Looking forward to the second report meeting of the 13th Five-Year Plan series held in Beijing on April 11, Han Changfu, Secretary and Minister of the Party Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, made a report entitled "Promoting Agricultural Modernization and Improving Agricultural Quality, Benefit and Competitiveness". The interview is as follows:

Q: The Outline of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (hereinafter referred to as the Outline) clearly states that significant progress should be made in agricultural modernization. What kind of environment does agricultural modernization face during the 13th Five-Year Plan? What is the general idea?

    Answer: The 13th Five-Year Plan is the decisive stage for building a well-off society in an all-round way. Agriculture is the foundation of national modernization and the key and difficult point of building a well-off society in an all-round way. Analyzing the agricultural situation in the 13th Five-Year Plan can be summarized in three sentences.
First sentence, good foundation. It is mainly embodied in four aspects. First, the comprehensive agricultural production capacity has stepped up to a new level. In 2015, China's grain output reached 124.29 billion jin, achieving a historic "twelve consecutive increases", exceeding 110 billion kg for five consecutive years and over 120 billion kg for three consecutive years. The second is to realize a new leap in farmers'income. In 2015, the per capita disposable income of peasants reached 11 422 yuan, which exceeded the increase of GDP and urban residents'income for six consecutive years. The ratio of per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents was reduced to 2.73:1. Third, agricultural material and technical equipment has reached a new level. In 2015, the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress exceeded 56%. The main crop varieties basically achieved full coverage. The comprehensive mechanization level of farming and harvesting reached 63%, and the effective irrigation area of farmland accounted for more than 52%. Fourth, new breakthroughs have been made in rural reform. Deepening the reform of rural land system, cultivating new agricultural management subjects and developing various modes of moderate scale management, the vitality of rural development has been continuously enhanced. These achievements mark that the development of modern agriculture in the 13th Five-Year Plan stands at a new historical starting point.
The second sentence is demanding. China's economic development has entered a new normal. The central government has proposed that we should lead the new development with new ideas and vigorously promote the structural reform of the supply side, which is the main theme of economic and social development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. If agriculture develops steadily, the supply of agricultural products is abundant, prices are stable and the people have no worries about food, it will provide a good environment and strong backing for the structural reform of the economic supply side. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, we should vigorously promote agricultural modernization, improve agricultural quality, efficiency and competitiveness, consolidate the good situation of agricultural development, and provide strong support for the overall economic and social development.
Third, the task is heavy. At present, China is still in a critical period of transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture. Compared with the rapid development of new industrialization, information technology and urbanization, agricultural modernization is still a short board. If the "four modernizations" are compared to a fine horse, then agricultural modernization is the short leg of the horse. If it does not lengthen and strengthen in time, it will stand unstable and run fast. Only by speeding up the pace of agricultural modernization, making up for the shortcomings of agriculture and realizing the synchronization of the four modernizations, can we avoid dragging the back leg of a well-off society in an all-round way.
How to promote agricultural modernization? The Outline puts forward a series of new ideas, new viewpoints and new judgments with many highlights. It can be summed up in three aspects. First, in terms of strategic positioning, it is clearly pointed out that agriculture is the basis for building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing modernization. The relationship between agriculture and well-off society and modernization was judged for the first time in the central document, which further highlighted the important role of agriculture in realizing the goal of "two hundred years". Secondly, on the main line of work, it is clearly proposed to accelerate the transformation of agricultural development mode and vigorously promote the structural reform of agricultural supply side, which is a major strategic deployment made by the central government to deal with the new challenges of agricultural development. Thirdly, in terms of development objectives, it is clearly proposed that agricultural modernization should make significant progress, which is the inherent requirement of promoting the synchronization of the four modernizations. At that time, the comprehensive agricultural production capacity, sustainable development capacity and market competitiveness will be significantly enhanced.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, our overall consideration is to ensure better supply, income and ecology in accordance with the new development concept and the demand of structural reform on the supply side. In general, it means "cooking for the whole country, making money for the rural people and making green for the urban people". Guaranteeing supply means keeping Chinese people's rice bowls firmly in their hands. Guaranteeing income means that the peasants of the whole country will step into a well-off society in an all-round way at the same time. Protecting ecology is to promote the sustainable development of agriculture.

