The level of urbanization in China is 46%, which is more than 20 percentage points lower than the level of 70% in industrialized countries. How to make good use of this space is the driving force for China's long-term sustained and rapid economic growth in the next two or three decades. Rural towns are between rural areas and large and medium-sized cities, which are different from rural areas and have some characteristics of large and medium-sized cities. Rural urbanization is an inevitable outcome of economic development to a certain stage, and it plays an intermediary role in the process of economic and social development. It can effectively adjust the dual structure of urban and rural areas and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, and is one of the effective ways to solve China's "three rural issues" and realize rural modernization. In the process of urbanization, to realize the sustainable development of rural urbanization, we need to pay attention to and solve the following problems.
First of all, we should establish the concept of "agriculture-oriented" rural urbanization construction. "Agriculture-oriented" is the foundation and premise of rural urbanization. In the process of rural urbanization, everything should be conducive to the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, so as to better realize the continuous transfer of rural population to cities and towns, the continuous concentration of secondary and tertiary industries to cities and towns, the continuous optimization of rural industrial structure, effectively promote the modernization process of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and gradually form a new pattern of integration of urban and rural economic and social development.
Second, fully demonstrate and scientifically plan rural urbanization. Scientific planning determines the future development space of rural urbanization. Research, demonstration and scientific planning should fully tap the potential ability of future development, correctly locate the development direction of urbanization and clarify the functional orientation of cities and towns according to the actual situation and advantages of local resources, industry, location and culture. Scientific planning should be forward-looking, adapt to future rural development, and consider regional coordination. Compatibility is to leave room for future development, and regional coordination is to consider the complementary advantages of regions within a certain radius and realize regional coordinated development. Compatibility and coordination will determine the level, speed and quality of urban development in the future, and determine how far the rural urbanization road can go in the future.
Third, increase investment in agriculture and rural infrastructure to consolidate the foundation of rural urbanization. In the early stage of industrialization in China, the economic and social development was mainly the contribution of agriculture to industry and cities, which led to a serious shortage of state investment in agriculture and rural areas for decades. At present, China's economic and social development has reached the stage of industry feeding back agriculture, so it is imperative to increase investment in agriculture and rural infrastructure. The frequent agricultural natural disasters in recent years have also sounded the alarm for us. This year's drought in southwest China has once again exposed the heavy price we have to pay for the arrears of agricultural infrastructure. From 2004 to 20 10, the Central Committee of China issued the No.1 document with the theme of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" for seven consecutive years, emphasizing the "top priority" position of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" in China's socialist modernization period. This year, the No.1 Document of the Central Committee has clearly stated that it is necessary to increase investment in agricultural and rural infrastructure, not only with actual investment, but also with the existing local infrastructure.
Fourth, effectively solve the employment of agricultural population and the transfer of surplus labor force, which is the foundation of people's livelihood. The education level of rural population is generally low, which leads to the phenomenon that the quality of existing labor force can not meet the requirements of urbanization for talent quality, and there is a shortage of needed talents and a surplus of existing labor force. In the process of urbanization, in addition to the reform of household registration system, we must constantly innovate institutional mechanisms, establish a public employment service system covering urban and rural areas, and build an employment platform; It is also necessary to give full play to local advantages in education and scientific research, integrate training resources, and actively carry out agricultural production technology and skills training for migrant workers, so that they can master certain knowledge and skills and enhance farmers' scientific farming, employment and entrepreneurship.
Fifth, efforts should be made to crack the restrictive factors of the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture and improve the competitiveness of agriculture in domestic and foreign markets. Decentralized land management is the bottleneck restricting the development of traditional agriculture to modern agriculture, which greatly limits the popularization and application of modern agricultural science and technology, increases the cost of agricultural production and reduces the competitive advantage of agricultural products in the market. The shortage of funds is another factor that restricts the large-scale production of modern agriculture. The state should further strengthen the management and service of land contractual management right transfer, improve the transfer market, provide corresponding legal services for farmers, and develop various forms of moderate scale operation on the basis of voluntary paid transfer according to law; Regarding the shortage of funds, this year's No.1 Document of the Central Committee has proposed that we should improve the quality and level of rural financial services, strengthen the effective connection between fiscal and taxation policies and rural financial policies, guide more credit funds to invest in agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and effectively solve the problem of rural financing difficulties, but we should also actively encourage private capital to enter the rural market, form diversified financing channels, and solve the problem of capital shortage. Only in this way can we continuously improve the level of agricultural mechanization, increase the investment in agricultural science and technology innovation, extend the agricultural industrial chain, build brand agriculture, realize the high efficiency of agricultural products and realize the rapid transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture.
