Interpretation of the Central Rural Work Conference: Farmers increase income and take measures

“The rapid increase in farmers’ income is a major highlight of the development of agriculture and rural areas in 2011,” said Song Hongyuan, director of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture. The per capita net income of farmers has achieved rapid growth for eight consecutive years and is expected to reach more than 6,900 yuan this year. While the income of farmers continues to increase rapidly, the income gap between urban and rural residents has continued to shrink. The 2011 China Rural Policy Execution Report of the Agricultural Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture stated that in the first three quarters of this year, the growth rate of farmers’ income was 5.8 percentage points higher than that of urban residents. The income gap between urban and rural residents decreased from 2.94:1 in the same period last year to 2.77:1.

The rapid increase in farmers’ income is the result of a combination of factors. Song Hongyuan analyzed that, first of all, the increase in the number of farmers selling agricultural products (10.97, -0.11, -0.99%) and the increase in the price of agricultural products led to a rapid increase in household operating income; Second, the increase in the number of peasant migrant workers and the increase in wages led to the wage of peasants. Thirdly, the policy of strong peasants and rural peasants has a high gold content, and the central government’s fiscal expenditure of 140.6 billion yuan is used to directly subsidize grain growers, improve seed subsidies, purchase subsidies for agricultural machinery, and comprehensive subsidies for agricultural resources, as well as other subsidies and incentive policies. Transfer income growth.

In the face of next year and the coming period, it is more difficult for farmers' income to continue to grow at such a high starting point and high base. Song Hongyuan said, “It is like climbing a mountain. It is easy to raise altitude at the foot of a gentle slope, but the more difficult it is, the more difficult it is to do.” Song Hongyuan believes that there are still many unfavorable factors affecting the continued increase in farmers’ income in 2012. First, the situation facing China's macroeconomic regulation and control is complex and severe. The downward pressure on economic growth may reduce employment opportunities, which in turn will affect the situation of migrant workers going out of employment. Faced with the pressure of rising prices, the recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference proposed to maintain the general stability of the general price level next year. This will, to a certain extent, limit the room for the price increase of agricultural products. The coexistence of the two pressures will have an impact on the growth of wage income and family operating income. Second, after experiencing the impact of the international financial crisis, the process of world economic recovery has been repeated, which has adversely affected China's agricultural trade, foreign investment in agriculture, and export of labor services. Third, constraints on natural resources such as land and water, and abnormal climate changes have complicated agricultural production and have caused uncertainty for farmers to increase production and income.

Song Hongyuan pointed out that the goal of realizing continuous income growth for farmers and a new high for next year's income needs to be taken simultaneously. From the perspective of agriculture, it is necessary to stabilize the development of agricultural production, increase the efficiency of agricultural production, fully tap the potential for increasing revenue within agriculture, and realize the “four unifications” of increasing production, increasing efficiency, increasing value, and increasing income.

Wage income has become an important growth point for farmers' income. Song Hongyuan suggested that on the one hand, farmers should be guided to go out to work, efforts should be made to increase employment opportunities, training of rural laborers should be increased, and their employability should be strengthened. On the other hand, support should be given to migrant workers returning home to start businesses. Entrepreneurship drives employment and multi-pronged measures to increase farmers' non-agricultural income.

We will intensify policies to increase income, further increase the policy of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers, improve various investment subsidies and price growth mechanisms, and expand farmers' income sources. We will deepen rural reforms, promote the innovation of institutional mechanisms for agricultural operations, and create conditions to increase farmers’ property income. Song Hongyuan believes that more attention should be paid to the role of agricultural science and technology in increasing farmers' income. While continuing to intensify price increases, increase subsidies, and increase incomes for rural workers, it will also increase agricultural output through land use, resource utilization, and labor productivity. We will increase production, increase income, increase income, and increase income.