Structural surplus of agricultural capacity also needs "supply-side reform"

At the beginning of the year, the 2016 Central Committee document No. 1 focusing on the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers was about to be promulgated. The reporter learned that the "opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on implementing the New concept of Development and speeding up Agricultural Modernization to achieve the goal of a well-off Society in an all-round way (discussion draft)" announced at the Central Rural work Conference at the end of last year has been listed as the draft of this year's No. 1 document. Judging from the title, document No. 1 will also focus on agricultural modernization for the fourth year in a row. Compared with the previous two years, this year, adhering to the basic idea of promoting agricultural modernization, we have put forward the goal of implementing a new concept of development and achieving a well-off society in an all-round way.

Prior to this, the state has issued a series of heavyweight agricultural policy documents, covering important issues in the process of agricultural modernization, such as rural e-commerce, land reclamation reform, rural deep reform and so on. Judging from the proposals of the 13th five-year Plan of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities also focus on modernization and actively respond to the new concept of national agricultural development.

"document No. 1 will specifically implement the 13th five-year Plan and put forward the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way. The construction of modern agriculture should be carried out in accordance with the five major development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing." Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that the Central Committee's No. 1 document, to be released in the first year of the 13th five-year Plan, will guide Zhang Benhe for the medium-and long-term development of China's agriculture.

Supply-side reform: agricultural structural adjustment

Major agricultural provinces, including Heilongjiang, Shandong and Zhejiang, have set the goal of optimizing agricultural structure in the 13th five-year Plan, among which Heilongjiang Province will highlight the development of green organic agricultural products and the cultivation of high-quality and efficient crops, and develop order agriculture.

The reporter learned that "supply-side reform", a concept put forward in resolving industrial overcapacity, will also be applied to agriculture this year.

"similar to the industrial sector, China's agriculture also has the problem of structural overcapacity. The specific performance is that the inventory of agricultural products such as corn and cotton is too high, while soybeans and sugar rely too much on imports, the allocation of production capacity is unreasonable, and farmers often increase their production without increasing their income. " So said Societe Generale Securities in a research paper.

As a matter of fact, the problem of structural surplus of domestic agricultural products should not be underestimated. Last year, due to overcapacity and a large backlog of inventory, market prices fell, and the temporary storage price of corn, which had been implemented for seven years, was lowered to 1 yuan per jin for the first time, and the majority of corn growers were faced with the dilemma of not having a good harvest in a bumper year. the impact is even transmitted to corn processing enterprises, farmers and other terminals in the lower reaches of the industrial chain.

Behind this problem, first of all, the planting structure of corn needs to be adjusted urgently. At the national planting structure adjustment meeting held on December 26 last year, Yu Xinrong, vice minister of agriculture, specifically instructed that all efforts should be made to complete the task of reducing more than 10 million mu of corn in the "sickle bend" area. He pointed out that at present, the development of the planting industry is facing many difficulties and problems, and structural contradictions are even more prominent.

After sorting out the proposals of the 13th five-year Plan, the reporter found that major agricultural provinces, including Heilongjiang, Shandong, and Zhejiang, have all set the goal of optimizing the agricultural structure in the 13th five-year Plan. Shandong Province proposes to deepen the adjustment of agricultural structure and develop exquisite agriculture with high standards, deep integration, long chain, good quality and new ways. Heilongjiang Province will also adhere to the market orientation in the next five years, highlight the development of green organic agricultural products and the cultivation of high-quality and efficient crops, optimize the planting structure, and develop order agriculture.

On the other hand, the problem of structural supply also reflects the chronic illness that the price mechanism of agricultural products in China is not perfect at present. The central rural work conference proposed that it is necessary to improve the price formation mechanism and collection and storage policies of grain and other important agricultural products, so as to provide impetus for agricultural structural reform. In the "opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on promoting the Reform of the Price Mechanism" issued in October last year, it has been proposed to improve the price formation mechanism of agricultural products. Including continuing to implement and improve the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat, reforming and improving the corn procurement and storage system, and continuing to carry out pilot reforms in the target prices of cotton and soybeans.

A source from the Ministry of Agriculture told reporters, "at present, China's spatial layout and policy system around agricultural production have been basically formed, but there will still be great changes in market circulation in the future. This is highly consistent with the requirements put forward at the 2013 Central Rural work Conference to adhere to market-oriented and consumption-oriented development of agriculture."

In addition, in order to truly implement the supply-side structural reform, it is also necessary to improve the quality and efficiency of the agricultural supply system, truly form an effective supply of agricultural products with reasonable structure and strong guarantee, and attach great importance to removing inventory, reducing costs and making up for deficiencies. Xie Gang, an agricultural analyst at Zhongtai Securities, pointed out, "for the agricultural industry, the future transformation direction lies not in scale and pure 'high yield', but in 'reducing production costs, improving agricultural efficiency and competitiveness,' and 'establishing the concept of big agriculture and big food.' horizontal or vertical integration of production chain thinking to improve overall efficiency."