In the first three quarters, the agricultural and rural economy improved steadily.

It is a foregone conclusion that autumn grain production will increase. The "vegetable basket" products meet the demand, and farmers’ income has actually increased by 7.3%.
In the first three quarters, the agricultural and rural economy improved steadily.

On October 23, the State Council held a press conference to introduce the operation of agriculture and rural economy in the first three quarters of this year. Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has made every effort to ensure stable production and supply, made efforts to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation, strived to broaden the channels for farmers to increase their income and become rich, intensified efforts to sum up and popularize the experience of Zhejiang’s "Ten Million Projects", and made overall plans to promote rural development, construction and governance. The agricultural and rural economy has shown a steady and positive trend. "The bumper harvest of agriculture, the steady increase of farmers’ income, and the stability and tranquility of rural areas have provided strong support for promoting the sustained economic recovery, accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, and striving to promote high-quality development." Zeng Yande, chief agronomist of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and director of the Development Planning Department, said.

The annual grain output is expected to hit a record high again.

"Frost in first frost, Man Cang in Gu Mi". It was introduced at the meeting that this year’s grain production will overcome the impact of disasters, and the output is expected to hit a record high again. According to the agricultural situation dispatch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, as of October 22, the national autumn grain harvest has reached 81.3%, and it is a foregone conclusion to increase autumn grain production.

Where does the confidence come from? Pan Wenbo, director of the Planting Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that on the one hand, the area of autumn grain increased for the fourth year in a row, with an increase of more than 7 million mu over the previous year, which laid the foundation for increasing autumn grain production. On the other hand, the effect of large-area yield improvement has begun to show. At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs launched a large-scale unit yield improvement campaign for major crops such as grain and oil, focusing on promoting the unit yield improvement in 200 corn counties and 100 soybean counties.

"Although the local disasters are serious, most of the main producing areas have harmonious rainfall and sufficient light and heat, which is conducive to crop growth and yield formation." Pan Wenbo said that from the current situation, the increase in autumn grain production can completely achieve "supplementing summer with autumn". Counting the three seasons of summer grain, early rice and autumn grain, the annual grain output is expected to hit a new record high, achieving the expected goal of keeping the annual grain output above 1.3 trillion Jin.

At present, the national autumn and winter planting work has been fully launched. As of October 22, more than half of winter wheat and 60% of winter rape have been sown in China, and the progress is equivalent to that of normal years. Pan Wenbo introduced that in view of the climate characteristics and the situation faced by autumn planting this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs launched a three-year campaign to increase the yield of wheat and rape in a large area, and began to implement various measures to increase production from soil preparation and sowing, focusing on promoting the "two-night technology" and key technical measures such as proper deep and precise sowing of wheat and proper close planting of rape, focusing on implementing technical measures such as suppressing moisture conservation before winter, cultivating strong seedlings to survive the winter, and laying the foundation for next summer’s grain and oil harvest.

In addition, in view of the flood storage and detention areas such as Hebei and Tianjin, which were affected by floods in August, in order to ensure proper sowing, machinery and personnel were organized to fully seize and drain accumulated water, and ploughing was carried out in time to disperse moisture, and expert groups were sent to guide the implementation of anti-moisture and sowing protection measures. At present, the accumulated water in these plots was basically drained in early October, and the wheat planting in most areas ended, and the basic planting was in the suitable sowing period.

The supply of "vegetable basket" is sufficient, and the results of soybean oil expansion are constantly consolidated.

It was introduced at the meeting that in the first three quarters, China’s "vegetable basket" products were adequately supplied and the market operation was generally stable. The domestic aquatic product output was 47.336 million tons, an increase of 4.8%; The supply of vegetables and fruits increased. In early October, the area of vegetables in the country was more than 100 million mu, an increase of more than 1.4 million mu over the same period of last year. The fruit yield is stable and the variety is rich. According to the monitoring, the price of "food basket" products after the holiday was stable and lower as a whole.

"Looking forward to the later period, the production capacity of meat, eggs and milk in the country is abundant in the fourth quarter, and vegetables have increased steadily in the field area. The market of’ vegetable basket’ has a very solid foundation for stable supply and price, which can fully meet the needs of urban and rural people." Han Liu, head of the Market and Information Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said. Next, we will continue to do a good job in ensuring production and supply, strengthen the docking of production and marketing, guide the production and operation entities to do a good job in the storage and preservation of fresh agricultural products, promote the balanced and orderly listing of "vegetable basket" products, and ensure that key varieties are not out of stock and not stopped.