Q: In 2015, China's grain output reached 124.29 billion jin, achieving "twelve consecutive increases". But I have also noticed that the Outline puts forward the strategy of "storing grain on the ground" and "storing grain on technology". Could you tell us how to implement this strategy in the 13th Five-Year Plan?

    Answer: During the 13th Five-Year Plan, we do not pursue continuous increase in grain production, but to consolidate and improve grain production capacity, as long as the market needs it, we can produce and supply it. At present, China's grain production capacity is still unstable, there are still many worries. First, the number of cultivated land has decreased. China's per capita arable land area is only 38% of the world's average level, and the spatial and temporal distribution is unreasonable. There is no water in Northwest China, no water in southwest China, and the water and soil resources do not match. Second, the quality of cultivated land has declined. High-quality arable land occupies more land, and problems such as shallow tillage layer, soil acidification and heavy metal pollution are prominent. Third, the ability of science and technology support is still not strong. The outstanding performance is that there is still a big gap between the ability of scientific and technological innovation and that of foreign countries, the level of agricultural informatization is low, the ability of research and development and manufacturing of agricultural machinery and equipment is weak, and the level of agricultural machinery operation such as rape and sugarcane harvesting, cotton harvesting is not high.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan, we should vigorously implement the strategy of "storing grain on the ground" and "storing grain on technology" to consolidate the foundation of national food security.
"Tibetan grain to the ground" means grasping the fundamental of cultivated land protection, speeding up the delimitation of permanent basic farmland, building functional areas for grain production and important agricultural product protection areas, intensifying the construction of high-standard farmland with drought and flood harvest, implementing actions to protect and improve the quality of cultivated land, and ensuring that the quantity and quality of cultivated land are not reduced. "Keeping grain in technology" means actively promoting scientific and technological innovation, speeding up the development of modern seed industry, vigorously promoting agricultural mechanization and information technology, and letting agriculture insert the wings of science and technology.

Q: The Outline calls for accelerating the adjustment of agricultural structure. At the end of last year, the Central Conference on Rural Work and this year's Central Document No. 1 call for vigorous promotion of structural reform of agricultural supply side. How can I push it forward?

    Answer: In recent years, the consumption demand for agricultural products of urban and rural residents has changed rapidly, and the demand for diversification and individualization has increased significantly. Increasingly, the problem of agricultural production and marketing in our country is becoming more and more serious. There are a lot of goods on the road, and there are not many high-quality products and brands. Both "selling difficulty" and "buying difficulty" coexist. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the key is to adapt to the needs of accelerating the upgrading of the consumption structure of agricultural products, do a good job in addition and subtraction, increase high-end effective supply, reduce low-end ineffective supply, and promote the progress of agricultural supply from low-end to high-end, so as to better adapt production to the market. At present, we should focus on three varieties of corn, pigs and milk.
One is to reduce corn. Due to successive bumper harvest and declining demand, maize stocks are large at present and need to be adjusted and reduced appropriately. Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture formulated guidelines for the restructuring of maize, proposing to reduce more than 50 million mu by 2020 and more than 10 million mu this year. In order to adjust and reduce maize, emphasis should be placed on the combination of cultivation and cultivation, crop rotation, development of Silage Maize and silage crops, and transformation of "granary" into "granary"+ "meat warehouse"+ "milk can".
The second is to stabilize pigs. Since April 2015, pork prices across the country have fluctuated upwards after three years of downturn, and the cumulative increase has been greater since this year. Pork prices are expected to remain high in the first half of this year, but there will be no surge and prices will stabilize in the fourth quarter. Next, we will further adjust and optimize the regional layout of pigs, promote large-scale standardized pig farming, promote the green development of pig farming, ensure effective supply, stabilize market prices, not only make people affordable, but also make farmers profitable.
The third is to improve milk. "Milk bottle" is a matter of concern to all. In recent years, China's dairy industry has accelerated its development and the quality of milk has been continuously improved. The problem is that the market lacks confidence in domestic milk powder. In the future, we should strengthen the construction of milk source base, breed good varieties, plant good grass, raise good cattle, produce good milk, improve quality, ensure safety, brand, and restore the confidence of the Chinese people in the domestic dairy industry.
In addition, we should accelerate the development of agricultural products processing industry and leisure agriculture, and promote the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries. "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", we will accelerate the upgrading of agricultural products processing industry and leisure agriculture, so that urban people to rural areas to eat farm meals, live in farmyards, flowers and fruits, experience farming culture has become a fashion, so that the production area into scenic spots, products into gifts, farm rooms into guest rooms.

