70 Years of Modernization of Agriculture in China

　　■70 years of reform and development have profoundly changed the face of China’s agriculture and rural areas. Agricultural development has not only got rid of the situation of poor foundation, little accumulation and "relying on the sky for food", but also stood at a new historical starting point to accelerate the realization of agricultural modernization. Some of these experiences are precious and have important enlightenment value.

　　Since the founding of New China, China’s agriculture has experienced a historical process of tortuous development, continuous exploration and continuous upgrading. The agricultural production conditions have been significantly improved, the comprehensive production capacity has been greatly enhanced, and historic achievements and changes have taken place. According to the "Series Report on Economic and Social Development Achievements of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of New China" recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s total grain output has increased from 113.18 million tons in 1949 to 657.89 million tons in 2018, and China people’s rice bowls are firmly in their own hands. The sustained and steady development of agriculture has provided a solid foundation for the whole national economic and social development, which not only effectively solved the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people in China, but also made outstanding contributions to the development of world agriculture.

　　70 years of reform and development have profoundly changed the face of China’s agriculture and rural areas. Agricultural development has not only got rid of the situation of weak foundation, little accumulation and "relying on the sky for food", but also stood at a new historical starting point to accelerate the realization of agricultural modernization. Some of these experiences are precious and have important enlightenment value.

　　Insist on consolidating and strengthening the basic position of agriculture. "People don’t mean farmers, then national security is not critical". It is very important to build a modern industrial system and a national economic system on the basis of a poor and weak agricultural country and maintain the stable development of agriculture. Since the founding of New China, the first generation of the party’s leading collective has deepened its understanding of the basic position of agriculture with the development of practice. After repeated exploration, it has determined the basic policy of taking agriculture as the foundation, taking industry as the leading factor and arranging the national economy in the order of agriculture, light industry and heavy industry. After the reform and opening up, especially since the new century, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to the issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and has always insisted on solving the issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers as the top priority of the whole party’s work. Practice has proved that consolidating and strengthening the basic position of agriculture conforms to China’s national conditions and the law of economic development. It is precisely because of the stable development of agriculture that China has a more solid foundation for economic transformation and development, and it is more emboldened to cope with various risks and challenges.

　　Adhere to reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force for agricultural development. Since the founding of New China, the exploration of institutional mechanism reform has always been a main thread running through China’s agricultural development. In China, a country with a large population and relatively scarce agricultural resources, there is no empirical model to follow on how to build socialism and realize agricultural modernization. Only reform and innovation can lead to a way out. From the agricultural cooperative system in 1950s to the household contract responsibility system implemented after the reform and opening-up, to the market-oriented reform of agricultural products and the abolition of agricultural tax, every step of reform and exploration has gone through an extraordinary road, and has had a far-reaching impact on agricultural development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a series of major reforms, such as the price formation mechanism of agricultural products, the rural land system and the collective property rights system, have been further promoted, which has adapted to the requirements of the development of rural productive forces and given China a strong momentum for agricultural development.

　　Insist on relying on scientific and technological progress to accelerate the development of modern agriculture. The transformation and leap of China’s agricultural productive forces largely depend on the progress of agricultural science and technology. After the founding of New China, the Party and the government attached great importance to the work of agricultural science and technology, formulated plans or plans related to agricultural science and technology, and initially established a system of agricultural science and technology research, education and popularization. Since the reform and opening up, China’s agricultural science and technology has ushered in the spring of development, the investment in agricultural science and technology has continued to grow, the reform of agricultural science and technology system and operation mechanism has continued to deepen, a series of improved varieties and good methods have been widely used, and the level of modern agricultural equipment has improved, so that farmers have bid farewell to facing the loess and facing the sky, and scientific and technological progress has become an important cornerstone for the steady improvement of the comprehensive production capacity of important agricultural products. By 2018, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress in China will reach 58.3%, the coverage rate of improved varieties of major crops will exceed 96%, and the main innovation indicators of agricultural science and technology will rank among the top in the world.

　　Persist in continuously improving agricultural production conditions. Since the founding of New China, the Party and the government have attached great importance to the construction of agricultural infrastructure, constantly improved agricultural production conditions, and laid a solid foundation for the promotion of comprehensive agricultural production capacity. In 1960s and 1970s, under very difficult conditions, farmland water conservancy was actively built, and various floods and droughts were gradually reduced. Large-scale farmland water conservancy construction consolidated the foundation of agricultural development and played an irreplaceable role in national economic recovery. Since the reform and opening up, the state has continuously strengthened the construction of agricultural infrastructure focusing on farmland water conservancy, and agricultural production conditions have been significantly improved. The effective irrigated area of cultivated land in China has expanded from 19.959 million hectares in 1952 to 68.1 million hectares in 2018; The comprehensive mechanization rate of cultivation and harvest of main crops exceeds 67%, and the agricultural production mode has achieved a historic change from relying mainly on manpower and animal power to relying mainly on mechanical power.

　　At present, China’s economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. As the basic industry of the national economy, the high-quality development of agriculture is the general trend and imperative. To promote the high-quality development of agriculture, we need to build "four systems" — —

　　First, the production and supply system with high matching degree. To meet the needs of urban and rural residents’ consumption upgrading, we will improve the supply capacity of green and high-quality agricultural products and enhance the adaptability and flexibility of the supply structure to the changes in demand in view of the problems such as "staple goods can’t be sold and good things can’t be bought".

　　The second is an efficient production organization system. Change the mode of over-reliance on large-scale input of production factors and high-intensity utilization of agricultural resources, optimize the input structure of agricultural production factors, innovate the agricultural production organization mode, improve the efficiency of agricultural factor allocation and production organization, and promote the reform of agricultural efficiency.

　　The third is a high-efficiency modern industrial system. In view of the problems that agriculture is big but not strong, many products are not excellent, and good products are "high quality but not good price", we should give priority to benefits, focus on extending the industrial chain and upgrading the value chain, promote the deep integration of rural primary, secondary and tertiary industries, optimize the agricultural industrial system and improve the comprehensive benefits of agriculture.

　　The fourth is the institutional system of sustainable development. Establish a policy support system oriented to green ecology, vigorously develop resource-saving, environment-friendly and eco-conservation agriculture, accelerate the change of excessive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, groundwater, over-breeding, over-fishing and over-grazing, and improve the matching degree between agricultural production and resource carrying capacity and environmental capacity.

　　70 years of practice has shown that if agriculture is abundant, it will have a strong foundation, and if agriculture is good, it will take the initiative. The important achievements in agricultural development have made great contributions to the sustained and stable development of the national economy and the elimination of rural poverty. In the new journey towards modernization, the proportion of agriculture in GDP will be lower and lower, but the basic position of agriculture will not change. The implementation of the rural revitalization strategy has opened up a broad road of agricultural modernization with China characteristics, and will surely lead China’s agriculture to a bright future. Tu Shengwei (Deputy Director, Institute of Industrial Economics and Technical Economics, National Development and Reform Commission)