1st LD: China holds key meeting to plan rural work for 2018

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese leaders convened a central rural work conference on Thursday to review the country's rural and agricultural work in 2017 and map out plans for 2018 and beyond.

The annual meeting is expected to make comprehensive arrangements for the country's rural vitalization, a strategy set at the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress two months ago.

Despite sound progress in agricultural and rural work, China still faces a development gap between its urban and rural regions due to lack of quality and efficiency in agriculture and unsustained growth of farmers' income.

Issues related to agriculture, rural areas and rural people are fundamental to China, and the development of agriculture and rural areas must be prioritized, according to the report delivered at the CPC congress in late October.

At the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference last week, policymakers said scientific plans should be made in pursuing the rural vitalization strategy, and that agricultural policies should focus on quality improvement.

Under the ongoing supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, the country's grain output increased to 617.9 million tonnes in 2017 as per unit yield improved, the second-highest output in history. Enditem