Set in stone! The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: These are the key priorities for rural industry work in 2021.

Regarding the Issuance of the "Key Work Priorities for Rural Industries in 2021" Notice

Departments (Bureaus, Commissions) of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and cities separately listed in plans; Agricultural and Rural Affairs Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Bureau ：

To implement the spirit of the 5th Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the Central Economic Work Conference, and the Central Rural Work Conference, as well as the arrangements made at the National Meeting of Directors of Agricultural and Rural Departments, we are committed to building a comprehensive agricultural industrial chain, enhancing the modernization of rural industry and supply chains, fostering the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas, enriching rural economic models, and establishing a modern rural industrial system. This will help broaden farmers' income-generating opportunities and ensure a solid start to the "14th Five-Year Plan" for rural industrial development. In light of these objectives, our company has formulated the "2021 Key Work Points for Rural Industries," which is now being distributed to you. Please align these priorities with your specific local conditions, refine and concretize action plans, and diligently oversee their effective implementation.

Rural Industry Development Division

January 29, 2021

In 2020, the agriculture and rural development system firmly implemented the central government's directives and arrangements from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Focusing closely on the goal of revitalizing rural industries, the system planned initiatives at a high level, pushed forward with strong momentum, and steadily expanded and executed tasks one by one. As a result, the agricultural product processing industry maintained steady growth amid positive trends, rural specialty industries accelerated their development, the rural leisure and tourism sector initially faced challenges before rebounding strongly, rural entrepreneurship and innovation continued to advance, and the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas gradually became a dominant trend. New industries, business models, and innovative approaches emerged continuously, ensuring that rural industries remained on an impressive growth trajectory.

2021 marked the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan, making it especially crucial to strengthen work on rural industries. The overall approach is: Adhering firmly to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guiding principle, we will uphold the overarching approach of pursuing progress while maintaining stability. Grounded in the new stage of development, we will embrace new development concepts, foster a new development paradigm, and focus on promoting high-quality growth. With deepening structural reforms on the agricultural supply side as the main thread, and integrating the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas as the key pathway, we will center our efforts around "ensuring stable supply, strengthening food security, revitalizing rural economies, and smoothing economic cycles." Leveraging the unique advantages of rural resources, we will strengthen innovation-driven initiatives, attract and pool vital resources and factors, expand vertically to unlock greater value-added potential in agriculture, and broaden horizontally to enhance the multifaceted functions of farming. By building a complete agricultural industrial chain and establishing a modern rural industrial system, we aim to keep the core players of the industry within county-level regions, enabling farmers to benefit more fully from the added value generated across the sector. This approach will provide robust support for comprehensively revitalizing rural areas and advancing the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

When it comes to key objectives, we must stay firmly focused on addressing the nation's most critical priorities—tackling the big-picture issues—and meticulously implement the central government’s directives at every level. Guided by the requirements outlined in the "National Plan for Rural Industry Development (2020–2025)," we will prioritize the development of a modern rural industrial system. In terms of spatial planning, we’ll establish a clear hierarchical structure that distinctly differentiates between counties, towns (townships), and villages, while ensuring seamless functional integration across these levels. This approach will encourage rural industries to cluster in key production areas, central towns, village hubs, logistics nodes, and specialized agglomeration zones. To optimize industrial structures, we’ll strengthen the integration of primary production with processing, marketing, and services, while fostering synergies among agriculture, culture, tourism, education, science, technology, industry, trade, finance, and investment. The goal is to create an organic rural industrial ecosystem where crop and livestock farming serve as the foundation, agricultural product processing takes center stage, and commerce, logistics, and distribution act as the driving force. Ensuring the resilience of industrial and supply chains, we’ll focus on extending processing and distribution networks, bolstering innovation to fill critical gaps, attracting essential resources to fortify existing links, and encouraging creative innovations to refine and enhance each segment. By doing so, we aim to shift processing capacity closer to production sites, shorten the distance between origins and markets, and eliminate bottlenecks along the industrial and supply chain. This will ensure smooth and secure connections across all stages—upstream, midstream, and downstream. Finally, in terms of stakeholder development, we’ll emphasize the leading role of flagship enterprises, harness the dynamism of entrepreneurship, and promote collaborative efforts between businesses and farmers. Together, we’ll build a mutually beneficial ecosystem where enterprises and farmers complement each other’s strengths, collaborate effectively, and achieve win-win outcomes. By 2021, we will cultivate a group of robust, forward- and backward-integrated agricultural industry value chains—chains that are horizontally complementary, tightly interconnected, and deeply interdependent. Our vision is to strengthen the “chain teams” driving innovation across the entire agricultural value chain, nurture more industry-leading enterprises that serve as chain masters, and empower farmers to actively participate in and benefit from these thriving chains. Ultimately, this initiative will contribute significantly to advancing high-quality, efficient agriculture, creating vibrant, livable, and prosperous rural communities, and uplifting farmers’ incomes and well-being—providing crucial support for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas and the modernization of agriculture and rural regions.

