Why the No. 1 document of the Central Committee frequently locks "agriculture, rural areas and farmers"

The No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee is the first document issued by the CPC Central Committee every year. The focus of the No. 1 document is often on the issues that the country needs to focus on and urgently need to solve at present, and has a programmatic and guiding position in the work throughout the year. Therefore, documents over the years will be highly concerned by people from all walks of life.

However, the No. 1 document of the Central Committee does not focus on the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers every year. A detailed account of a number of central documents since the reform and opening up, including a total of 17 documents with the theme of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". These 17 files are not continuous all the time, and there have been interruptions in the middle.

In the early 1980s, under the background of rural reform in full swing, the central government issued five No. 1 documents with agriculture, rural areas and farmers as the theme for five consecutive years from 1982 to 1986, making specific arrangements for the rural reform and agricultural development at that time. Eighteen years later, since 2004, the No. 1 document of the Central Committee has focused on "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" for 12 consecutive years.

Take an inventory of these 12 Central No. 1 documents since the new century, including not only for the overall work of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers", but also for agricultural science and technology, irrigation and water conservancy, new rural construction and other special work. Document No. 1 has locked in "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" for 12 times in a row, highlighting the "top priority" status of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" in China.

Why did the agriculture-related tradition of document No. 1 be interrupted in the 1980s? At that time, the whole country had such an understanding from top to bottom: the reform in the 1980s began in rural areas, and the basic problems have been solved. In the future, important problems will be in cities, and the focus of work will also shift from rural areas to urban areas.

So, 18 years later, why does document No. 1 re-lock "agriculture, rural areas and farmers"? There is a more profound background behind this: at the end of the last century, there was a complex situation in China's agricultural production environment, and the growth rate of farmers' income hovered below 4% for several consecutive years. In addition, after more than 10 years of "accelerated running" of urban reform, there is a serious imbalance between urban and rural development, affecting the process of building a well-off society.

Today, under the background that China's economic development has entered a new normal, the No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee continues to lock in "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" in 2015, indicating that the "top priority" status of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" in China has not been weakened, but strengthened. At present, China is in the critical period and sprint stage of building the four modernizations and realizing a well-off society in an all-round way. In order to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, we cannot do without the rural area. In the construction of the four modernizations, we must make up for the deficiency of agriculture. In all the work of the country, the important attribute of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" is still very obvious. These factors determine that "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" is still an urgent need and key deployment work of the central government, and it is precisely for this reason that this year's Central Committee No. 1 document targeted "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" for the 12th time.