Six, coordinate the development of the three industries, to provide industrial support for urban development. The development of cities and towns can not be separated from the support of industries, but the development of industries should be based on the premise of less resource consumption, less environmental pollution, high technology content and good economic benefits, and we must never blindly develop low-carbon, energy-saving and environmental-friendly green industries in pursuit of economic benefits. At present, China's township enterprises generally have the characteristics of small scale, low technology content and weak product market competitiveness. We should actively guide existing township enterprises, promote enterprise upgrading through mergers and acquisitions, encourage scientific and technological innovation, and improve the market competitiveness of products. Conditional places can apply for planning industrial clusters to form industrial clusters, and at the same time, they should formulate relevant policies, develop high-quality service industries, create a good development environment, and realize benign interaction and coordinated development among industries.
Seven, actively do a good job in the social problems brought about by the aging of rural population, and effectively improve the level of rural social security. Rural families have now reached the age of only child, and the phenomenon of empty nesters is widespread in both urban and rural areas. The aging phenomenon in rural areas makes it urgent to solve the problem of rural old-age care. It is urgent to improve and perfect various social security systems in rural areas. It is necessary to solve and implement the policy convergence between urban and rural areas, ensure the guaranteed flow of urban and rural population, continuously improve the level of medical security, expand the rural old-age insurance pilot, learn from the successful experience of solving population aging at home and abroad, carry out pilot projects in rural towns, and establish a scientific and perfect old-age security system as soon as possible.
In order to steadily promote urbanization and new rural construction, we should also pay attention to the following points:
Accelerate the improvement of the comprehensive carrying capacity of cities and towns. Through scientific planning, rational layout and perfect functions, the pattern of coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and small towns will be formed. Comprehensively strengthen the construction of urban infrastructure, improve the industrial level and economic strength of cities and towns, especially improve the ability of cities and towns to absorb population and employment. It is necessary to rely on big cities to form urban agglomerations with strong radiation and strive to cultivate new economic growth poles. At the same time, we should attach great importance to the important role of small and medium-sized towns in absorbing population and employment and promoting rural development. At present, we should focus on strengthening the development of small and medium-sized towns and give priority to national investment, infrastructure construction and industrial layout.
Vigorously develop county towns and key towns. County towns and key towns play a very important role in the development of county economy and play a decisive role in absorbing population and employment. Accelerating the development of county towns and key towns is not only conducive to promoting the rational distribution of China's economy and the coordinated development among regions, but also conducive to farmers' transfer to non-agricultural industries nearby and reducing various problems caused by cross-regional mobility. The development of county towns and key towns does not have the problems of high cost and great pressure on transportation, housing, energy and water resources in big cities, but can also form obvious advantages through industrial agglomeration and infrastructure improvement. Solidly promote the construction of a new socialist countryside. Continue to increase investment in rural infrastructure construction, improve rural roads and hydropower conditions, start a new round of rural power grid transformation, expand the scale of rural household biogas, increase subsidies for the construction of biogas supporting facilities and service systems, and carry out rural clean-up projects. Seize the opportunity of rapid growth of rural housing and sufficient supply of building materials, take supporting farmers to build houses as an important measure to expand domestic demand, take effective measures to promote the construction of new countryside, and encourage qualified places to support farmers to build houses in accordance with laws and regulations through various forms.
To promote urbanization and new rural construction, we must resolutely protect cultivated land. Urbanization is bound to occupy a certain amount of land, but China's national conditions determine that urban construction must take the road of saving and intensive land use. Therefore, whether promoting urbanization or building a new countryside, we must adhere to the strictest farmland protection system and the strictest land-saving system, and we must not harm farmers' land rights and interests. It is necessary to maintain the scientificity and seriousness of the overall land use planning and the overall land use planning, strive to improve the utilization efficiency of existing construction land, and prevent blind land occupation. Adhere to the stability and improvement of the rural basic management system, and ensure the long-term stability of the existing rural land in contract relationship.
Rural urbanization is a complex systematic project, and many difficulties and problems will be encountered in the construction process. However, as long as we always adhere to the guidance of Scientific Outlook on Development, emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts, be brave in innovation and practice, we will certainly be able to solve the problems that hinder the process of rural urbanization and realize the sound and rapid development of rural economy.