1. Tap into unique resources to create a new hub for rural industry development

Leveraging the unique advantages of rural resources, we will develop specialized rural industries, fostering distinctive, moderately sized rural industry clusters with strong regional growth and development potential, thereby shaping a "circular" pattern of rural industrial development.

(1) Establish demonstration villages and towns featuring "One Village, One Product." Cultivate a group of demonstration villages and towns featuring "small yet specialized products, refined and attractive business models, and concentrated, integrated layouts," creating a development pattern where one village leads several others, and multiple villages come together to form larger, interconnected clusters. In 2021, standardized guidelines were issued to guide the development of these "One Village, One Product" demonstration villages and towns. Additionally, 400 new national-level "One Village, One Product" demonstration villages and towns were officially recognized, and data was released showcasing the annual output value of nationally recognized rural specialty industries: counties generating over 10 billion yuan, towns exceeding 1 billion yuan, and individual villages surpassing 100 million yuan.

(II) Building Strong Agricultural Industry Towns. Focus on the town (or township) area 1 ― 2 Leading industries that attract capital to the town, skilled professionals to join, and cutting-edge technology to settle in—helping to build a group of robust agricultural towns that integrate standardized raw material bases, intensive processing and transformation facilities, regionally dominant industries, and closely aligned value chains. These efforts will also foster a number of agricultural hubs with annual output exceeding… 10 A county-level agricultural powerhouse town worth hundreds of millions, dedicated to building a regional service center for farmers that boasts a strong core industry, thriving diversified sectors, and an ideal environment for both living and working. 2021 Year, Construction 300 A strong agricultural industry town.

(III) Building Competitive and Distinctive Industry Clusters. Highlighting industrial links that weave together into cohesive lines, connect distinct clusters into belts, and assemble them into robust chains, we aim to build competitive, high-value industry clusters—each with an output exceeding 10 billion yuan, characterized by prominent leading industries, significant economies of scale, well-integrated supply chains, and strong overall competitiveness. Additionally, we will develop a number of flagship, specialized industry clusters each generating over 100 billion yuan in output, thereby establishing regional growth hubs and industrial powerhouses for rural sectors. In 2021, we provided support to establish several such advantageous and distinctive industry clusters.

(4) Cultivate well-known, distinctive brands. Conduct surveys and analyses of rural specialty industries, guiding the refinement and enhancement of traditional handicrafts in rural areas to build renowned "local" and "authentic" specialty brands. In 2021, a national catalog of rural specialty products was established, showcasing a selection of unique rural goods and skilled artisans, while also promoting a group of well-known, locally recognized specialty brands.

(5) Promote the sustainable development of specialized industries in poverty-alleviation areas. Organize leading enterprises to establish processing workshops and raw-material bases in poverty-alleviation areas, and launch promotional activities and supply-and-demand matchmaking events for products from these regions. In 2021, multiple matchmaking initiatives were carried out between poverty-alleviation areas and more developed regions.

2. Extend the processing chain to unlock new opportunities for value-added growth and efficiency gains in rural industries.

