Rural Development Briefing | No. 47, 2023 (Nov 20 - Nov 26, 2023)

The national pilot program for standardizing rural property rights transfer transactions has been officially approved. Recently, according to the Pilot Work Plan for Standardization of Rural Property Rights Transfer Transactions jointly issued by 11 departments including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Central Agricultural Office, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance, the national pilot project for standardization of rural property rights transfer transactions has been officially approved, aiming to improve the quality of development of rural property rights transfer transactions through pilot demonstrations.

Source: Farmers Daily Nov. 20, 2023

The National Development and Reform Commission and other departments have issued an action plan to enhance the public service capacity of major grain-producing counties. On November 21st, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued a notice on the action plan to enhance the public service capacity of major grain-producing counties. The notice proposes to give priority to supporting major grain-producing provinces with large grain exports. In 2024, pilot projects will be carried out in five major grain-producing provinces with large grain exports, including Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, and Henan. Based on the actual situation and financial resources, we strive to basically cover major grain-producing counties in China by 2030.

Source: CCTV Network Nov. 21, 2023

The provincial promotion meeting for the pilot project of jointly building a green organic agricultural product base in Jiangxi Province was held in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. On November 21st, the Jiangxi Provincial Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly held a provincial promotion meeting on the pilot project of jointly building a green organic agricultural product base in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. Ma Youxiang, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, emphasized that during his inspection in Jiangxi in October this year, Xi Jinping made important instructions such as building regional high-quality agricultural and sideline product production and supply bases and building agriculture into a large industry, which put forward higher requirements for the construction of pilot provinces.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Nov. 21, 2023

The National Conference on the Standardization of the Three Products and One Standard for Agricultural Products and the Whole Modern Agriculture Industry Chain was held in Jiangxi. On November 20th, the Quality and Safety Supervision Department of Agricultural Products of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organized a national Three Products and One Label and modern agriculture full industry chain standardization on-site meeting in Xinfeng County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, to exchange work experience, analyze the development situation, and deploy the next steps of work. The meeting emphasized the need to accurately grasp the new connotations and positioning of the Three Products and One Label of agricultural products, and handle the relationship between quality and safety, certification, and brand. Based on the new departmental responsibilities and requirements of the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law, we will promote a shift in the focus of work towards a balance between certification management and industrial cultivation, a balance between ensuring safety and improving quality, and a full chain supervision transformation.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Nov. 22, 2023

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has reviewed and approved in principle the Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting Rural Domestic Sewage Treatment. On November 21st, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu presided over an executive meeting of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, which reviewed and approved in principle three national ecological and environmental standards, including the Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting the Treatment of Rural Domestic Sewage, the Guidelines for the Treatment of Black and Odor Water Bodies in Rural Areas, the Technical Specifications for Pollution Control through the Utilization and Disposal of Waste Sulfuric Acid, and the Safety and Protection of Radioactive Logging Radiation Eight national ecological environment monitoring standards, including the Technical Specification for Continuous Automatic Monitoring of Organic Carbon and Elemental Carbon in Environmental Air Particles (PM2.5).

Source: CCTV Network Nov. 22, 2023

This year, the country has approved and launched a batch of high-quality and high-yield new varieties. Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a notice on variety approval. The 5th National Crop Variety Approval Committee approved 1304 new rice, corn, soybean, and cotton varieties in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Seed Law and the Measures for the Approval of Major Crop Varieties. This approval announcement has launched a new batch of high-quality green rice, dense and machine-harvested corn, high oil and high-yield soybeans, and high-quality short season cotton varieties. The promotion and application of these varieties will be conducive to continuously improving the large-scale yield and quality level of grain in China.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Nov. 22, 2023

