Chinese agriculture and rural economy see a good start

By Gao Yuncai from People’s Daily

 

China’s agriculture and rural departments have devoted great efforts to promote high-quality, green and branded agricultural products, by following the principle of high-quality development, implementing rural rejuvenation strategy and carrying forward supply-side structural reform in agriculture.

 

These efforts have deepened rural reform and increased farmers’ income.As a result , the country’s agriculture and rural economy embrace a good opening with steady growth.

 

Zeng Yande, head of the crop production management department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said a stable summer grain production this year indicates a bumper autumn harvest.

 

Despite a slight decline of the average output of per unit area of products, the country’s summer crops yielded a generally good harvest this year with the total area for planting summer crops remaining stable.

 

The total yield of summer crops stayed high at 138.7 billion kilograms, down 3.05 billion kilograms from the last year.

 

Currently, the harvest of early season rice in southern China has ended with good yields. According to statistics by the ministry, the production and sales of livestock, poultry and aquatic products in the country were generally balanced.

 

In the first half of this year, the total output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry meat was 39.95 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 0.9 percent. The total output of aquatic products reached 27.4 million tonnes, up by 0.86 percent from the same period last year. China’s agriculture and animal husbandry sector is thriving in general.

 

Besides rising agricultural production, the country’s agricultural structure has been further optimized, with a more balanced supply and demand.

 

Zeng introduced that the adjustment of agricultural structure, including reducing rice-growing area, expanding the land to grow soybeans-growing land and enlarging the area to grow crops for feeding animals, is proceeding well.

 

According to the adjustment plan, rice-growing area in the low-yield and cold regions in northeastern China and areas producing low-quality rice along the Yangtze River Basin will altogether be reduced by more than 10 million mu, or 666,667 hectares, and the planting area of soybeans in Northeast China and Huang-Huai-Hai region will be significantly increased.

 

The corn planting area in certain regions that produce low-yield and low-quality products will continue to be reduced, while the planting area of fodder grass in these regions such as alfalfa and silo corn will be markedly expanded.

 

Steady advance has been made for green agriculture development, and new steps have been taken for agricultural transformation and upgrading.

 

The agricultural production environment has been improved, thanks to the efforts to push forward the replacement of chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers, and the utilization of resources such as crop straws and livestock and poultry manure.

 

The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides continues to be reduced, and the comprehensive utilization rate of livestock and poultry manure has exceeded 60 percent.

 

It is known that over 90 percent of straws in Henan and Anhui provinces have been re-utilized as fertilizer, and rural people’s living environment has been improved.

 

With accelerated promotion of green production, over 200 million mu of green food production sites have been monitored for environmental purposes, accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s total arable land. The area of rice-fish farming is expected to surpass 28 million mu.

 

In addition, the supply of high-quality agricultural products has remarkably increased that over 97 percent of agricultural products are proved eligible in routine quality and safety assessment. Over 8,000 agricultural products have been newly added to the certified green and organic argo-products and received geographical indications, adding the total number to 35,000.

 

The primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas have accelerated their pace for integration, adding new drives for growth of rural economy. In the first half of the year, agricultural product processing industry in rural China has seen steady growth.

 

The main business income of agricultural product processing enterprises above designated size amounted to 7.8 trillion yuan (about $1.14trillion), up by 6.1 percent year on year, with the total profit reaching over 500 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent.

 

The business climate index of processing enterprises for edible agricultural products was 131.9, an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the same period last year.

 

Rural e-commerce has thrived. The country now has more than 9.8 million rural vendors running business online, creating more than 28 million jobs.

 

The first 6 months of the year also witnessed a prosperous leisure agriculture and rural tourism. The rural areas received 1.6 billion tourists in total and reported an income of 420 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent.

 

Development potential of China’s rural areas has been released step by step, with a faster growth in consumption and investment.

 

The growth of consumption in rural areas has outpaced that in urban areas. Retail sales of consumer goods in rural China increased to 2.593 trillion yuan, increasing by 10.5 percent from a year ago, which is 1.3 percentage points more than the rate in urban areas.

 

Investment in agriculture and rural areas of China has maintained a rapid growth. The country’s fixed-asset investment in the primary industry climbed to 987.2 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up by 13.5 percent over the previous year. The growth rate was 9.7 and 6.7 percentage points higher than that of the secondary and tertiary industries respectively.

 

The first half of the year also saw a steady rise in China’s imports and exports of agricultural products.

 

From January to May, the total value of agricultural imports and exports reached 564.57 billion yuan, up by 4.1 percent year on year, among which exports were 199.37 billion yuan, 2.5 percent more than that of the previous year, and imports reached 365.2 billion yuan, up by 5.1 percent year on year.

 

In addition, new export growth points were brought to China by countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. In the Jan.-May period, China’s agricultural exports to ASEAN members increased by 7 percent over the previous year.

