The No. 1 Central Document for 2023 has been released!

The No. 1 Central Document of 2023 was released on February 13, marking the 20th such document issued since the beginning of the 21st century to guide work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers.

Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Doing a Good Job in Key Tasks for Fully Promoting Rural Revitalization in 2023

(January 2, 2023)

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has outlined a grand blueprint for advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization. In the endeavor to build a modern socialist country in all respects, the most arduous and daunting tasks still lie in rural areas. As the world undergoes profound changes unseen in a century that are accelerating, China’s development has entered a period characterized by both strategic opportunities and mounting risks and challenges, with an increasing number of uncertainties and unpredictable factors. Safeguarding the fundamental foundation of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers is of paramount importance and must not be compromised under any circumstances. The CPC Central Committee holds that we must unswervingly prioritize addressing the “three rural issues” as the top priority of the Party’s work, mobilize the entire Party and society to comprehensively promote rural revitalization, and accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. A strong country must first have a strong agriculture; only when agriculture is strong can the nation be strong. We must ground our efforts in China’s national conditions and agricultural realities, uphold Chinese characteristics, and build an agricultural power that boasts robust supply security, advanced science and technology and equipment, a well‑functioning management system, strong industrial resilience, and formidable competitiveness.

To do a good job in “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” work for 2023 and the period ahead, we must be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and thoroughly put into practice General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” work. We will uphold and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over this work, adhere to the principle of giving priority to agricultural and rural development, promote integrated urban–rural development, strengthen both technological and institutional innovation, resolutely safeguard the bottom lines of ensuring food security and preventing large-scale relapse into poverty, and make solid progress in key tasks such as rural development, rural construction, and rural governance. In doing so, we will accelerate the building of a strong agricultural country, create beautiful, livable, and prosperous villages, and lay a solid foundation for getting off to a good start in the comprehensive effort to build a modern socialist country.

I. Ensure stable grain and key agricultural product production and supply.

(1) Make every effort to ensure robust grain production. Maintain national grain output above 1.3 trillion jin, with all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government stabilizing sown area, focusing on increasing per-unit yield, and striving for greater overall production. Strengthen the foundations of food security across the board, reinforcing the material underpinnings of “storing grain in the land” and “storing grain in technology,” and improving institutional mechanisms that enable farmers to profit from grain cultivation while ensuring local governments assume their responsibilities and fulfill their obligations. Launch a new round of initiatives to boost grain production capacity by 100 billion jin. Establish high-yield fields capable of producing one ton of grain per mu. Promote multi-cropping systems in southern provinces and encourage areas with suitable conditions to develop ratoon rice. Support the implementation of the “one spray, three protections” program for wheat. Carry out a project to increase corn yields per unit area. Continue to raise the minimum procurement price for wheat, appropriately set the minimum procurement price for rice, maintain subsidies for rice cultivation, and refine mechanisms for ensuring stable supplies and prices of agricultural inputs. Improve the benefit-compensation mechanism for major grain-producing areas and increase funding for rewards to counties that are major grain producers. Gradually expand the coverage of full-cost insurance and planting-income insurance for rice, wheat, and corn. Implement the High-Quality Grain Project effectively. Encourage contract farming to link quality with higher prices. Strictly prevent the practice of harvesting green crops to destroy grain. Rigorously assess provincial Party committees and governments under the accountability system for arable‑land protection and food security. Push forward the enactment of a law on food security.

(II) Strengthen efforts to expand the cultivation of soybeans and oilseed crops. Deeply advance the project to boost soybean and oilseed production capacity. Solidly promote strip intercropping of soybeans and corn, support grain–soybean rotation in the Northeast and the Huanghuaihai Plain, and steadily develop and utilize saline‑alkali lands for soybean cultivation. Improve producer subsidies for corn and soybeans, and effectively implement pilot programs for full-cost insurance and planting‑income insurance for soybeans. Coordinate comprehensive support measures for rapeseed, promote rice–rapeseed rotation, and vigorously develop and utilize fallow winter fields for rapeseed cultivation. Support the development of woody oilseed crops, launch a three-year action plan to accelerate the growth of the camellia oleifera industry, and carry out tasks to expand camellia oleifera plantations and upgrade low‑yield, inefficient forests. Deeply implement initiatives to reduce and substitute soybean meal in animal feed.