The Ministry of Education will focus on supporting county-level vocational schools to offer majors that are urgently needed for the livelihoods of people, such as elderly care and home economics. On November 21st, the official website of the Ministry of Education released a response to Proposal No. 3932 of the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress. In response to the Suggestions on Promoting the Construction of Elderly Related Service Majors in County-level Secondary Vocational Education, the Ministry of Education stated that it will launch the Double Excellence Plan for secondary vocational education, concentrate efforts on building a number of high-quality secondary vocational schools and majors with demonstration and leading roles, and focus on supporting county-level secondary vocational schools to open majors that are in short supply of the livelihood of people, such as elderly care and home economics. In its response, the Ministry of Education stated that in recent years, in conjunction with relevant departments, the Ministry has accelerated the cultivation and training of talents in the elderly care field based on industry talent demand, and actively responded to the aging population.

Source: Farmers Daily Nov. 23, 2023

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Shanxi Province has issued management opinions on the safe overwintering of winter wheat. Wheat in Shanxi Province has entered a critical period of pre-winter field management. In response to the characteristics of this year's wheat seedling situation, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has issued management opinions on preventing winter wheat from thriving, growing, freezing damage, and ensuring safe overwintering. It is required that various regions strengthen management due to local conditions, soil moisture, and seedlings, promote and control integration, actively build strong wheat seedling groups before winter, and ensure safe overwintering of seedlings. According to the meteorological department's prediction, before wheat overwintering from November to early December, the temperature in the central wheat area of Shanxi Province is about 2.0 ℃ higher than the annual average, and the precipitation is 20-30% less, which can easily lead to a decrease in surface moisture of wheat fields and even be affected by drought.

Source: Shanxi Daily Nov. 20, 2023Hunan Province has issued ten measures to boost hog production and the swine industry. The Hunan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has issued Ten Measures to Stabilize Pig Production and Strengthen Pig Industry in Hunan Province. By 2025, the rate of large-scale pig breeding in Hunan Province will be increased to 78%, and the utilization rate of livestock and poultry manure resources will be stabilized at more than 83%. Accelerate the joint breeding of hogs in Hunan Province, and increase the protection and utilization of local varieties of hogs. Support the construction of the Yuelu Mountain Livestock and Poultry Breeding Innovation Center, accelerate the selection of lean breeding pigs and the use of local pig breeds to cultivate new varieties, and build a number of modern breeding bases for the integration of breeding, propagation and promotion. By 2025, the output value of the hog breeding industry will reach more than CNY 24 billion. Promote facility-based intelligent breeding, create 30 pig breeding standardization demonstration farms each year, and support the construction of modern pig farms with an annual output of more than 10,000 heads to integrate advanced technology facilities and equipment. 

Source: Red Network Nov.21, 2023Qinghai Province supports rural revitalization and holds the bottom line of not returning to poverty on a large scale. In Qinghai Province, in response to the actual situation of the 15 national key counties for rural revitalization and the 10 provincial key counties for rural revitalization, support has been tilted towards funding, industry, employment and human resources, and the results of the three guarantees and drinking water safety have been consolidated, holding the bottom line of no large-scale return to poverty. In the first 10 months of 2023, Qinghai Province invested CNY 4.474 billion in central and financial articulation funds, and CNY 640 million in east-west collaboration funds. In 2023, Qinghai Province implemented 1,122 effective articulation projects involving funds of CNY 7.83 billion, arranged for 139 pilot villages for rural revitalization, and selected and dispatched 1,015 first secretaries and 2,039 team members to villages.

Source: West Sea Metropolis Daily Nov.21, 2023Shanxi Province will complete the treatment of 196 rural black water bodies in 2025. Shanxi Province has issued the Three-Year Action Plan for the Treatment of Rural Black Odor Water Bodies in Shanxi Province (2023-2025). Shanxi Province requires that by the end of 2025, the treatment of 196 rural black-odor water bodies in Shanxi Province included in the scope of national supervision will be completed, and the existing 344 rural black-odor water bodies included in the scope of provincial supervision will complete remediation. The Plan requires to promote the solution of house in front of the malodor problem as a rigid requirement, focusing on the causes of black odor pollution, and consolidating the effectiveness of governance. To control the source of pollution as the fundamental, and systematically promote the construction of pollution control projects, in order to solve the problem of black odor pollution at the same time to ensure that the water body lasting clean.

