns that feature close-knit benefit linkages and robust driving capabilities. These initiatives emphasize connecting individual “pearls” into cohesive “strings,” organizing them into compact “bands,” and linking them into integrated “chains,” thereby fostering a development model characterized by multi-stakeholder participation, the aggregation of diverse production factors, and the emergence of multiple business formats. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, a total of 50 distinctive and advantageous industrial clusters, 22 rural industry integration demonstration parks, and 552 agriculture-driven strong towns were established, positioning these areas as pioneers in driving the integrated development of China's primary, secondary, and tertiary rural industries.

　　II. On Cultivating Agricultural Business Entities

　　New types of agricultural business entities are the foundational support for achieving agricultural modernization. The central government has specifically issued guidelines aimed at accelerating the development of a policy framework to nurture these new agricultural business entities, and currently, the number of such entities has already surpassed… 3 million households have formed various models of large-scale agricultural operations.

　　First, expand and strengthen family farms. In August 2019, 11 departments—including the Central Agricultural Office and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs—jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Family Farm Cultivation Plan," clearly outlining the initiative to foster family farms. The document urged local areas to establish and refine management systems for maintaining a comprehensive registry of family farms, encouraged the formation of family farm associations or alliances, and called for nationwide statistical surveys and sample-based research on family farms. By the end of June 2020, the national family farm registry system had recorded more than 1 million farms, with 28 provinces (cities, and regions) already launching initiatives to create provincial-level demonstration family farms. Meanwhile, over 110,000 family farms at the county level and above have been recognized as model operations.

　　Second, we are standardizing and upgrading farmer cooperatives. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is steadily carrying out pilot projects aimed at improving the quality of farmer cooperatives, with the initiative covering counties across the country. 158 counties (cities, districts) will pilot initiatives aimed at strengthening individual cooperatives, fostering the development of cooperative alliances, and enhancing county-level guidance and service capabilities. In collaboration with Sinochem Group, COFCO Group, and China Post Group Corporation, these efforts will advance the quality improvement of farmer cooperatives, providing them with modern agricultural services such as seed technology, finance, and logistics. As of the end of May 2020, the number of farmer cooperatives legally registered across the country reached 2.2254 million.

　　Third, promote the development of socialized agricultural services. In 2017, our ministry, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance, issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Agricultural Production-related Service Industries," providing a comprehensive plan to promote the growth of this sector. In 2019, we jointly released the "Notice on Further Strengthening Socialized Agricultural Services," launching a pilot program to innovate the mechanism for governments to purchase public-benefit agricultural services from commercial service organizations, while encouraging local areas to actively explore new approaches to delivering these services. By the end of 2019, the total number of agricultural socialized service organizations had reached 893,000, including more than 440,000 production management organizations, which collectively served over 60 million smallholder households.

　 　III. On Enhancing Rural Property Rights and Capabilities

　　Deepening rural reforms is the key to addressing Key initiatives for "San Nong" development. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, leveraging its core functions, is driving a new round of rural reforms while continuously enhancing and refining rural property rights and related mechanisms.

　　First, we need to activate rural land management rights. We will diligently implement the central government’s decisions and relevant legal provisions, while proactively strengthening the management and provision of services related to land-use right transfers. As of now, there are a total of 2,838 counties (cities, districts) and development zones have carried out the work of confirming, registering, and certifying rural contracted land rights, involving more than 200 million farming households. Approximately 1.5 billion mu of contracted farmland has been officially recognized at the household level, marking the near completion of this critical initiative. Meanwhile, local authorities have been actively encouraged to strengthen land management rights transfer markets, ensuring that market mechanisms operate smoothly and transparently. Farmers are guided to sign formal written contracts when transferring their land rights. To date, 1,239 counties (cities, districts) and 18,731 townships across the country have established rural land management rights transfer service centers, with the nationwide area of family-contracted farmland transferred exceeding 555 million mu.