(3) Develop modern facility agriculture. Implement an initiative to upgrade and modernize facility‑based agriculture. Accelerate the development of centralized rice seedling‑raising centers and intensive vegetable seedling‑nursery facilities. Speed up the construction of grain drying facilities, on‑site cold storage for agricultural products, and cold‑chain logistics infrastructure. Promote the renovation and upgrading of aging vegetable greenhouses in contiguous, large‑scale areas. Advance the transformation and modernization of large‑scale livestock and poultry farms and aquaculture ponds. On the premise of protecting the ecosystem and without increasing total water consumption, explore the scientific use of gobi deserts and other arid lands to develop facility agriculture. Encourage local governments to provide interest subsidies on loans for facility‑agriculture projects.

(4) Building a diversified food supply system. Adopting a holistic approach to food security, we will accelerate the development of a diversified food supply system that integrates grain, cash crops, and feed production; combines agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries; and promotes the coordinated use of plants, animals, and microorganisms. Implementation plans will be formulated for each sector. We will establish high-quality, water-efficient, high-yield, and stable forage‑production bases, and expedite the development of the alfalfa and other forage industries. We will vigorously promote silage production and accelerate the use of crop residues in livestock feeding. We will also develop agroforestry systems. We will deepen the transformation and upgrading of grassland‑based animal husbandry, make rational use of grassland resources, and advance rotational grazing in designated zones. We will scientifically designate restricted‑breeding areas and develop ecological fisheries on large water bodies. We will build modern marine ranches and expand deep‑water cage farming and aquaculture vessels for offshore operations. We will foster and strengthen the edible mushroom and algae industries. Finally, we will intensify oversight of food safety and agricultural product quality, and improve traceability management systems.

(5) Coordinate and effectively manage the regulation of grain and key agricultural products. Strengthen capacity-building for emergency food security. Enhance oversight in the areas of reserves and procurement–sales. Implement the provincial-level overall responsibility system for ensuring stable pig production and supply, and reinforce measures to regulate pig production capacity, with a particular focus on breeding sows. Rigorously assess mayors under the “vegetable basket” accountability system. Improve the cotton target price policy. Continue to implement subsidy policies for the promotion of high‑quality sugarcane varieties and advanced cultivation techniques. Refine support policies for natural rubber. Strengthen regulation of the production, storage, and transportation of fertilizers and other agricultural inputs. Leverage the role of international trade in agricultural products and deepen the implementation of a strategy to diversify agricultural imports. Launch comprehensive initiatives to reduce food waste, promote conservation and loss reduction across the entire supply chain, and establish sound, long‑term mechanisms for sustained progress. Advocate for healthy diets.

II. Strengthening Agricultural Infrastructure Development

(6) Strengthen the protection of cultivated land and its use‑control. Strictly manage the balance between occupied and replenished farmland, implementing a mechanism in which relevant departments jointly conduct acceptance and assessment of replenished farmland, with “city‑ and county‑level review, provincial re‑examination, and public oversight,” to ensure that the replenished land is equal in area, comparable in quality, and maintains its productive capacity. Rigorously restrict the conversion of cultivated land to other agricultural uses. Explore the establishment of a control mechanism for the intended use of cultivated land, clarify priorities for its utilization, enhance dynamic monitoring, and carry out pilot projects in an orderly manner. Intensify efforts to bring fallow farmland back into production. Ensure the successful implementation of the Third National Soil Survey.