Enhance the agricultural product processing industry by strategically locating processing capacity within county-level regions, while extending the value-added and efficiency-enhancing chain across agricultural production, processing, distribution, and services—ultimately achieving circular, tiered, and full-chain value creation.

(6) Develop primary processing of agricultural products. Strengthen standard-setting and technical guidelines to support the development of farmers' cooperatives and family farms in areas such as preservation, storage, grading, and packaging—activities that extend the initial processing stage. Additionally, promote primary food processing innovations like turning grains into flour, beans into sprouts, meat into sausages, milk into cheese, vegetables into dishes, and fruits into juices. This will help cultivate a group of agri-food integration enterprises. In 2021, opinions were issued to accelerate the development of primary agricultural product processing, along with measures aimed at fostering the integrated growth of agriculture and the food industry.

(7) Develop sophisticated processing and comprehensive utilization of agricultural products. Cultivate a group of agricultural product processing enterprises that excel in production standards, technology integration, scientific management, renowned branding, and industrial clustering, while also fostering entities focused on comprehensive resource utilization. This will drive diversified development, multi-level utilization, and value-added across multiple stages. In 2021, the top 10 companies in each sub-sector of the agricultural product processing industry were recognized, and a number of national demonstration enterprises specializing in staple food processing were established.

(8) Build an agricultural and food innovation platform. Leveraging regions and institutions with strong R&D capabilities, we will establish agricultural and food innovation industrial parks. Our goal is to build a series of platforms, develop a robust set of mechanisms, tackle key technological challenges, commercialize groundbreaking research outcomes, create cutting-edge equipment, and promote advanced, practical technologies across the sector. In 2021, several China Agricultural and Food Innovation Industrial Parks will be launched. Additionally, we’ll construct a batch of integrated research centers focused on agricultural product processing technologies, enhance existing national R&D sub-centers for agricultural processing, and set up five specialized expert advisory groups dedicated to rural industries, including one specifically for the agri-processing sector.

(9) Enhance agricultural product processing parks. Following the principles of "grain-to-food at the end" and "agriculture-to-industry at the end," we are guiding leading enterprises of various types to cluster in industrial parks, fostering seamless integration across raw material production, sophisticated processing, experiential showcases, and logistics distribution. In 2021, we announced the Top 100 Agricultural Product Processing Parks as well as the Top 10 parks within specific industry segments, while also nurturing a group of international agricultural product processing industrial parks each generating over 10 billion yuan in output value. Additionally, we jointly organized the 24th China Agricultural Product Processing Industry Investment and Trade Fair with the People's Government of Henan Province.

(10) Build a comprehensive agricultural value chain. Within the county, we are building a comprehensive agricultural industry chain by selecting a group of agricultural enterprises that boast distinctive features, well-rounded supply chains, strong interconnections, diverse business models, and vibrant entrepreneurial activity. This initiative aims to deepen the value-added potential and efficiency of agriculture while expanding the breadth of its functional and economic opportunities. In 2021, we announced a selection of exemplary national agricultural industry chain models along with their "leading" enterprises, and organized a national conference to promote high-quality development of rural industries.

3. Uncover the functional value of rural areas and foster new models for rural industry development.

Optimize the rural leisure tourism industry by unlocking agriculture's multifaceted roles—such as "product supply, cultural experiences, ecological conservation, recreational tourism, health & wellness, creative cultural education, and employment opportunities"—while highlighting the diverse values tied to rural production, daily life, and ecology. Focus on fostering specialization, differentiation, and diversity to develop unique, distinctive, and highly personalized business models and products, ultimately driving the transformation and upgrading of rural leisure tourism.

(11) Build high-quality projects. We will build a group of high-quality leisure agriculture parks that are fully functional, strategically well-organized, feature sound operational mechanisms, and boast strong driving capabilities. Additionally, we’ll promote a selection of outstanding rural tourism routes and attractions, each showcasing distinct regional characteristics, deep cultural heritage, and authentic local charm. Meanwhile, we’ll carefully select Chinese Beautiful Leisure Villages—areas characterized by clear skies, lush greenery, pristine waters, comfortable living conditions, and thriving local economies. Finally, we’ll establish a number of key national leisure agriculture counties that leverage their unique resource advantages, lead in industry development, and serve as exemplary models for the sector. In 2021, our goal is to create 150 premium rural tourism routes and develop 200 Chinese Beautiful Leisure Villages.