　　Second, steadily advance rural residential land reform. Since 2015, in accordance with the directives of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, 33 counties (cities, districts) nationwide have been piloting reforms of the rural residential land system. As of the end of October 2019, these pilot areas had collectively reclaimed approximately 260,000 households' scattered and idle residential plots, totaling about 145,000 mu. Additionally, 81,000 rural housing mortgage loans worth 20.1 billion yuan had been processed. The Central Rural Work Office and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs have drafted the "Pilot Plan for Deepening Reform of the Rural Residential Land System," which was reviewed and approved at the 14th Meeting of the Central Commission on Comprehensively Deepening Reform on June 30, 2020.

　　Third, strengthen and expand the collective economy. Organize Fifteen pilot provinces that implemented the reform at the provincial level have completed inspections and acceptance checks of their business asset shareholding cooperative reforms. Meanwhile, preparations are underway to fully roll out the pilot program across 13 non-pilot provinces, aiming to achieve full provincial coverage of the reform by 2020. Local authorities are being guided to effectively carry out the business asset shareholding cooperative reform, ensuring that processes such as confirming member identities, quantifying assets into shares, and completing registration and coding procedures are conducted in a standardized and orderly manner. Additionally, regions are encouraged to explore practical solutions—such as paid withdrawal options for collective asset shares and mechanisms for collateralization and guarantees—while refining the rights associated with collective asset shares. These efforts are designed to unlock the potential of rural resources and boost economic vitality in agricultural areas.

　 　IV. On Creating Beautiful Rural Areas

　　Building beautiful countryside is a crucial step in implementing the rural revitalization strategy and constructing a beautiful China. The Central Party Committee and the State Council have issued the "Rural Revitalization Strategic Plan," From 2018 to 2022, comprehensive plans were laid out to build ecologically sound and livable rural areas. Since 2017, the General Office of the State Council has successively issued two key documents: the "Guiding Opinions on Innovating Investment and Financing Mechanisms for Rural Infrastructure" and the "Guiding Opinions on Maintaining Strong Efforts to Address Infrastructure Shortfalls in Key Areas." These documents underscore the need to further intensify rural infrastructure development. In line with our core responsibilities, we have formulated and released the "Guidelines for Social Capital Investment in Agriculture and Rural Areas," providing clear direction for social capital to flow systematically into the agricultural and rural sectors. Additionally, in collaboration with seven other departments—including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance—we jointly issued the "Opinions on Expanding Effective Investment in Agriculture and Rural Areas and Accelerating Efforts to Address Prominent Shortcomings in 'Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers' (the 'Three Rural Issues')." This initiative aims to guide local governments in advancing critical projects across 11 key areas of agriculture and rural development, such as improving rural living environments, upgrading township sewage systems, and enhancing rural water supply infrastructure. Notably, in the area of rural living environment infrastructure, following central directives, the Central Rural Work Leading Group Office and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, have prioritized strategic planning while ensuring robust accountability, effective implementation, and strong demonstration effects. They’ve also stepped up policy support and technological backing, leading to significant, phased achievements in rural environmental improvement efforts. By the end of 2019, over 90% of villages nationwide had launched clean-up campaigns, and the penetration rate of sanitary toilets in rural areas exceeded 60%. Moreover, a nationwide system for collecting, transporting, and disposing of rural solid waste now covers more than 84% of administrative villages, marking substantial progress in managing rural wastewater. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources has issued a notice launching pilot programs for comprehensive land consolidation across entire regions. The initiative encourages pilot townships to adopt scientifically sound and well-planned approaches, integrating farmland reclamation, construction land optimization, and ecological restoration efforts to create a more balanced spatial layout for production, living, and ecological needs. Pilot villages are encouraged to align their projects with village-level planning and regional land consolidation strategies, thoughtfully incorporating essential infrastructure elements such as toilets, sewage systems, waste management facilities, road networks, green spaces, community parks, integrated service centers, and river/lake restoration initiatives. This holistic approach fosters the integrated development of rural infrastructure planning, construction, and management. Currently, our ministry, along with related departments, is actively drafting the "14th Five-Year Plan" for agriculture and rural development. A key focus of this plan will be prioritizing public infrastructure investment in rural areas, with concerted efforts aimed at modernizing agricultural practices and upgrading rural infrastructure. We are also committed to promoting equitable access to basic public services, striving to achieve transformative improvements in rural landscapes within the next five years.