Improving the self-sufficiency rate of soybean oil is an important task to ensure the stable and safe supply of grain and important agricultural products. "This year is the second year of implementing the national soybean and oil production capacity improvement project." Pan Wenbo introduced that at the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs formulated the goal of "two expansions and two improvements", and included the soybean oil production target in the assessment of food security with the same responsibilities of the party and government, tackling difficulties in expanding the area, doing everything possible to bill for production, and continuously consolidating the achievements of soybean oil expansion. Other oil crops such as peanuts and oil sunflower are also stable.

Summer oil has a bumper harvest. This year, the central government arranged 1.5 billion special funds to support the Yangtze River basin to expand winter rape planting by using winter fallow fields. All localities have tried their best to tap the potential, and the area and output of rapeseed harvested in summer have doubled. It is estimated that the area of rapeseed harvested in winter will exceed 100 million mu, and the output will reach more than 14.5 million tons, with both areas and output reaching new highs.

The soybean area has increased steadily. Subsidies, insurance, and purchasing and storage work together, and all localities do everything possible to mobilize farmers’ enthusiasm. The soybean area has been stable at more than 150 million mu for two consecutive years, and the soybean and corn strip composite planting area has been implemented at 20 million mu, an increase of about 5 million mu over last year.

The effect of increasing soybean yield in a large area has begun to show. It is understood that this year, the planting density of soybeans in the demonstration area of increasing yield per unit area has generally increased by 800-1000 plants per mu, and the density of high-yield fields has reached 24,000. "According to the calculation of three plants and one or two beans, the average yield per mu increased by about 30 Jin, and the contribution of the yield increase of 100 major producing counties to the total yield increase exceeded 70%." Pan Wenbo introduced.

Develop industries, stabilize employment, and maintain the growth momentum of farmers’ income.

Industrial revitalization is the top priority of rural revitalization. Zeng Yande introduced that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and relevant departments have made efforts to develop industries, stabilize employment, and strive to broaden the channels for farmers to increase their income and become rich, and farmers’ income has continued to grow.

The central government’s convergence to promote rural revitalization subsidies for industrial development has reached 60%. By the end of September, 63.5% of the monitored objects in 22 provinces in the central and western regions had eliminated the risk of returning to poverty, and the rest had implemented assistance measures. There are 32.97 million migrant workers (including those who have been monitored to prevent poverty from returning), which exceeds the annual target of 2.778 million.

The rural industries to enrich the people have grown stronger, and farmers’ income has maintained steady growth. From January to September, the added value of agricultural and sideline food processing industries above designated size increased by 0.4% year-on-year. In September, the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) of the national key leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization was 62.8%, and the confidence of enterprises in the market outlook was enhanced. In the first three quarters, the online retail sales of agricultural products maintained double-digit growth, rural leisure tourism recovered steadily, and the value of agricultural functions continued to expand. Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the per capita disposable income of rural residents in the first three quarters was 15,705 yuan, a real increase of 7.3% after deducting the price factor.

In addition, with the orderly advancement of rural construction, rural living conditions have been continuously improved. At the meeting, it was introduced that in the improvement of rural human settlements, the penetration rate of rural sanitary toilets in China exceeded 73%, and the proportion of administrative villages that collected and transported domestic garbage exceeded 90%. More than 95% of the villages have carried out clean-up operations, and the village appearance has been significantly improved. In the improvement of rural public infrastructure, we will guide all localities to compile rural construction task lists, improve county-level rural construction project libraries, improve infrastructure conditions, and enhance the level of public services.

"The deepening of rural reform has further enhanced the vitality of development." Zeng Yande said that at present, reforms in key areas are progressing steadily, including expanding the scope of the pilot project for another 30 years after the expiration of the second round of land contract, printing and distributing the management measures for rural land contract, promoting the standardized pilot work of rural property rights transfer transactions in an orderly manner, and continuously deepening the pilot reform of rural homestead system. By the end of September, there were more than 2.22 million farmers’ cooperatives and 4 million family farms in China, and more than 1.07 million agricultural socialized service organizations, and new agricultural business entities continued to grow and develop.

"Promoting farmers’ income is the central task of the work of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. In the current construction of a new development pattern, it is more important and urgent to activate rural domestic demand and promote farmers’ income. " Zeng Yande said that next, we will continue to strengthen efforts and take measures in the fields of promoting the convergence of production and marketing, developing rural industries, expanding projects and deepening rural reform, and continuously consolidate the good situation of farmers’ income growth. (Reporter Yu Jingwei)