(7) Strengthen the development of high-standard farmland. Complete the annual targets for constructing new high-standard farmland and upgrading existing areas, with a particular focus on addressing shortcomings such as soil improvement and irrigation–drainage infrastructure. Coordinate efforts to promote efficient water-saving irrigation and establish sound long-term management and maintenance mechanisms. Formulate an implementation plan to gradually convert all permanent basic farmland into high-standard farmland. Enhance protection of black soils and carry out comprehensive remediation of sloping farmland. Severely crack down on activities that damage soil, such as illegal excavation of black soil and electro‑fishing for earthworms. Intensify research and technological breakthroughs to boost the productivity of dry and semi‑arid cultivated land and red and yellow paddy soils. Continue to shift from primarily cultivating salt‑alkali‑tolerant crops to selecting and breeding more plant varieties adapted to saline‑alkaline conditions, and conduct pilot projects for the integrated development and utilization of reserve arable resources, including saline‑alkaline lands.

(8) Strengthen the development of water‑conservancy infrastructure. Solidly advance the construction of major water‑conservancy projects and accelerate the establishment of a national backbone water‑network. Speed up the construction and modernization of large and medium‑sized irrigation districts. Implement a number of projects involving small and medium‑sized reservoirs, water diversion and transfer schemes, and drought‑resistant backup water sources. Enhance the construction of on‑farm and field‑level canal systems and their integration with the key infrastructure of irrigation districts. Support comprehensive measures to address groundwater over‑extraction in priority areas, and promote intensive water‑saving and water‑control practices in agriculture within the Yellow River Basin. Develop efficient, water‑saving dryland farming in arid and semi‑arid regions. Strengthen the construction and management of flood storage and detention areas, improve the governance of small and medium‑sized rivers, and enhance prevention and control of flash floods. Expedite the reinforcement and safety upgrading of small and medium‑sized reservoirs, as well as the installation of safety monitoring systems for small reservoirs. Deepen the comprehensive reform of agricultural water pricing.

(9) Strengthen capacity building for agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation. Conduct a new round of surveys on agricultural climate resources and carry out agricultural climate zoning. Optimize and refine the layout of the agricultural meteorological observation network, and issue agricultural meteorological disaster information by region and type of hazard. Enhance the construction of systems for preventing and mitigating droughts and floods, and bolster safeguards for disaster prevention and relief in agricultural production. Improve the grassroots monitoring and early-warning network for animal and plant diseases and pests. Ensure the sustained, routine control of major animal diseases such as African swine fever, and implement source‑level prevention measures for key zoonotic diseases. Raise the overall level of integrated forest and grassland fire prevention and control in priority areas.

III. Strengthening Agricultural Science and Technology and Equipment Support

(10) Promote breakthroughs in critical core agricultural technologies. Adhering to an industry‑driven approach, we will establish an agricultural science and technology innovation system characterized by tiered structure, division of labor and collaboration, and appropriate competition, while accelerating advances in cutting-edge technologies. We will support the development of national laboratories, key national laboratories, and manufacturing innovation centers in the agricultural sector, and strengthen the construction of long-term, foundational observation stations (sites). We will also refine mechanisms for stable funding of basic research in the field of agricultural science and technology.

(11) Deeply implement the Seed Industry Revitalization Initiative. Complete the nationwide survey of agricultural genetic resources. Establish a precision identification and evaluation mechanism for genetic resources that is open, collaborative, and based on shared access and application. Fully carry out major bio‑breeding projects, steadily advance the National Joint Breeding Program and the Livestock and Poultry Genetic Improvement Plan, and accelerate the development of new varieties, including high‑yielding, high‑oil soybeans, short‑maturing rapeseed, and salt‑alkali‑tolerant crops. Speed up the industrialization of bio‑breeding for maize and soybeans, expand pilot programs in an orderly manner, and standardize cultivation and management practices.