　　 V. On Strengthening the Rural Governance System

　　Rural governance is the cornerstone of national governance—without effective rural governance, there can be no comprehensive revitalization of our countryside. The central government places great emphasis on strengthening rural governance capacity-building, recently issuing guiding opinions on enhancing and improving rural governance. These documents clearly outline the guiding principles, core values, and overarching objectives for rural governance, while also detailing key tasks, implementation strategies, and organizational measures to bolster and refine rural governance efforts. This sets out a comprehensive plan for rural governance across the country, both now and in the near future. In line with the central government’s directives, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is taking concrete steps to ensure effective implementation. The "Who enforces, who educates" accountability system ensures timely publicity and interpretation of newly revised laws and regulations. It encourages local areas to deliver legal knowledge to rural communities through diverse outreach initiatives, while intensifying efforts to promote the law via case studies, clarify legal principles through real-life examples, and provide robust case-based guidance. This approach aims to disseminate legal knowledge and foster a stronger rule-of-law ethos. Meanwhile, in collaboration with relevant departments, pilot demonstrations for rural governance have been launched, alongside initiatives to establish model villages and towns across the country. A total of 100 counties/cities, 100 model townships, and 1,000 model villages have been selected nationwide. These efforts focus on key areas and critical steps—such as refining rural governance structures, strengthening the service capabilities of village-level organizations, and enhancing mechanisms for overseeing village-level authority—to actively innovate, boldly experiment, and explore new models and pathways for effective rural governance.

　　 6. On Strengthening Policy Support

　　Policy is about guidance. The guiding force behind high-quality development in "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers." The central government has consistently prioritized "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers" as the top priority of the Party's work, clearly endorsing the overarching principle of giving priority to agricultural and rural development while continuously refining policies aimed at strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, enriching rural communities, and fostering rural prosperity. First, increase investment through central government fiscal transfer payment channels. In 2020, central government fiscal transfer payments totaled 337.95 billion yuan, an increase of 3.9 billion yuan compared to 2019, with all funds already allocated. Efforts are actively being made to encourage local governments to accelerate the issuance of special-purpose bonds earmarked for agriculture and rural development, aiming to boost investment in agricultural and rural infrastructure. This initiative seeks to further unlock rural resources and attract financial and social capital to support agricultural and rural development. Second, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, has issued a document aimed at expanding effective investment in agriculture and rural areas to accelerate infrastructure improvements. Opinions on addressing the most pressing shortcomings in the "Three Rural Issues" area have identified 11 key project categories for strengthening weak links, including high-standard farmland, rural living environments, and agricultural industrial parks, while also advocating for diversified channels to significantly boost effective investment in agriculture and rural development. Thirdly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant departments, is intensifying support for rural innovation and entrepreneurship by issuing guidelines aimed at further enhancing efforts to encourage entrepreneurs returning to their hometowns. These guidelines explicitly state that individuals who launch their first business ventures and maintain stable operations for more than one year after returning to their rural communities will be eligible for a one-time startup subsidy. Enhance the facilities at national-level rural innovation and entrepreneurship parks and incubation/training bases, providing returning entrepreneurs with opportunities and venues for internships, hands-on training, practical exercises, and skill development to boost their entrepreneurial capabilities. From 2017 to 2019, the National New Farmers, New Technologies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Expo was held for three consecutive years, providing a platform for policy briefings, showcasing groundbreaking achievements, sharing inspiring success stories, and hosting competitive innovation challenges. By 2019, the number of people across the country who had returned to their hometowns to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship reached 8.5 million. Fourth, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and other departments have issued guiding opinions to accelerate the high-quality development of agricultural insurance, further refining the top-level design for agricultural insurance. Increase the level of spending on agricultural insurance, In 2019, the central government allocated 26.559 billion yuan in premium subsidy funds, a 33% increase from the previous year. This boost helped drive national agricultural insurance premium income to 67.2 billion yuan, providing risk protection worth 3.81 trillion yuan for 191 million farmer households. The central government prioritized funding for major staple agricultural products critical to national economic stability, people's livelihoods, and food security—such as rice, wheat, oilseed crops, and live pigs. At the same time, the central government launched a pilot program offering subsidies in lieu of direct grants for local specialty agricultural products insured through the central fiscal support system, thereby fostering the development of regionally competitive agricultural offerings.