(12) Enhance service quality. Strengthen the development of infrastructure such as water, electricity, roads, communications, and internet networks, while enhancing facilities for dining, accommodation, leisure, experiential activities, shopping, parking, and restrooms. Additionally, refine standards related to public health safety, food safety, and leisure services, leveraging standardized practices to build renowned brand names and attract vital resources through these brands. Intensify training programs for industry professionals to elevate their service awareness and skill levels. Finally, establish robust monitoring systems to track industry trends, with selected key counties and business entities implementing direct communication and reporting mechanisms.

(13) Innovatively develop business models. Explore local flavors, ethnic characteristics, traditional crafts, and other valuable resources to develop new rural tourism initiatives such as "night-time economies," farmhouse dining experiences, and regional cuisine. Additionally, expand offerings like study-and-research programs, countryside wellness activities, parent-child experiences, and outdoor team-building workshops. Encourage leisure farms with the necessary conditions to establish agricultural education and hands-on learning centers (or camps) tailored for primary and secondary school students. In 2021, we launched online promotion campaigns and cloud-based training sessions, while also organizing a promotional event highlighting beautiful countryside tourism—incorporating elements like gourmet food competitions and creative idea showcases.

4. Foster business entities and build a new "goose formation" for rural industry development

Promote agricultural industrialization, strengthen the ranks of leading enterprises, elevate their overall capabilities, and leverage their pivotal role as the main driving force to seamlessly connect small farmers with modern agriculture.

(14) Strengthen the ranks of leading enterprises. Leading enterprises with strong economic power, tight links to farmers, and high levels of modernization will be included in the national roster of key leading enterprises. We will strengthen the identification and monitoring process for these national-level leaders, while encouraging regions to cultivate a new wave of provincial, city, and county-level enterprises, thereby fostering a "four-tier collaborative" development model. In 2021, the seventh round of national-level agricultural industrialization enterprise recognition was launched.

(15) Enhance the development level of leading enterprises. Support leading enterprises in participating in the construction of advantageous and distinctive industrial clusters, modern agricultural industrial parks, and agriculture-focused strong towns. Organize these leading enterprises to collaborate with farmers and agricultural scientists, fostering a group of "industry-academia-research-application" integrated "production-innovation consortia." In 2021, guidelines were formulated to help leading enterprises grow stronger and larger, guiding the selection and promotion of the Top 100 Leading Enterprises and the Top 10 Specialized Enterprises, thereby establishing a set of benchmark leaders in the sector.

(Sixteen) Promote the entrepreneurial spirit. Establish a database of rural entrepreneurs, nurturing a group of outstanding rural business leaders who possess global strategic vision, a pioneering spirit for market development, and innovative management capabilities. In 2021, we will promote and showcase a selection of exemplary national cases of successful rural entrepreneurs.

5. Promote entrepreneurship and innovation to foster new momentum for rural industry development.

Promote rural entrepreneurship and innovation, optimize the entrepreneurial environment, and ignite entrepreneurial enthusiasm, injecting "fresh vitality" into the development of rural industries. This will create a dynamic cycle where innovation drives entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship fosters employment, and increased employment leads to higher incomes.

(17) Establish a team of mentors for rural entrepreneurship and innovation. We will deeply implement the initiative to cultivate rural entrepreneurship and innovation leaders, and actively promote the establishment of a mentorship network at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels. Additionally, we will intensify efforts to expand both the depth and breadth of training and guidance for rural entrepreneurs, while also summarizing innovative models such as chain-based entrepreneurship, integrated ventures, green entrepreneurship, collaborative group initiatives, and online-based startups—and even producing video resources to support entrepreneurship training. In 2021, we will select and showcase a group of nationally recognized rural entrepreneurship and innovation mentors, highlighting outstanding rural leaders who have excelled in this field.

