Full Text: Report on the Work of the Government(16)

2. Strengthening the foundation for agriculture and rural development and promoting integrated urban and rural development

In recent years, China's agriculture has developed faster, its rural areas have undergone more significant changes, and its rural residents have received more tangible benefits than in any other period. Agriculture and rural development in China have now entered a new stage in which overall agricultural production costs are rising, structural problems in the supply and demand of agricultural products are worsening, the rural social structure is undergoing profound changes, and integration of urban and rural development is speeding up. All the major and difficult problems that we face in finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects are in rural areas. We must make solving issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers the number one priority in all our work. This is a scientific conclusion drawn from our historical experience and a long-term guiding principle applicable to both the present and the future. The rural land system is central to maintaining rural stability and ensuring China's long-term development. Its main purpose is to guarantee farmers' property rights and interests, and its main objective is to ensure that China's farmland remains at or above the red line of 120 million hectares. We should continue to make household contracts the basis of rural operations, support the development of new farmers' cooperatives of various forms and multilevel commercial organizations that provide agricultural services, and gradually establish a new type of system of intensive agricultural operations that are specialized, well organized and commercialized. We should always protect farmers' legitimate property rights and keep them motivated. We should always give high priority to grain production, develop high-yield basic farmland, spread advanced technologies, increase overall agricultural production capacity, and effectively ensure the supply of grain and other important agricultural products. We should continue to increase spending on agriculture, rural areas and farmers; improve infrastructure and basic public services in rural areas; and promote integration of urban and rural development. We should build a new type of relations between industry and agriculture and between urban and rural areas in which industry promotes agriculture, urban areas support rural development, industry and agriculture reinforce each other, and urban development and rural development are integrated. We should take effective measures to keep the agricultural workforce stable and train a new type of farmers.

Urbanization is a historical task in China's modernization drive, and urbanization and agricultural modernization complement each other. We should conform to the objective law of urbanization and carry it out actively yet prudently. We should promote sound development of urbanization by making plans scientifically, balancing geographical distribution, coordinating urban and rural development, using land economically, and tailoring measures to local conditions. Megacities and large cities should be kept at an appropriate scale and fully play their role in driving the development of their surrounding areas. Small and medium-sized cities and small towns should become better able to develop industries, provide public services, create jobs, and attract residents. We should accelerate reform of the household registration system, the social management system and related institutions; register eligible rural workers as permanent urban residents in an orderly manner; progressively expand the coverage of basic public services in urban areas to all their permanent residents; and create an equitable institutional environment for freedom of movement and for people to live and work in contentment. In improving village conditions, we should preserve their distinctive rural flavor, make their environment more livable, and ensure that urbanization and the building of a new countryside reinforce each other.