Report on the Work of the Government

3. Consolidating and strengthening the position of agriculture as the foundation of the economy

We will steadfastly make agriculture, rural areas, and farmers the top priority of the government's work; carry out agricultural modernization while deepening industrialization and urbanization; and consolidate and build upon the favorable situation in agriculture and rural areas.

We will ensure an adequate supply of agricultural products and increase farmers' incomes through multiple channels. We will make safeguarding food security our primary goal, and work tirelessly to increase agricultural production. We will keep the area planted in grain crops stable, and support the growing of cotton, oilseed and sugar crops in the most suitable areas. We will energetically develop the animal husbandry, fishery, and forestry sectors. We will effectively carry out the new round of the "vegetable basket" program and ensure that suburbs of large and medium-sized cities have a basic area for growing vegetables and a basic ability to supply fresh produce for urban residents. We will get science and technology to better support agriculture, develop and expand the crop seed industry, and launch large-scale efforts to increase agricultural production. We will continue to implement the policy of minimum grain purchase prices, raise the floor price for wheat by 5 to 7 yuan per 50 kg and increase the floor price for rice by 9 to 23 yuan per 50 kg this year. We will energetically develop nonagricultural industries in rural areas, strengthen county economies, improve farmers' vocational skills and their ability to start their own businesses and increase their incomes, and encourage them to find nonagricultural employment in their hometowns or nearby areas. We will raise the poverty line, and intensify our efforts to alleviate poverty through development.

We will put great effort into water conservancy, and comprehensively strengthen agricultural and rural infrastructure. We will focus on developing more irrigation and water conservancy projects, harnessing small and medium-sized rivers, reinforcing small reservoirs and faulty and dangerous sluices, and preventing and responding to geological disasters from mountain torrents. We will improve irrigation and drainage facilities, develop water-saving irrigation, reinforce river embankments, clear away silt and dredge waterways, eliminate hidden dangers in reservoirs, and increase their storage capacity to prevent floods. Through several years of hard work, we will comprehensively improve our ability to prevent floods, control droughts, and prevent and mitigate natural disasters. We will vigorously develop and improve rural land, develop arable land that meets high drought and flood resistance standards on a large scale, and accelerate our work to increase the country's grain production capacity by 50 million tons. We will intensify work on projects to provide running water and electricity to rural homes, build and improve roads, exploit methane and construct rural housing, and energetically improve rural working and living conditions, so that farmers can live in a nice environment.

We will increase funding for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers and improve our policies to strengthen agriculture and benefit farmers. We will direct more government spending toward agriculture and rural areas, and ensure that total expenditures and spending increases in this area are both higher than last year. Our budgetary fixed asset investment will be used mainly to develop agricultural and rural infrastructure, and we will ensure that both the proportion and the total amount of investment further increase. Proceeds from the transfer of land-use rights will be spent primarily on developing agricultural land, irrigation and water conservancy, and constructing rural infrastructure, and we will ensure that an adequate amount of funds is drawn from these proceeds and used for those purposes. This year's allocation for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers from the central government budget will be 988.45 billion yuan, an increase of 130.48 billion yuan over last year. We will continue to increase subsidies to agricultural production, and give high priority in the newly increased subsidies to major production areas, key crop varieties, major specialized households, and specialized farmer cooperatives. We will increase general transfer payments from the central government to the major counties that supply other parts of the country with grain, oilseed and pigs, and expand the size and scope of awards and subsidies. We will encourage financial institutions to increase their supply of credit for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers and ensure that this year's percentage increase in credit is no less than that of last year. We will increase policy-based financial support for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. We will improve the policy-supported agricultural insurance system, and develop an agricultural reinsurance system and a mechanism for diffusing the risk of huge catastrophes.

We will deepen rural reform, and increase the vitality of rural development. We will adhere to and improve the basic rural operating system and improve the household contract responsibility system for land use including farmland, forestland and grassland. We will move forward with reform of the rural land management system in an orderly manner. We will explore and establish a compensation mechanism for protecting arable land. We will continue to carry out comprehensive rural reforms. We will fully implement the government award and subsidy system for village-level public works projects, the launching of which is determined by villagers themselves, and we will significantly increase the size of awards and subsidies. We will accelerate the development of specialized farmer cooperatives and the system whereby various sectors of society provide services for agriculture, and raise the level of organization in agriculture. By the end of this year, we will put in place sound public services for spreading agricultural technology; preventing and controlling animal and plant diseases; and monitoring the quality of agricultural products in townships, towns and regions all over the country.

Ensuring adequate food for 1.3 billion Chinese people is always a top priority, and we must never treat this issue lightly. We have the confidence and the ability to handle this important matter well.