(12) Accelerate the research, development, and dissemination of advanced agricultural machinery. Expedite the development of large-scale intelligent agricultural equipment, small-scale machinery suitable for hilly and mountainous areas, and horticultural machinery. Support the integrated application of Beidou‑based smart monitoring terminals and assisted‑driving systems. Improve policies on subsidies for the purchase and use of agricultural machinery, explore subsidy mechanisms linked to the volume of operations performed, and ensure that local governments fulfill their statutory expenditure obligations.

(13) Promote green agricultural development. Accelerate the dissemination and application of technologies that reduce input use while enhancing efficiency, advance integrated water–fertilizer management, and establish and improve systems for the collection, utilization, and treatment of agricultural waste, including crop residues, plastic mulch, pesticide packaging waste, and livestock and poultry manure. Push forward the construction of pilot zones and demonstration sites for green agricultural development. Refine the system of farmland fallow periods and crop rotation. Strengthen source‑control measures to prevent and mitigate soil contamination by heavy metals such as cadmium in agricultural land. Enhance the safe use and risk management of contaminated farmland. Establish a monitoring system for the protection of the agricultural ecological environment. Issue regulations on ecological compensation. Strictly enforce fishing moratoriums and closed seasons, effectively implement the ten-year Yangtze River fishing ban, and consolidate achievements in resettling and providing support to fishermen who have exited the industry. Continuously carry out initiatives to restore China’s major rivers, and implement comprehensive remediation of rural rivers and lakes in a scientifically sound manner. Intensify the construction and upgrading of sediment‑retention dams on the Loess Plateau. Step up efforts to protect and restore grasslands. Consolidate the outcomes of returning cultivated land to forests and grasslands, and ensure the implementation of relevant subsidy policies. Severely crack down on the illegal introduction of alien species, launch targeted campaigns to control and eradicate highly harmful invasive species, and strengthen regulatory oversight of the trade and release of “exotic pets.”

IV. Consolidating and Expanding the Achievements of Poverty Alleviation

(14) Firmly safeguard the bottom line of preventing large-scale relapse into poverty. Strengthen and enforce the responsibilities of all levels in consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation, ensuring that efforts remain steadfast and stay on track. Enhance dynamic monitoring to prevent relapse into poverty. For monitored households that are capable of and willing to work, implement development-oriented assistance measures. Improve the tiered and categorized social assistance system and ensure adequate basic living security. Consolidate and enhance the achievements in the “Three Guarantees” and safe drinking water provision.

(15) Strengthen the endogenous development momentum of poverty‑alleviation areas and populations. Make increasing the incomes of those who have been lifted out of poverty the fundamental priority, and prioritize accelerating development in counties that have exited poverty; place greater emphasis on bolstering both aspirations and capabilities, focus on industries and employment, and continuously narrow income and development gaps. Strive to raise the share of central government fiscal funds earmarked for rural revitalization that are allocated to industrial development to over 60 percent, with a particular focus on addressing shortcomings in technology, infrastructure, and marketing. Encourage eligible households in poverty‑alleviation areas to develop backyard economies. Deepen diversified forms of consumption‑driven assistance, continue to promote the establishment of demonstration cities for consumption‑based aid and demonstration zones at production sites, and support poverty‑alleviation areas in building regional public brands. For commercially oriented assistance projects funded by fiscal and aid resources, improve mechanisms for linking benefits to ensure they effectively boost farmers’ incomes. Manage and utilize poverty‑alleviation project assets prudently. Further advance east–west labor cooperation, implement targeted campaigns to prevent relapse into poverty through employment, and maintain the number of employed people who have been lifted out of poverty at no less than 30 million. Keep employment‑assistance workshops and other industry‑based assistance programs operating smoothly. Fully leverage the role of public‑service positions in rural areas as a safety net for employment. Launch the “Yulu Plan+” initiative to promote employment. In key national counties receiving prioritized support for rural revitalization, implement a series of projects designed to address weaknesses and spur revitalization; deepen group‑based assistance in health care, education, and other sectors; and better harness the contributions of resident cadres and science and technology special envoys in driving industrial development. Carry out intensive special campaigns to consolidate the achievements of relocation‑based poverty alleviation and to provide employment assistance to relocated populations.

