Ministry of Finance: agricultural "three subsidies" reform will push the whole country in 2016

According to the website of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture recently issued guidance on adjusting and improving the three subsidy policies for agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the "guidance"). According to relevant officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, the reform of the "three subsidies" in agriculture will be carried out nationwide in 2016 on the basis of summing up pilot experience and further improving policies and measures.

When talking about the main content of this improvement, the relevant responsible persons of the two departments said that the main content of the adjustment and improvement of the agricultural "three subsidies" policy is divided into two aspects. First, 20% of the comprehensive agricultural subsidy funds will be adjusted nationwide to support the appropriate scale operation of grain. According to the decline in the prices of agricultural means of production, provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities separately listed on the State plan will adjust 20% of the comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials issued by the central financial arrangements. in addition, the pilot funds for subsidies for large grain growers and the incremental funds for the "three subsidies" in agriculture will be used as a whole to support the appropriate scale operation of grain. The support targets are moderate-scale producers and operators of major food crops, with emphasis on new types of operators such as large grain growers, family farms, farmers' cooperatives, agricultural socialized service organizations, and so on.

The second is to select some areas to carry out pilot reform of the "three subsidies" in agriculture. In 2015, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture selected five provinces, including Anhui, Shandong, Hunan, Sichuan and Zhejiang, to carry out pilot agricultural "three subsidies" reform. The main content of the pilot project is to merge the "three agricultural subsidies" into "agricultural support and protection subsidies", and the policy objective is adjusted to support the protection of cultivated land and the appropriate scale operation of grain.

The person in charge also said that 80% of the stock of comprehensive agricultural subsidies, plus direct subsidies for grain farmers and subsidies for improved varieties of crops, will be used for the protection of cultivated land. The object of the subsidy is all the farmers who have the right to contract cultivated land, and the farmers who enjoy the subsidy should not abandon the cultivated land and keep the soil fertility from being reduced. Subsidy funds should be linked to the area of cultivated land or sown area, and strictly control the boundaries of subsidy policies. Cultivated land that has been used as animal husbandry farms, woodland, grain fields converted into facility agricultural land, cultivated land for non-agricultural requisition (occupation) and other arable land that have been changed, as well as cultivated land that has been discarded for years and whose area and quality in the occupation-compensation balance do not meet the conditions for cultivation will no longer be subsidized. At the same time, it is necessary to mobilize farmers to strengthen their awareness of the protection of agricultural ecological resources, take the initiative to protect soil fertility, and encourage straw to be returned to the field without burning in the open air. This part of the subsidy funds are still in the form of direct cash subsidies to households.

20% of the stock of comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials, together with pilot funds for subsidies for large grain growers and incremental funds for the "three subsidies" in agriculture, will focus on supporting appropriate scale operation of grain in accordance with the requirements of unified adjustment and improvement of policies. Other regions can also independently select some counties and cities to carry out the pilot according to the local reality and with reference to the policies and requirements of the pilot areas, but the scope of the pilot should be properly controlled. In 2016, the reform of the "three subsidies" in agriculture will be carried out nationwide on the basis of summing up pilot experience and further improving policies and measures.