Source: Shanxi Evening News Nov.23, 2023Anhui Province acceleratesthe creation of beef cattle breeding a hundred billion industry. On November 22, Anhui Province issued Opinions on the Implementation of the Straw to Meat cum Beef Cattle Revitalization Scheme. The Opinion pointed out that Anhui Province plans to 2027, the straw feed and beef cattle industry scale, standardization and industrialization of the level of operation to enhance the use of straw feed accounted for the use of the total amount of 25%, the scale of beef cattle breeding strive to more than 3 million heads, to achieve the beef cattle industry chain more than CNY 70 billion of output value target. By 2030, the straw feed utilization will accounted for about 40% of the total utilization, the scale of beef cattle breeding strives to be more than 5 million heads, and the output value of the whole industry chain of beef cattle is more than CNY 100 billion, and 20 demonstration counties for the development of beef cattle industry are cultivated.

Source: Anhui Daily Nov.23, 2023Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangxi Provinces signed a cooperation agreement to promote the development of the oil tea industry. On November 22, Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region signed the Xiang Gan Gui Forestry Bureau to Promote the High-quality Development of Oil Tea Industry Cooperation Agreement. The Collaboration states that Hunan, Gan and Gui Provinces are the core production areas of oil tea, with cumulative planting area and tea oil production capacity accounting for 66.56% and 75.4% of the country, and have become the main force for the implementation of the three-year action to accelerate the development of the oil tea industry nationwide. Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region will accelerate the establishment of a joint meeting mechanism for cooperation and coordination, carrying out strategic research on industrial development, promoting the integrated development of the industry, and advancing the strengthening of cooperation among scientific research departments. 

Source: Hunan Daily Nov.23, 2023Shanxi Province issued the implementation program for the development of facility agriculture. Shanxi Province issued the Guiding Opinions on the Development of Modern Facility Agriculture and Facility Agriculture Modernization and Enhancement Action Implementation Program (2023-2025). The Program proposes that by 2025, the scale of modern facility agriculture in Shanxi Province will be further expanded, with 170,000 mu of developed facility vegetables, and the proportion of output in total vegetable output raised to 35%. Shanxi Province’s new facilities fruit area of 280,000 mu, facilities fruit production accounted for 6% of total fruit production. In Shanxi Province, the scale of livestock breeding rate reached 78%, and facilities for aquatic products production accounted for the proportion of total aquaculture production of aquatic products reached 77%. Shanxi Province, scientific and technological equipment conditions improved, and the contribution rate of scientific and technological progress in facility agriculture and mechanization rate reached 67% and 50%.

Source: Shanxi Daily Nov.23, 2023Liaoning Province supports the construction of 100 key villages for rural tourism. The Liaoning Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Liaoning Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism have formulated the Liaoning Provincial Program for Supporting the Construction of Key Villages for Rural Tourism, which gives full play to the advantages of characteristic rural industries and cultural and tourism resources of Liaoning Province, and supports the construction of key villages for rural tourism. The Program will focus on the development of multi-functional agriculture, promote the integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism, tap the diversified value of the countryside, and broaden the channels for farmers to increase income and enrichment and other aspects of the sustained efforts. 100 villages with a certain reputation, influence and market competitiveness in the province will be selected, forming a number of rural revitalization demonstration which have the advantages of distinctive regional characteristics, prominent advantageous resources, the main body of the operation of the cluster, and well-established service facilities to enter the national beautiful countryside construction in the advanced ranks.

Source: Liaoning Daily Nov.24, 2023

Sponsor: International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC)

Organiser: School of Sociology, Central China Normal University

Contact: Yao yuan 010-84419871

Email: yaoyuan@iprcc.org.cn