(16) Stabilize and improve support policies. Implement policies that effectively link the consolidation and expansion of poverty‑alleviation achievements with rural revitalization. Conduct monitoring and evaluation of development outcomes in key counties receiving national support for rural revitalization. Maintain the current level of credit provision to formerly impoverished areas and ensure the steady implementation of micro‑credit programs for people who have been lifted out of poverty. Increase financial support for assistance projects in accordance with market‑oriented principles. Deepen east–west collaboration by organizing economically more developed counties (cities, districts) in eastern regions to partner with formerly impoverished counties in joint initiatives to promote revitalization, thereby helping these counties attract and develop more labor‑intensive industries. Continue to strengthen targeted assistance from central government agencies and adjust and refine pairing arrangements. Further advance the “Ten Thousand Enterprises Revitalize Ten Thousand Villages” campaign. Study and establish a regularized mechanism for providing ongoing support to low‑income rural populations and underdeveloped areas after the transition period.

V. Promoting High-Quality Development of Rural Industries

(17) Scale up and strengthen the agricultural product processing and distribution sector. Implement an initiative to upgrade the agricultural processing industry, supporting family farms, farmer cooperatives, and small and micro enterprises in developing primary processing at the place of production, while guiding large agribusinesses to expand into sophisticated and deep processing. Encourage agricultural processing firms to relocate closer to production areas and cluster in industrial parks, and strategically plan and build agricultural processing industrial parks in major grain-producing and key agricultural-product regions. Enhance the backbone network for agricultural product circulation by upgrading wholesale markets at production sites, distribution hubs, and sales destinations, and establishing a number of large suburban warehousing and distribution centers. Support the development of cold-chain collection and distribution centers at production sites. Coordinate epidemic prevention and control with the supply of agricultural products to ensure smooth logistics flows.

(18) Accelerate the development of modern rural service industries. Comprehensively advance the construction of county-level commercial systems. Speed up the improvement of e‑commerce and express delivery–logistics networks at the county, township, and village levels; establish county‑level aggregation and distribution centers; promote the integrated development of passenger, freight, and postal services in rural areas; vigorously develop new models such as collaborative delivery and instant retail; and extend cold-chain logistics networks to rural communities. Foster rural services covering catering and shopping, culture and sports, tourism and leisure, elderly care and childcare, and information brokerage. Encourage regions with suitable conditions to bring new‑energy vehicles and green, smart home appliances to rural areas.

(19) Foster new rural industries and business models. Continue to support the development of strong agricultural towns, modern agricultural industrial parks, and clusters of advantageous and distinctive industries. Support the construction of national demonstration parks for the integrated development of rural industries. Deeply advance the establishment of agricultural modernization demonstration zones. Implement a plan to leverage cultural industries to revitalize rural areas. Launch a high-quality rural leisure and tourism initiative, and promote the upgrading and quality improvement of rural homestays. Thoroughly carry out the “Digital Commerce Boosts Agriculture” and “Internet Plus” projects aimed at facilitating the outbound flow of agricultural products into urban markets, encouraging e‑commerce models such as direct procurement and customized production, and building livestreaming e‑commerce hubs for agricultural and sideline products. Raise the standards of industrial standardization and regulation in sectors like pre‑cut vegetables and central kitchens. Cultivate and develop the pre‑prepared meal industry.

(20) Foster and strengthen county-level industries that boost rural incomes. Optimize the spatial layout of industrial clusters at the county, township, and village levels; enhance county seats’ capacity to host industries and their supporting service functions; and reinforce the agglomeration effects of key towns. Implement the “One County, One Industry” initiative to strengthen counties and improve farmers’ livelihoods. Guide labor-intensive industries to relocate in a tiered manner to the central and western regions and to county-level areas, and support large and medium-sized cities in establishing related industries and supporting enterprises in surrounding counties. Provide support for national high-tech zones, economic development zones, and agricultural high-tech zones to manage and co‑operate with county‑level industrial parks.

