Reforms key to food security and high-quality rural development

Although China is not an agriculture-based economy anymore, as it was for most part of its long history, and more Chinese people live in cities and towns than villages today, agriculture and related rural work are still of vital importance to the country, not only for the sake of food security and social stability but also the high-quality development of the nation it seeks.

The volatile global situation further highlights how imperative it is for the populous nation to realize food self-sufficiency.

That explains why the annual Central Rural Work Conference, which was held in Beijing from Tuesday to Wednesday this year, has caught no less attention than the year-end central work meetings in other fields held recently.

At the conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for further deepening rural reform and making solid advances toward building up China's strength in agriculture.

As the readout of the meeting indicates, authorities at various levels should strictly adhere to the red line of farmland protection, promote the construction of high-standard farmland, strengthen support for agricultural science and technology and equipment manufacturing, and ensure the stable production and supply of grain and other important agricultural products.

The country needs to build a diversified food supply system and support the stable development of animal husbandry in order to improve the long-term mechanism of grain and food conservation.

Meanwhile, more attention should be paid to developing rural industries that can create rural jobs and increase rural residents' income, improve the comprehensive benefits of agriculture, promote the county-level economy, broaden farmers' income channels, avoid abject rural poverty, promote rural infrastructure and the cultural industry, strengthen rural environmental protection, and enhance grassroots governance efficiency.

In particular, as the meeting stressed, a key reform related to the rural work should be to promote the pilot project of extending the second round of land contracts for another 30 years after their expiration in an orderly manner, explore effective forms of utilization of idle farmhouses through leasing, equity investment and cooperation, and create new investment and financing mechanisms for rural revitalization.

As the meeting required, the rural reforms must be based on the actual situation in rural areas, respect the wishes of farmers, give full play to the main role of farmers, improve working methods and encourage local governments to explore effective new practices and experience to ensure the reforms can deliver concrete results to improve farmers' well-being.