　　 7. On Highlighting Innovation-Driven Development

　　Innovation is the driving force behind The primary driving force behind the high-quality development of "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers." The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is actively promoting innovation in science and technology as well as in institutional mechanisms, accelerating the implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy. First, Treating the cultivation of new industries and business models as a key strategy to expand agriculture's diverse functions and enhance its economic efficiency, we have promoted the issuance of the "Opinions on Revitalizing and Developing Rural Industries," which clearly outlines priorities such as refining rural specialty industries, optimizing rural leisure tourism, fostering innovative rural service sectors, and advancing the rural information industry. Second, Further deepening agriculture The "Fang Guan Fu" reform focuses on streamlining administrative licensing procedures, exploring alternative management approaches to replace traditional approval processes, and developing comprehensive lists of powers and responsibilities. This initiative aims to clearly define the boundaries of authority and accountability, thereby optimizing agricultural administration and ensuring that duties are carried out fully and accurately. Third, Accelerate the advancement of agricultural scientific and technological innovation, and establish high-quality dairy and cotton industries, among others. More than 80 alliances have been established, driving the institutionalization of 12 alliance entities. This has essentially created a collaborative framework that tightly integrates industry, academia, research, and application, seamlessly connecting the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. Across the country, five science and innovation centers—located in Nanjing, Taigu, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Wuhan—have been strategically developed to attract over 200 enterprises, 200+ research teams, and more than 20 investment funds, laying the foundation for what is already taking shape as the "Agricultural Silicon Valley." Additionally, a nationwide demonstration and promotion model has been established, featuring leading-edge technology integration at the national level, coordinated regional technology dissemination initiatives at the provincial level, and grassroots-level demonstrations of key technologies tailored to specific counties. Through this approach, an impressive 22,000 green, high-yield, cost-saving, and efficiency-enhancing technologies have been promoted annually, with an adoption rate consistently exceeding 95%. Fourth, Focusing primarily on dismantling institutional and systemic barriers that hinder the efficient flow of key factors, we will actively guide modern production resources toward agriculture and rural areas. For instance, banks will be encouraged to significantly expand credit and first-time loan offerings to new types of agricultural businesses, while implementing measures such as streamlined approval processes and preferential interest rates to boost financial support for agricultural production projects. Additionally, in collaboration with departments like natural resources, we will introduce favorable policies covering land use for rural industry development, environmental protection for livestock farming, and electricity tariffs for preservation, storage, and warehousing facilities—ultimately helping to address investment challenges in agriculture and rural areas. "The 'bottleneck' issue."

　　Next, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will collaborate with relevant departments to promote "High-quality development of the 'Three Rural Issues' is given top priority, with a focus on key areas, increased efforts, and stronger measures to comprehensively advance rural revitalization, accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, and ensure that China's agricultural and rural sectors keep pace with the nation's overall modernization drive."

　　Thank you for your concern regarding our department's work, and we look forward to continuing to count on your support. Support for the "Three Rural Issues" work. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

November 10, 2020

Source: Website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs