Agricultural supply-side structural reform: who will change it? Change what? How to change it?

This supply-side structural reform focuses on the innovation of institutions and mechanisms in the field of agriculture.

The 2016 Central Committee document No. 1 put forward the strategic concept of "promoting agricultural supply-side structural reform", which deepens the policy thinking of "promoting agricultural structure adjustment" put forward by the Central Committee document No. 1 in 2015. Different from the "strategic adjustment of agricultural structure" put forward by the central government in 1998, this supply-side structural reform focuses on the innovation of systems and mechanisms in the agricultural field, and is a new revolution in the agricultural field. Specifically, we need to focus on solving three major problems: first, who will change, second, what, and third, how.

Who will change it?

Who will change is the primary issue of supply-side structural reform. China is a large agricultural country with nearly 200 million farmers, the average household land is less than 1 hectare, and is divided into about 4 pieces, peasant household management shows a high degree of concurrently state. It is very difficult for such part-time small farmers to undertake the important task of building modern agriculture and promoting supply-side structural reform. From the perspective of supply, the remarkable characteristic of ultra-small-scale farmers is the convergence of industrial structure in the same region, and the "cobweb" feature of the supply of agricultural products is very obvious, resulting in the phenomenon of grain cheap hurting farmers periodically. Not only is it difficult for farmers to continuously improve their income, but the foundation of modern agricultural development has been very fragile, which can not withstand both greater natural risks and greater market risks.

In recent years, the phenomenon that it is difficult to sell vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products that do not bear to store agricultural products frequently all over the country is essentially the result that the main body of management does not adapt to the market law. Although more than 1.5 million farmers' specialized cooperatives have been registered throughout the country, the average number of members of each cooperative is only less than 70, and most of them can only do some work to provide information and technology promotion, which has no impact on the local market. not to mention the regional market and even the national market, the problems faced by individual cooperatives are actually a collection of problems faced by small-scale farmers. By the end of 2015, the transferred area of cultivated land contracted by households across the country was 447 million mu, accounting for 33.3%. On this basis, more than 4.3 million professional and family farms with an operating area of more than 50 mu were formed, but the scale of a single farm is still too small. In fact, the above-mentioned phenomenon of difficulty in selling agricultural products appears under the background that the new agricultural operators have a certain level of development.

Therefore, the primary task of agricultural supply-side structural reform is to realize the reconstruction of new business entities and make it the leading force to promote agricultural supply-side structural reform and improve agricultural competitiveness. Specifically, there are three major problems that need to be solved urgently. First, speed up the reform of the rural land system and promote the development of new business entities. The land system is the foundation of the rural system, almost every system is derived from the land system, and the rural reform also starts from the land system. At present, to continue to promote the reform of the rural land system, we must first do a good job in the work of "confirming rights, issuing certificates and registering" farmers' contracted land, so that farmers can know exactly how much land they have contracted. This is not only the basis for realizing the usufruct of farmers' contracted management rights granted to farmers by the property Law, but also the realization of "giving farmers more adequate and guaranteed land contractual management rights" put forward by the third Plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee. The existing land contract relationship should be stable and unchanged for a long time. Only when the contracted management right is accurate and stable, the management right can be transferred stably, the land circulation can be stable and long-term, and all kinds of new business entities can develop steadily on this basis. Second, the union of family farms. By the end of 2015, the total area of land transferred across the country was 447 million mu, of which 262 million mu flowed into farmers, accounting for 58.6%. According to the calculation of 4.3 million professional large households and family farms, each is an average of 609mu, generally between 200mu and 300mu, it is impossible for a single family to face the market, and it is still necessary to unite and cooperate. In reality, it is feasible to set up, lead or join farmers' professional cooperatives by family farms. In fact, most cooperatives are run by professional large families, and there have been cases of family farms joining together to set up cooperatives in Shandong, Anhui and other places, which shows that even large families have the possibility and urgency to jointly enter the market. Therefore, the relevant departments should adapt to this trend in policy formulation, not only to support the development of large professional families and family farms, but also to promote the union and cooperation between them. Third, actively promote the development of farmers' professional cooperatives. At present, more than ten provinces across the country have issued relevant policies and regulations to promote the development of farmers' professional cooperative cooperatives, mostly allowing market entities other than cooperatives (such as enterprises) to join. Thus it is possible to develop a modern agricultural complex in which family farms and large households engage in management, cooperatives engage in services, and enterprises do markets, which is conducive to improving the competitiveness of agriculture.