Question: Food is the most important thing for the people. People pay great attention to food safety. What is the quality of agricultural products in China and what measures will be taken to ensure the safety of people's tongues under the new situation?

    Answer: The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the quality and safety of agricultural products. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that ensuring that the people can eat safe agricultural products is a major test of our ability to govern. To be realistic, the quality and safety level of agricultural products in China is steadily improving. At the same time, there are many potential risks. First, the main body of business is small and scattered, and the degree of organization is low. Millions of households engage in production and tens of thousands of troops and horses engage in circulation, which increases the difficulty of supervision. Second, consumption patterns increase risks. Chinese diet pays attention to "flavor snacks are varied and fresh throughout the year". Long-distance trafficking of live chickens, pigs and fish increases the potential risk.
Objectively speaking, the problems of quality and safety of agricultural products are also the concentrated reflection of the development stage. Although we can't achieve zero occurrence, we must adhere to zero tolerance. Even if there are 1% problems, we must make 100% efforts to ensure the safety of the people's "tongue tip".
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, we will adhere to the principle of "output comes" and "management comes out" with both hands grasping and two hands being hard, and "output comes" mainly promotes standardized production and realizes the source control of production; and "control comes out" mainly consists of strict supervision according to law, the whole process supervision, the establishment of regulatory information platform, the establishment of traceability system, and the realization of "from field to meal". The whole course of the table is traceable.

Q: In recent years, agriculture has maintained a good momentum of development, but there are also some ecological and environmental problems. The Outline proposes to promote sustainable agricultural development. What specific measures will be taken during the 13th Five-Year Plan?

    Answer: According to the concept of "green" development, agriculture in the 13th Five-Year Plan should quicken the short board of ecological environment, attach equal importance to "rational utilization" and "protection and management", speed up the transformation of agricultural development mode, reduce the intensity of agricultural resources utilization, and slow down the trend of aggravating agricultural pollution. Three hard battles should be fought well.
Firstly, we should make a good fight against agricultural non-point source pollution, that is, we should control the total amount of agricultural water, resolutely reduce the total amount of fertilizer and pesticide application, and make use of agricultural wastes such as livestock and poultry manure, crop straw, agricultural film and so on. Many comrades believe that agriculture is the "greatest source of pollution" that causes environmental pollution. This statement is not accurate enough. On the one hand, agricultural non-point source pollution "emissions" is not equal to the actual "pollution". On the other hand, many agricultural non-point source pollution is reversible, and agriculture itself is the largest green factory. Therefore, the problem of agricultural non-point source pollution should be resolved with great determination, and it should not be separated from the reality and overplayed.
Second, we should strengthen the governance of outstanding problems in agricultural environment. The key points are to solve the problems of heavy metal pollution in the south, black land degradation in the northeast and groundwater overexploitation in North China, and to promote agro-ecological restoration.
Third, rotation and fallow farming and conversion of cropland to forests and grasslands should be implemented. From this year on, we will explore the pilot project of implementing cropland rotation and fallow farming system, but this is not simply abandoning farming, nor abandoning wasteland, but in order to protect the fertile soil of good fields and achieve sustainable utilization. At present, we are studying the development of rotation fallow farming methods. This year, 15 million mu of farmland will be returned to forests and grasslands, mainly on steep slopes above 25 degrees. The grain yield of these steep slopes is very low, and the withdrawal will have little impact on the national food production and national food security.
Question: The Outline proposes to develop various forms of moderate scale management of agriculture and play its leading role in the construction of modern agriculture. What are the specific arrangements and considerations?
Answer: In the past, we solved the problem of eating by a small-scale decentralized contracting operation, which is very rare. However, problems such as high production cost, low comparative benefit and difficulty in introducing modern production factors have become increasingly prominent. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, efforts should be made to expand the scale, cultivate the main body and improve service.
Expansion of scale means promoting moderate scale management of various forms of agriculture. Premier Li Keqiang said that various forms of moderate scale operation should be developed. There are many forms of scale operation, such as land circulation, land trusteeship and land equity. Land transfer should respect farmers'wishes and adhere to the principle of voluntary compensation according to law. At present, the government should speed up the registration and certification of land contractual management rights.

