People’s Daily Online: Forum on Agricultural Supply-Side Structural Reform Held

Original article link: http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0520/c153179-28366983.html

People’s Daily Online, Beijing, May 20 (Reporter Yang Di) — On the morning of the 20th, the “New Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers: New Business Forms” Forum on Agricultural Supply-Side Reform and Development, together with the launch event for Xinhuanet’s Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers Channel, was held in Xinhuanet’s studio. During the forum, guests engaged in in-depth and detailed discussions on how, against the backdrop of the current agricultural supply-side reform, tools such as “Internet Plus” and scientific and technological advances can be leveraged to drive industrial innovation and upgrading, enhance enterprise productivity, and boost farmers’ incomes.

For a long time, in pursuit of sustained increases in agricultural output—particularly grain—China has focused its agricultural policies and resource allocations primarily on the production stage, while underinvesting in pre- and post-production links. This has resulted in weak coupling and limited synergistic effects across the agricultural value chain—including research, production, processing, and distribution—leading to poor alignment between supply and demand. Consequently, some agricultural products have experienced oversupply relative to market demand; government spending on maintaining inventories of these commodities has been excessively high; the agro-processing sector has failed to serve as an effective indicator for guiding agricultural structural adjustments; and the existing product mix has proven inadequate in meeting the growing, diversified, and multi‑tiered consumption needs of both urban and rural residents.

The “No. 1 Document” issued in January this year stated that we must apply new development concepts to address the emerging challenges facing agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, consolidate the strengths of agricultural and rural development, intensify efforts to drive innovation, and advance supply-side structural reform in agriculture. Accelerate the transformation of agricultural development models, ensure stable agricultural growth and sustained income increases for farmers, and pursue a path of agricultural modernization that is highly efficient in production, safe in products, resource‑conserving, and environmentally friendly. Promote the dual‑drive approach of new‑type urbanization and new‑rural construction, fostering mutual reinforcement and shared progress, so that the broad rural population can participate equally in the modernization process and jointly share its benefits.

Xu Mingwei, Assistant President of Xinhua Net, stated that, Xinhua Net’s “Three Rural Issues” channel, leveraging the authoritative platform of the national news agency, is committed to the core mission of “promoting agricultural development and addressing rural issues,” and has established a comprehensive agricultural service platform that offers the richest information, the most authoritative content, and the highest level of public trust. It showcases the new face of rural areas, highlights exemplary new farmers, and advances the modernization of agriculture.

The launch ceremony for the “Nongda Fertilizer Cup” National Grain King Competition was also held on the same day. The competition is organized to align with the agricultural supply-side reform and the restructuring of crop‑production patterns, to boost farmers’ enthusiasm for grain cultivation, and to foster a societal climate that places high value on food production. It is a large‑scale, carefully designed series of events aimed at enhancing agricultural efficiency, increasing farmers’ incomes, and promoting sustainable, green agriculture. The initiative seeks to provide farmers with an enhanced platform to leverage science and technology, improve productivity, and achieve higher yields, thereby establishing the Grain King Competition as a catalyst for advancing grain production, driving a shift in yield‑enhancement models, fostering innovation and building reserves of high‑yield, stable‑production technologies, and serving as a showcase and dissemination hub for new technologies and breakthroughs.