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China announces agro reforms for urban, rural development

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Press Trust of India Beijing
China, under heavy urbanisation pressure, today announced new agricultural reforms promising protection and assistance to farmers even as it committed to "consolidation" of development in urban and rural areas.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) today issued this year's first policy document, underscoring the importance of rural reform, developing modern agriculture and maintaining agriculture as the foundation of the national economy.

Termed as the "No 1 Central Document", it listed eight focal points for work related to the "three rural issues"-- agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

Assistance and protection for agriculture, the national food security system, rural governance and rural land reform shall all be improved, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the document, approved by the Central Cabinet, as saying.
 

The rural finance system needs a new and more innovative approach, it said.

A long-term mechanism for sustainable agriculture development and new agricultural management systems shall be established, the document said.

Urban and rural development must be consolidated, the document said, committing to pay more attention to rural upliftment, which suffered due to heavy urbanisation process.

An agrarian country for centuries, China's rural population was on the decline as farmers shifted to urban areas for jobs mostly as migrant labour.

China's urban population crossed over 50 per cent mark in 2011 for the first time in history.

CPC in the past believed that rapid urbanisation is better way to address the poverty and encouraged massive urbanisation process which in turn had a negative impact on agriculture and food grains supply.

Also more of fertile agricultural land has been taken over for development of new cities due to increasing pressure from the real-estate market, observes say.

The new document encourages innovation with the pre-condition that a "bottom line" is maintained.

It will respect farmers' creativity and support local areas experimenting with measures that suit their circumstances. No uniformity will be imposed while differential and interim policies will be allowed, it said.

In advancing modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics, efforts must be made to establish new agricultural management systems with the focus on how to better utilise the land.

The development modes of agriculture shall be transformed to solve the problem of limited land and scarce water. The country must yield more high-quality and safe farm products to satisfy its people.

This is the 11th consecutive year in which the document focused on rural issues.

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First Published: Jan 19 2014 | 7:40 PM IST

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