Why does the party and government attach great importance to the issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers?

Agriculture, Countryside and Peasants: Xinhuanet Beijing165438+10.4 (Reporter Jiang Guocheng) The Fifth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China described the prospect of China's agricultural and rural development in the next five years: promoting agricultural modernization, accelerating the construction of a new socialist countryside, coordinating urban and rural development, accelerating the development of modern agriculture, strengthening rural infrastructure construction and public services, broadening channels for farmers to increase their income, and improving the system and mechanism of rural development. The problems of agriculture, rural areas and farmers are related to the stable and healthy development of the whole national economy. How to treat the situation of agriculture, countryside and farmers in China in recent years? How to further promote the development of agriculture and rural economy, and what challenges and opportunities will China face in the next five years? The reporter interviewed Han Jun, Minister of Rural Economic Research Department of the State Council Development Research Center. Strengthening the policy of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers to ensure national food security Q: What changes have taken place in farmers, agriculture and rural areas in China in the past five years? A: During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, all regions and departments have implemented the important policies of "industry feeding agriculture, cities supporting rural areas" and "giving more, taking less and letting go". The policy of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers has been continuously strengthened, national food security has been reliably guaranteed, the level of agricultural modernization has been significantly improved, important progress has been made in building a new socialist countryside, and major steps have been taken to coordinate urban and rural economic and social development. Generally speaking, the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period is one of the periods when the agricultural development situation is the best, the rural landscape changes the most and farmers benefit the most. Since the 11th Five-Year Plan, China's grain output has been increasing continuously. Last year, the total grain output reached a record of 530 million tons. This year's grain harvest is a foregone conclusion. Grain production has increased year after year, and the national grain inventory is sufficient, which has laid a solid foundation for ensuring national food security, created favorable conditions for managing inflation expectations, and provided important support for coping with the impact of the international financial crisis and maintaining stable and rapid economic development. China's agricultural economic structure has been continuously optimized, and the market supply of various agricultural products is abundant, which has made important contributions to improving the lives of urban and rural residents. In the same period, the national farmers' income achieved sustained and rapid growth, with an average annual growth rate of more than 6%. With the increase of farmers' income and the improvement of rural market circulation conditions, farmers' living consumption level has been continuously improved. The pace of development of rural social undertakings has been accelerated, and rural public services have been significantly improved. China's agricultural support and protection policy system has been gradually improved. In 2006, China completely abolished the agricultural tax, ending the history that farmers had to pay the "national tax on imperial grain" for nearly 2,600 years. At the same time, various agricultural subsidy systems have been gradually established. Last year, four subsidies from the central government, namely, direct grain subsidies, comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials, subsidies for improved varieties and subsidies for purchasing agricultural machinery and tools, totaled 654.38+023.08 billion yuan. In addition to the agricultural subsidy policy, the state raises the minimum purchase price of grain year by year. These policies of supporting agriculture and benefiting farmers have effectively protected the interests of farmers and mobilized their enthusiasm. "Agriculture, countryside and farmers" are related to the overall situation, and narrowing the gap has a long way to go. Q: Why have the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the issue of agriculture, countryside and farmers in recent years? A: Under the background of China's rapid economic growth, accelerated transformation of development mode, accelerated transformation of social structure and profound changes in interest pattern, the situation of weak agricultural foundation, backward rural development and difficulties in increasing farmers' income has not fundamentally changed, the trend of widening urban-rural development gap has not been curbed, and the deep-seated contradictions caused by urban-rural dual structure are still outstanding. Building a well-off society in an all-round way and promoting socialist modernization in an all-round way are the most arduous and arduous tasks in rural areas. In the next five years, the challenges faced by agriculture and rural development in China mainly include: ensuring national food security, and increasing the pressure on the balance between supply and demand of major agricultural products. The basic characteristics of food security in China at present and in the future are fragile balance, forced balance and tense balance. The so-called fragile balance refers to the lack of resources to ensure food security; The so-called compulsory balance means that a large number of economic and social factors are invested and strong government leadership is needed; The so-called tight balance means that the total supply is not plentiful and the food security of the whole population cannot be guaranteed. In addition, the task of narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents is arduous. During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, the per capita net income of farmers in China achieved rapid growth, and the actual average annual growth rate was 3 percentage points higher than that during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, but the trend of widening income gap between urban and rural areas has not been curbed. The scale of rural poor population in China is still large, and it is more difficult to reduce poverty. According to the new poverty standard, there are still 35.97 million poor people in China in 2009, but according to the poverty line set by the United Nations, there are still about 654.38+0.5 billion poor people. Most of these poor people are located in areas with poor ecological environment, poor natural resources and remote geographical location, which is the most difficult bone to chew in poverty alleviation work. At present, the rural economic system and mechanism are not perfect, which is manifested in the following five aspects: farmers' land rights and interests are not effectively protected. Violations of farmers' legitimate land rights and interests occur from time to time, and farmers lack the ability to fully exercise their land rights. The distribution of land income is obviously inclined to urban and non-agricultural sectors; The service system of agricultural socialization is not perfect, and the degree of farmers entering the market is low; The coverage of public finance in rural areas is limited, and the service level of rural public finance is low; Rural financial reform is obviously lagging behind; An equal employment system for urban and rural workers has not yet been formed. Urban and rural workers are paid differently for equal work, and the wages of migrant workers are low for a long time. Migrant workers in cities cannot enjoy urban public services equally. The issue of agriculture, countryside and farmers is expected to make a breakthrough. Q: The Fifth Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee set clear objectives for solving the problems of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. What do you think should be done to achieve these goals? A: During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, it is an important task to simultaneously promote agricultural modernization in the in-depth development of industrialization and urbanization. We must persist in taking solving the "three rural issues" as the top priority of the whole party's work, coordinate urban and rural development, strengthen the policy of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers, consolidate the foundation of agricultural and rural development, and continuously improve the level of agricultural modernization and farmers' living standards. In the new stage, farmers need both policy incentives and institutional fairness, so as to protect farmers' rights and interests in the system and establish an institutional framework for urban and rural fairness. This is the fundamental requirement to solve the problems of agriculture, countryside and farmers. During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, it is necessary to strengthen the institutional guarantee for rural development, speed up the elimination of the urban-rural dual structure, treat farmers fairly, enable farmers to obtain equal rights and interests in education, employment, land and social security, improve their social status, and allow farmers to participate in the modernization process on an equal footing and enjoy the fruits of reform and development. Q: How to achieve these goals? A: First of all, we should improve the system and mechanism of rural development. Focusing on improving the land management system and the modern rural financial system, we have made breakthroughs in improving the degree of farmers' organization and injected new impetus into rural development with institutional innovation. Secondly, accelerate the development of rural social public services, narrow the gap between urban and rural basic public services, make important progress in providing equal basic public services for urban and rural residents, and strive to achieve rural residents with education, income from labor, medical care, old age and housing. Third, promote farmers' transfer of employment through multiple channels and promote the citizenization of migrant workers; Improve the conditions for farmers to work in cities and protect the legitimate rights and interests of farmers who work and do business in cities; Vigorously develop rural secondary and tertiary industries and encourage farmers to transfer to non-agricultural industries nearby; Strengthen the government's service for farmers to transfer employment and strengthen the vocational skills training for farmers' labor force; Establish a reasonable wage increase and payment guarantee mechanism for migrant workers; Encourage farmers to start their own businesses; Comply with the requirements of industrialization and urbanization, implement the principles and policies of actively accepting migrant workers into urban society, and allow qualified migrant workers to find jobs in cities and towns and become urban residents.