Li Keqiang stressed that speeding up the modernization of agriculture

Beijing, 5 Mar (Xinhua)-- when talking about "coordinating the promotion of stable economic growth and structural optimization," State Council Premier Li Keqiang stressed the need to accelerate agricultural modernization. We will unswervingly adhere to the top priority of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, speed up the transformation of the mode of agricultural development, and make agriculture stronger, farmers richer and rural areas more beautiful.

This year, grain output should be stabilized at more than 1.1 trillion jin, ensuring food security and the supply of major agricultural products. We will adhere to the red line of cultivated land, comprehensively carry out the demarcation of permanent basic farmland, implement actions to protect and improve the quality of cultivated land, promote land renovation, and increase the number of subsoiled land by 200 million mu. We will strengthen the capital construction of irrigation and water conservancy and vigorously develop water-saving agriculture. We will speed up the research, development, popularization and application of new technologies, new varieties and new agricultural machinery. We will guide farmers to adjust their planting and breeding structure according to the market, support the processing of agricultural products, especially the local transformation of grain in major producing areas, and carry out pilot projects to convert grain crops into feed crops. We will comprehensively control the problem of agricultural and veterinary drug residues and comprehensively improve the quality of agricultural products and the level of food safety.

The construction of new countryside should benefit the broad masses of farmers. We will focus on strengthening the construction of water and roads, solve the problem of safe drinking water for another 60 million rural people this year, build and rebuild 200000 kilometers of rural roads, and comprehensively complete the task of changing cables and bridges in remote mountainous areas in the west. Strive to make electricity available to the last more than 200,000 people without electricity. Focus on garbage and sewage to strengthen environmental management and build beautiful and livable villages. We will increase farmers' income through various channels and maintain the momentum of narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents. We will continue to do a good job in poverty alleviation, further promote poverty alleviation and development in poverty-stricken areas, and carry out accurate poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation. No matter how difficult it is, we will further reduce the number of poor people in rural areas by more than 10 million this year.

On the basis of stabilizing household operation, we should support the development of new business entities, such as large farmers, family farms, farmers' cooperatives, and industrial leading enterprises, train new types of professional farmers, and promote appropriate scale operation in various forms. We will do a good job in the registration and certification of land rights, and prudently carry out pilot reforms such as rural land expropriation, entry of collective construction land into the market, homestead system, and collective property rights system. In the course of reform, it is necessary to ensure that the quantity and quality of cultivated land do not decline, and that the interests of farmers are guaranteed. We will deepen the reform of supply and marketing cooperatives, agricultural reclamation, seed industry, and forest areas of state-owned forest farms, and do a good job in rural reform pilot areas and modern agricultural demonstration areas. We will improve the minimum grain purchase price and the policy of temporary purchase and storage, and improve the method of subsidizing the target price of agricultural products. Strengthen the overall integration and management of agriculture-related funds. No matter how difficult the finance is, the policy of benefiting agriculture can only be strengthened, not weakened, and the funds for supporting agriculture can only be increased but not reduced.