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    The main body of education is to speed up the cultivation of new agricultural management subjects such as big farmers, family farms, farmers'cooperatives, agricultural enterprises and so on. Special attention should be paid to the cultivation of new agricultural management subjects, and farmers must not be excluded or neglected. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, we should cultivate a large number of new professional farmers who understand technology, can operate and manage well.
To provide services is to improve and perfect the service system of agricultural socialization. The more modern agriculture is, the more socialized services should be developed. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, we should speed up the construction of a new type of agricultural socialized service system combining public welfare services with business services, such as wheat inter-regional mechanical harvesting, Agricultural Machinery Cooperatives to cultivate land on behalf of farmers, cattle nurseries, pest control and so on, which are better social service models.
Question: The blueprint of agricultural modernization in the 13th Five-Year Plan has been drawn. How can we achieve these goals and tasks?
Answer: Promoting agricultural modernization is a long-term historical process. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, remarkable progress should be made. Developed coastal areas in the east, suburbs of big cities, large-scale reclamation areas and national modern agricultural demonstration zones should take the lead in basically realizing agricultural modernization. This needs to consider from the overall system of economic and social development, promote as a whole, take comprehensive measures, and focus on handling the three relationships.
First, we should deal with the relationship between the government and the market and give full play to the role of government in supporting and protecting agriculture. In order to promote agricultural modernization, we should give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources and better play the role of government support and protection. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, breakthroughs should be made in financial subsidies, financial insurance and price support. The fiscal subsidy policy should optimize the stock, gradually expand the increment, improve the agricultural subsidy policy, better protect and mobilize farmers'enthusiasm for farming and grain cultivation, and local emphasis on agriculture and grains. The key point of financial insurance policy is to solve the problems of difficult loan, expensive loan and high risk for new business entities. In order to improve the price support policy, we should adhere to the direction of market-oriented reform, implement policy according to variety and advance gradually. For soybeans and cotton, we will continue to carry out the target price experiment; for maize, we will abolish the temporary storage policy, carry out the reform of "market-oriented acquisition + subsidy" and "price-subsidy separation and subsidy to farmers". However, for staple grain such as rice and wheat, we must continue to implement and improve the minimum purchase price policy to ensure the absolute safety of rations.
Secondly, we should deal with the relationship between industry and agriculture and give full play to the role of industry in promoting agriculture. Compared with the rapid development of industrialization, the development of agricultural modernization is obviously lagging behind. During the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan, we should accelerate the integration of the first, second and third industries, make agriculture deeply integrated with equipment, technology, information, ecology and culture, and realize the regeneration of agricultural civilization and the reengineering of agricultural industry. This requires giving full play to the role of industry as a driving force, promoting the accumulation of industrial capital and the distribution of national income more inclined to agriculture, and promoting the flow of funds, technology and talents more to agriculture. At the same time, we should use the concept of industrialization to guide agriculture, transform agriculture by means of industrialization, and arm agriculture with the results of industrialization, so as to realize innovation-driven, intelligent transformation and green development of agriculture.
Thirdly, we should deal with the relationship between urban and rural areas and give full play to the radiation and driving role of cities in rural areas. At present, the uncoordinated development between urban and rural areas is still a prominent contradiction in China's economic and social development. The imbalance between urban and rural development is still the biggest imbalance. Cities are like developed countries, and rural areas are like developing countries. We should give full play to the city's radiation-driven role in agriculture in terms of market, resources, elements and talents, accelerate agricultural modernization and strengthen the construction of new countryside. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that promoting new urbanization is an important way to solve the problems of agriculture, countryside and farmers. It is to establish an equal relationship between urban and rural areas, promote the equalization of basic public services, promote the urbanization of migrant workers, promote the precision of poverty alleviation, and realize the integration of urban and rural development.
We believe that, through efforts, the 13th Five-Year Plan will surely take new steps in promoting the synchronization of the "four modernizations" and the linkage between urban and rural areas, and make remarkable progress in agricultural modernization. Rural areas will enter a well-off society at the same time. China's modernization cause will show a new face, form a new pattern and present a new atmosphere.
Source: Farmer's Daily