 

In the first half of the year, Chinese farmers saw a steady income growth and the salaries of migrant workers continued to increase.

 

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, rural residents of China enjoyed a per capita disposable income of 7,142 yuan in the first half year, an increase of 6.8 percent after deducting the price factor. The growth of rural per capita disposable income was consistent with the country’s GDP growth, and outpaced that of urban residents by 1 percentage point.

 

The urban-rural per capita income ratio was 2.77:1, narrowing by 0.02 year on year. During the first half of the year, total labor force of China’s rural migrant workers reached 180 million, an increase of 0.8 percent year on year. The average income of migrant workers was 3,661 yuan per month, up by 7.5 percent over the last year. The growth rate was 1.2 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2018年中国农业农村经济高质量发展开局良好

人民日报记者 高云才

 

今年以来，中国各级农业农村部门按照高质量发展要求，以实施乡村振兴战略为总抓手，以推进农业供给侧结构性改革为主线，着力推进质量兴农、绿色兴农、品牌强农，统筹推进农村改革、农民增收，农业农村经济高质量发展开局良好，呈现稳中有进、稳中向好的态势。

 

“今年夏粮生产基本顺利，又迎来一个丰收年景。”农业农村部种植业管理司司长曾衍德说。

 

今年夏粮呈现“面积稳定、单产略减、总体丰收”的局面，产量达到2774亿斤，同比减少61亿斤，夏粮总产量仍处于历史高位。眼下，南方早稻收获已全部结束，早稻呈现丰收趋势。另据农业农村部数据，全国畜禽水产品产销总体宽松，上半年猪牛羊禽肉产量3995万吨，同比增长0.9%。水产品总产量达到2740万吨，同比增长0.86%。总体上，农业生产呈现五谷丰登、六畜兴旺的态势。

 

农业生产形势持续向好的同时，农业结构继续优化，供需平衡水平提高。曾衍德表示，从结构调整形势看，目前控水稻、增大豆、粮改饲进展顺利。预计东北寒地低产区、长江流域低质低效区水稻面积减少1000多万亩，东北和黄淮海地区大豆面积明显增加，“镰刀弯”地区玉米面积调减成效继续巩固，苜蓿、青贮玉米等饲草料面积明显增加。

 

绿色发展稳步推进，转型升级迈出新步伐。农业产地环境改善工作有力推进，有机肥替代化肥、农作物秸秆和畜禽粪污资源化利用由点及面有序推开，化肥农药使用量继续下降，畜禽粪污综合利用率超过60%。据了解，河南、安徽等地秸秆离田还田率超过90%，农村人居环境整治取得积极进展。绿色生产方式加快推广，绿色食品产地环境监测面积超过2亿亩，约占全国耕地面积的10%；稻田综合种养面积预计超过2800万亩。优质农产品供给明显增加，农产品质量安全例行监测总体抽检合格率保持在97%以上，新认证绿色、有机和地理标志农产品8000多个，累计超过3.5万个。

 

农村一二三产业加快融合，农村新动能加快成长。上半年，农产品加工业稳中增效，规模以上农产品加工业实现主营业务收入7.8万亿元，同比增长6.1%；实现利润总额5000多亿元，同比增长7.4%。食用类农产品加工业企业景气指数为131.9，较去年同期提高2.5个百分点。农村电子商务加快发展，目前全国农村网商超过980万家，带动就业超过2800万人。上半年休闲农业和乡村旅游快速发展，共接待16亿人次，实现营业收入4200亿元，同比增长15%。

 

乡村发展潜力逐步释放，农村消费投资较快增长。农村消费增速快于城市，乡村消费品零售额达到25927亿元，同比增长10.5%，快于城镇增速1.3个百分点。农业农村投资保持较快增长，全国第一产业固定资产投资达到9872亿元，同比增长13.5%，分别高于二、三产业9.7个、6.7个百分点，持续成为固定资产投资领域的亮点。农产品进出口平稳增长，1—5月份农产品进出口总值5645.7亿元，同比增长4.1%。其中出口1993.7亿元，同比增长2.5%；进口3652亿元，同比增长5.1%。“一带一路”倡议参与国家成为出口新增长点，其中对东盟农产品出口额同比增长7%。

 

上半年农民收入稳定增长，外出务工收入继续增加。据国家统计局统计，上半年农村居民人均可支配收入为7142元，扣除价格因素实际增长6.8%，与GDP增速保持一致，较城镇居民人均可支配收入增速高1个百分点，城乡居民人均收入倍差为2.77，比上年同期缩小0.02。其中，农村外出务工劳动力总量达到1.8亿人，同比增长0.8%；外出务工劳动力月均收入3661元，同比增长7.5%，增速比去年同期加快1.2个百分点。