Change what?

The first is to make up for the deficiency. On the road from a large agricultural country to an agricultural power, China has many shortcomings to make up, the most urgent of which is the construction of a new type of agricultural socialized service system. The third Plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee pointed out: "We will speed up the construction of a new type of agricultural socialized service system based on public service institutions, based on cooperative economic organizations, with leading enterprises as the backbone and other social forces as supplements." the combination of public welfare services and business services, and the coordination of special services and comprehensive services. " This is the basic direction of the construction of agricultural socialized service system in the new era. Specifically, there are three major aspects of content. In terms of system construction: in accordance with the requirements of the third Plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, form a basic institutional framework in agricultural technology extension services, agricultural production socialization services, rural commodity circulation services, rural financial services, rural information services, agricultural products quality and safety services, and form a long-term mechanism for serving agriculture.

In terms of subject construction: first of all, it is necessary to strengthen the capacity building of agricultural public services, generally improve township or regional agricultural practical technology promotion, animal and plant disease prevention and control and other public service institutions, and gradually establish village-level agricultural service stations. Among them, the reform of county-level agricultural technology extension institutions is one of the key points to establish a new type of agricultural socialized service system. The services of such institutions should generally be free of charge and are public welfare services. Secondly, we should support farmers' professional cooperatives, agricultural professional service organizations, farmers' professional and technical associations, farmers' brokers and market-oriented main bodies of leading enterprises to provide various forms of agricultural production and operation services. The services of such institutions are generally for a fee and are for-profit services (except for cooperatives and associations serving their members). Third, it is necessary to promote the integration of industry, university and research, agriculture, science and education, and support institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes to carry out various forms of technical cooperation with farmers' professional cooperatives, leading enterprises, and farmers. Finally, the reform of supply and marketing cooperatives at all levels should, in accordance with the requirements of the 11th document of the CPC Central Committee, continuously explore new modes of service for agriculture, such as land trusteeship, and become the main force and national team of agricultural socialization service through reform. In the aspect of market construction, it is mainly the construction of market order and market system, promoting the modernization of rural circulation, developing the modern circulation mode of agricultural products, and providing an excellent market environment for the development of agricultural socialized service subjects.

The second is to go to inventory. At present, the inventory of agricultural products in China is mainly manifested in corn, rice and so on, in which the inventory of corn in Northeast China may reach a year's output, and part of the lower quality rice in the south has also entered the inventory. If the inventory is too large, on the one hand, the state will spend a huge amount of money on safekeeping; on the other hand, the longer the grain is kept in the warehouse, the new grain will become old grain, and then into aged grain, which is getting lower and lower, and it is also a huge waste of food itself. To get rid of inventory, first of all, it is necessary to change the cost of grain purchase and storage from a dark deficit to an obvious deficit, and the grain in stock should be digested within a time limit by means of feed, fuel alcohol, etc., in addition to private stocks such as enterprise inventory, it is necessary to calculate the amount of grain in national stocks on the basis of 17% to 18% of the annual consumption of a country or region recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, coupled with the flexibility of China as a country with a large population. Under normal circumstances, do not exceed this number. Secondly, efforts should be made to promote the reform of the grain circulation system. At present, the corn circulation policy is being reformed on the basis of the previous temporary collection and storage policy, the key point is to change from intra-price subsidy to out-of-price subsidy, and the price follows the market. There is no problem with the general direction of marketization, but the key is how to protect the interests of farmers, which is the key to the success of the reform. It is necessary to promote the reform of the minimum purchase price system for wheat and rice in an orderly manner on the basis of the success of corn price reform. The overall goal of the reform is to improve the market competitiveness of the grain industry on the basis of ensuring supply.