Top planners sow seeds of rural development

Agriculture in the spotlight as central authorities lay out year's agenda

According to a central government policy document released Sunday, consolidating the fundamental role of agriculture in the Chinese economy is a top priority for planners this year.

The document in question - known as the "No.1 Central Document" - is the first policy document released this year by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. This marks the 12th consecutive year that the No.1 document has focused on agriculture and rural issues, underscoring the vital role farming plays in China.

China faces myriad rural development shortcomings. In many developing countries, over 70 percent of the population lives in urban environments. In Brazil, for example, 80 percent of residents live in cities. However, in China just over half of the country's citizens live in cities - a milestone reached only recently. What's more, many of these urbanites enjoy vastly superior incomes and living conditions compared with their rural cousins.

Some say China needs to let more farmers move into cities. But with housing prices still grossly unaffordable in many urban markets, few farmers have the financial wherewithal to uproot themselves and relocate to a city. Such problems cannot be resolved simply through pledges and promises - they require hard, sustained effort delivered over a long period of time.

In the past, most local authorities fixated simply on GDP and quantitative targets calculated to win them political and financial favor. This kept the government's attention focused predominantly on urban areas, where investment and consumption could deliver impressive growth. As a result, resources and energy were often redirected away from rural development projects.

But as top policymakers call for increased emphasis on the quality of China's economic development, local authorities will have to turn their attention to the long-overlooked countryside this year.

Compared with central policy documents issued in past years, there are many points of difference in the government's latest release.

First, greater emphasis was placed on grain security policies. Given the country's large population, grain security has been a perennial concern throughout much of China's history. Yet the financial returns from farming are typically much lower than those generated through services or manufacturing. A single mu - roughly 0.07 square hectares - of land can produce about 1,000 yuan ($160) worth of grain each year, or about 5,000 yuan worth of fruit or 20,000 yuan worth of vegetables. However, if hundreds or thousands of hectares of arable land are gathered together and used to house an industrial park, the returns for investors could exceed these sums by many multiples. Authorities realize this, of course, and the latest document designates certain portions of land solely for agricultural use.

Second, the government will press ahead with efforts to integrate agriculture with the country's manufacturing and service sectors. In the past, most agricultural profits went to marketing and processing groups, leaving farmers with little to show for their hard work. Looking ahead though, farmers will be encouraged to play larger roles in processing and selling their products. Such a development would have an added benefit of increasing food safety by bringing consumers and producers into more direct contact.

Third, on a similar point, the government is encouraging rural cooperatives to establish commercial relationships with supermarkets, schools, enterprises and communities. Most individual farmers lack the resources to bring their products directly to end-users. By leveraging the collective power of the cooperatives though, farmers can extend their reach and enlarge their incomes.

Of course, these issues are only a small sample of those weighing on farmers and rural residents. Livestock rearing enterprises, for instance, are among the country's leading polluters. Their negative impact on the environment impinges on the health and well-being of millions of people across the country. They and other polluting enterprises need to be better regulated.

For the sake of China's overall development, we should all be watching carefully for progress on the government's rural development agenda.