(18) Building platform service infrastructure. Update the National Directory of Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation Parks (Bases), guide platforms and entrepreneurship mentors to strengthen collaboration, and organize observation and learning activities. In 2021, 200 National Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation Demonstration Parks (Bases) were established, and a group of exemplary national rural entrepreneurship and innovation counties were promoted.

(19) Organize and host showcase and exchange events. Holding exchange events for rural entrepreneurship and innovation leaders, as well as a national on-site exchange event focused on rural entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives—these gatherings will feature shared entrepreneurial stories, personal insights, and proven success strategies. Additionally, outstanding projects demonstrating exceptional creativity, strong performance, and significant community impact will be selected and matched with relevant resources. In 2021, the 5th National Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation Project Competition was organized. Local areas were also guided to launch policy promotion weeks dedicated to encouraging returnees and newcomers to engage in rural entrepreneurship and innovation.

(20) Strengthen employment and entrepreneurship monitoring. Carry out thorough monitoring, surveys, and analytical work on employment and entrepreneurship among those returning to their hometowns or moving back. Launch pilot surveys to monitor and assess entrepreneurship and innovation among returnees. Conduct a comprehensive baseline survey on the development of national rural entrepreneurship and innovation parks (bases). Additionally, collect statistics on agriculture and related industries.

6. Strengthen farmer-linking and rural-support initiatives to forge new advantages in the integrated development of rural industries.

Focusing on the goal of ensuring farmers have work and income, we will promote cross-sectoral integration of key players, cross-border allocation of resources, cross-industry innovation in business models, and shared benefits across sectors, thereby fostering the integrated development of China's primary, secondary, and tertiary rural industries.

(21) Foster Diversified and Integrated Entities. Support the development of integrated models within county-level areas that feature high industrial linkages, strong radiating and driving effects, and broad participation from multiple stakeholders. Foster a group of leading enterprises to spearhead agricultural industrial complexes—complexes that also involve family farms and farmer cooperatives as key players, with widespread smallholder farmers actively participating. Together, these entities will build a collaborative ecosystem characterized by clear division of labor, complementary advantages, and tightly knit partnerships, enabling collective growth and development. Furthermore, promote resource sharing, joint value-chain development, and co-creation of brands, ultimately forming an industry ecosystem where enterprises take center stage, farmers actively engage, scientific research provides critical support, and financial systems offer robust backing.

(22) Develop diversified, integrated business models. Guide various business entities to drive industry integration through processing and distribution, fostering the development of models like central kitchens. Leverage functional expansion to catalyze industry convergence, advancing the integration of agriculture with sectors such as culture, tourism, education, and health & wellness—leading to the growth of creative agriculture and functional agriculture. Additionally, harness information technology to spur industry convergence, boosting the synergy between agriculture and the IT sector, and promoting rural e-commerce, digital farming, and smart agriculture. This approach empowers farmers to diversify their income streams across industries and gain profits beyond traditional agricultural boundaries.

(23) Establish and improve an integrated mechanism. Guide new types of agricultural business entities to establish various forms of cooperative relationships with smallholder farmers, fostering integrated benefits. Improve the benefit-sharing mechanism and promote models such as "order-based procurement + profit sharing" and "farmers invest in enterprises + guaranteed minimum returns + dividend distribution based on equity." In 2021, a series of promotional activities were launched for the *National Rural Industry Development Plan (2020–2025)*.

(24) Establish a Leading Zone for Integrated Development. Establish a batch of pioneering integrated development zones characterized by innovative systems and mechanisms, meticulous policy implementation, diverse business models, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and strong ties that benefit farmers and rural communities. In 2021, a group of national pilot zones for the integrated development of rural primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were created, accompanied by on-site exchange events showcasing successful practices in this area. To address the challenges of "difficult land access and financing," guidelines were developed to ensure and standardize land use for the integrated development of rural industries, while also introducing measures to support leading enterprises in securing loans to foster specialized rural industries.

Source | Department of Rural Industry Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs