The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Proposal on Formulating the Thirteenth Five-year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (hereinafter referred to as the "Proposal") adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee puts forward that "improving the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of agriculture". China is a big agricultural country, and China’s agriculture is a big country agriculture. During the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period, only by accelerating the development of modern agriculture and striving to improve the agricultural competitiveness of China’s big countries can we provide a solid foundation and strong guarantee for the transformation and upgrading of economic development and the building of a well-off society in an all-round way. Accelerating the development of modern agriculture and striving to improve agricultural competitiveness are also the needs to cope with the profound changes in the domestic and international environment for agricultural development. Domestically, economic development has entered a new normal, showing three characteristics: speed change, structural optimization and power conversion, which requires the simultaneous development of new industrialization, informationization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. In the simultaneous development of the four modernizations, agriculture is still a short board, and it is urgent to speed up the transformation of agricultural development mode and the adjustment of agricultural structure. From an international perspective, developed countries and regions are paying more and more attention to improving agricultural competitiveness, gradually eliminating direct subsidies to agriculture by adjusting laws and policies, and instead increasing support for agricultural business entities in the market field, so as to improve their competitiveness and promote the process of agricultural marketization. Facing the changes in the development environment at home and abroad, and implementing the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, we should fill in the shortcomings of agriculture as soon as possible and strive to improve the agricultural competitiveness of China’s big countries.
Change the concept of agricultural development and pay more attention to the transformation of mode and structure.
The "Proposal" pointed out that to achieve the development goals during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, solve development problems and cultivate development advantages, we must firmly establish the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing. The concept of development is the forerunner of development action. To develop modern agriculture and improve agricultural competitiveness under the new economic normal, we must firmly establish and implement the new development concept, and pay more attention to changing modes and adjusting structure.
The reason why we should pay more attention to changing the mode and adjusting the structure is because although agriculture is a traditional industry, its versatility is becoming increasingly obvious with the development of agriculture and economy and society. Modern agriculture should not only give play to traditional production functions and ensure food supply, but also give play to ecological and environmental protection, sightseeing and leisure, cultural inheritance and other functions to promote sustainable development. Only by establishing a new development concept and paying more attention to changing the mode and adjusting the structure can we accelerate the formation of a modern agricultural industrial chain pattern from field to table, form a modern agricultural industrial system with the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, better lead the transformation of agricultural development mode and promote the improvement of agricultural development quality and efficiency. Therefore, we should speed up the transformation of extensive management methods that rely on resource consumption, strengthen the drive of agricultural scientific and technological innovation, and take the road of agricultural modernization with high output efficiency, product safety, resource conservation and environmental friendliness. On the basis of stabilizing grain production, we should scientifically determine the self-sufficiency level of major agricultural products, rationally arrange the development priorities of agricultural industries, give full play to the comparative advantages of various regions, industries and business models, promote the integration and interaction of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and realize the transformation of agricultural production from production-oriented to consumption-oriented
Improve the innovation and extension system of modern agricultural science and technology and vigorously apply advanced science and technology.
The "Proposal" proposes to improve the modern agricultural science and technology innovation promotion system. At present, advanced science and technology plays an increasingly important supporting role in improving the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and overall competitiveness. In 2014, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress in China has reached 56%. In the past, we put more emphasis on agricultural science and technology, such as improved varieties and good methods. Today, we propose to improve the innovation and extension system of modern agricultural science and technology and vigorously apply advanced technology, and its breadth and depth far exceed the cognitive scope of the past.
As far as biotechnology is concerned, it includes not only the traditional optimization of agricultural and livestock varieties, but also the modern biotechnology represented by transgenic technology. We should intensify technological research and development and industrialization, achieve the target requirements of high yield, high quality, high efficiency, ecology and safety, and effectively guarantee national food security and food safety. As far as equipment technology is concerned, it used to be more understood as a production tool to replace labor, but today it has become the basic production factor for developing modern agriculture, and the improvement of equipment technology level can greatly improve production efficiency and output benefit. Among them, special attention should be paid to the application of modern information technology. Modern information technologies such as agricultural Internet of Things, e-commerce, big data, cloud computing and global positioning system are playing an increasingly important leading and supporting role in agricultural production, processing and circulation. Especially the booming e-commerce will have a revolutionary impact on the circulation of agricultural products. Accordingly, to improve the modern agricultural science and technology innovation extension system, we need to think and plan from the strategic height that science and technology are the primary productive forces and important production factors, accelerate the establishment of modern agricultural science and technology innovation system, scientific and technological achievements transformation system, extension and application system, and accelerate the agricultural mechanization and informatization.
Constructing modern agricultural industrial system and optimizing the combination of resource elements
The "Proposal" pointed out that efforts should be made to build a modern agricultural industrial system. The main difference between modern agricultural industrial system and traditional agricultural industrial system is that the former focuses on forming a new factor combination mode through intensive investment and in-depth development of modern production factors such as financial capital, science and technology, organization and management, and promoting the steady improvement of total factor productivity and comprehensive quality of agricultural industry.
The role of modern agricultural industrial system in promoting agricultural competitiveness is mainly manifested in four aspects: specialization, scale, intensification and integration. First of all, specialized division of labor to improve labor productivity. According to the market demand and their own endowment, agricultural business entities focus on a certain field, variety or link that they are best at and most suitable for, and carry out specialized production and business activities, which can effectively improve labor production efficiency and business benefits. Secondly, large-scale production improves the land output rate. On the one hand, the moderate scale operation of land is convenient for arranging and utilizing land in pieces and improving the scale efficiency of agricultural production. On the other hand, connecting scattered land management entities through socialized services can transcend the boundaries between plots and families, promote the centralized investment of modern production factors such as capital, science and technology, management and equipment, and greatly form the spillover effect of scale management. Third, intensive management improves the efficiency of resource combination through the scientific, accurate, reduced and efficient utilization of various resource elements. Fourth, integrated development improves agricultural total factor productivity. In the development of modern agriculture, the absence of any factor of production will form a "short board effect". Only by building a modern agricultural industrial system, vigorously optimizing the combination of various production factors, and striving to realize the integrated development of production, processing, logistics and marketing, can agricultural competitiveness be effectively improved.
Change the mode of agricultural management and cultivate new agricultural management subjects
Agricultural management mode mainly includes two aspects: agricultural production mode and service mode, which is an important symbol of agricultural competitiveness of big countries. From the perspective of agricultural production mode, many new management modes, such as farm management, cooperative management and enterprise management, which are based on household contract management, have greatly promoted the commercialization, scale, intensification, specialization and organization of agricultural production. All kinds of new business entities have different functional orientation and comparative advantages, and have broad adaptability and development space. The interests of the main members of farm management are highly consistent, and the cost of labor supervision is low, which occupies a leading position in the production of breeding industry; Cooperative business entities organize scattered farmers, improve market bargaining position, reduce production and transaction costs, and have economies of scale in the integration and development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, which is conducive to increasing farmers’ income; Enterprise management subjects have advanced technology and equipment, strong financing and anti-risk ability, and have obvious advantages in deep processing of agricultural products, logistics and distribution, carrying out innovative agricultural production and management activities, and improving agricultural added value.
From the perspective of agricultural service mode, various public welfare and business service organizations have flourished, and the professional, serialized and multi-level service models have been continuously innovated, initially forming an agricultural socialized service system led by government public service agencies and widely participated by multiple service subjects. In particular, some business service organizations provide services for farmers in the aspects of seed and fertilizer supply, agricultural machinery operation, production management, product sales, etc. by means of full trusteeship and semi-trusteeship, which neither changes the farmers’ contract relationship, but also ensures that the land is planted with people and the land can be planted well, showing great vitality in practice. It can be said that the agricultural management mode of "diversified business entities+whole-process socialized service" is an important path choice for China’s agricultural modernization and an important institutional innovation to adapt to China’s national conditions with a large population and a small population.
Cultivate new professional farmers and improve the quality of agricultural practitioners
The "Proposal" proposes to cultivate new professional farmers. This is an urgent need and an important support to solve the practical problem of "who will plant the land" and "how to plant the land well", improve the quality of agricultural practitioners and enhance the competitiveness of agriculture. The problem of "who will plant the land" is rooted in the weak competitiveness and low comparative income of agriculture, which is not unrelated to the non-professionalism of farmers. From the current practice and development trend, traditional farmers have lived in rural areas for generations, specializing in agricultural production, and are the basic groups that produce new professional farmers; After market experience, returning migrant workers have certain capital, technology and marketing capabilities, and are the core strength of new professional farmers; Rural junior and senior high school graduates have received systematic basic education and have strong ability to absorb and apply new knowledge and technology, which is the basic reserve of new professional farmers; The new farmers who master modern agricultural technology, have the concept of ecological agriculture and Internet thinking are the emerging groups of new professional farmers. Through targeted and classified vocational education and training, they can master their professional skills and improve their professional quality, become professional rural practical talents and management talents, and become new agricultural production subjects and service subjects to meet the requirements of modern agricultural development.
Grasp the national conditions in depth and give play to the comparative advantages of agriculture.
Compared with the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries with abundant agricultural resources, China’s total agricultural resources are insufficient and per capita resources are scarce. However, from the perspective of comparative advantage, there are many types of agricultural resources in China and other relative advantages, which have the conditions to improve agricultural competitiveness by giving full play to comparative advantages.
Generally speaking, China’s agricultural comparative advantages are mainly manifested in three aspects: First, comparative resource advantages. China has a vast territory, rich landforms, diverse climate, various types of agricultural resources and obvious characteristics of species diversity. For example, China’s higher plant species account for 10% of the world’s total, and mammal species account for 13%, both of which rank among the top in the world. We should make full use of this unique advantage of agricultural comparative resources. The second is comparative industrial advantages. The variety of agricultural resources in China determines the diversity of agricultural industrial structure in various places. All localities should base themselves on comparative advantages, develop different industries selectively and emphatically, and promote the formation of a modern agricultural industrial pattern with appropriate division of labor, reasonable layout and balanced total output throughout the country. The third is comparative competitive advantage. Compared with the United States, Canada and other countries, China is relatively competitive in non-resource products such as gardening and animal husbandry. Compared with Japan and South Korea, China is absolutely competitive in grain production. Giving full play to the comparative advantage of agriculture is to transform resource advantage into industrial advantage and industrial advantage into competitive advantage as soon as possible, and strive to improve the agricultural competitiveness of China’s big countries. (Zhang Hongyu)
关于作者