VI. Expanding Channels for Farmers to Increase Income and Become Prosperous

(21) Promote rural employment and income growth. Strengthen the implementation of policies aimed at stabilizing employment and alleviating difficulties, increase support for small, medium, and micro enterprises to maintain jobs, and ensure stable employment for rural migrant workers. Enhance the vocational skills of rural migrant workers. Improve the monitoring and early-warning mechanisms for wage payments to rural migrant workers. Safeguard the employment rights and interests of older rural migrant workers. Accelerate the refinement of systems that protect the rights and interests of those in flexible employment. Intensify the development of entrepreneurship parks for returning and settling rural migrants, as well as rural entrepreneurship incubation and training bases. In government‑invested key projects and agricultural and rural infrastructure initiatives, promote work‑for‑relief programs and appropriately increase the proportion of labor remuneration paid.

(22) Enhance the efficiency of agricultural operations. Deeply implement initiatives to upgrade new types of agricultural business entities, supporting family farms in establishing farmer cooperatives and enabling cooperatives to establish enterprises as needed, thereby fostering cooperative management among smallholders and helping them increase their incomes collectively. Launch actions to promote agricultural socialized services, vigorously developing services such as代耕代种 (contract farming), 代管代收 (managed harvesting), and full‑process entrusted management, while encouraging the development of regional comprehensive service platforms to reduce costs, improve quality and efficiency, and boost marketing effectiveness. Guide the orderly transfer of land‑use rights and promote moderately scaled agricultural operations. Summarize local experiences such as “consolidating small plots into larger ones,” and, on the basis of farmers’ voluntary participation, explore ways to gradually address land fragmentation through farmland construction and land‑improvement projects. Refine guidelines for social capital investment in agriculture and rural areas, strengthening oversight throughout the entire process—entry, utilization, and exit—of capital flowing into rural regions. Improve systems for reviewing eligibility, assessing projects, and managing risks associated with social capital acquiring land‑use rights through transfers, thereby effectively safeguarding farmers’ interests. Uphold the principles of serving agriculture and separating government functions from commercial activities and cooperative enterprises, and continue to deepen the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives.

(23) Grant farmers more comprehensive property rights and interests. Deepen rural land system reform, solidly carry out property‑rights confirmation, steadily advance the empowerment of land‑use rights, and orderly implement the effective exercise of these rights, enabling farmers to share more fully in the benefits of reform. Develop guiding opinions for pilot programs to extend rural land contracts by another 30 years upon their expiration. Prudently advance pilot reforms of the rural residential‑land system, thoroughly ascertain the existing stock, accelerate the registration and certification of residential land together with buildings, strengthen standardized management, properly resolve longstanding historical issues, and explore effective ways to implement the separation of the three rights related to residential land. Further deepen pilot programs allowing collectively owned construction land for business purposes to enter the market, and explore the establishment of an effective mechanism for regulating land‑value appreciation that balances the interests of the state, rural collective economic organizations, and farmers. Safeguard the lawful land rights of farmers who have settled in urban areas, and encourage voluntary, compensated transfers in accordance with the law. Consolidate and enhance the achievements of rural collective property‑rights reform, establishing operational mechanisms characterized by clear property‑rights relationships, a sound governance structure, prudent management practices, and equitable income distribution; explore diversified approaches—such as resource contracting, property leasing, intermediary services, and equity participation—to develop a new type of rural collective economy. Improve the oversight system for rural collective assets. Ensure the lawful rights and interests of women within rural collective economic organizations. Continue to deepen reform of the collective forest‑rights system. Deeply advance pilot and demonstration projects for comprehensive rural reform.

VII. Solidly advance the development of beautiful, livable, and business-friendly rural areas.

(24) Strengthen village planning and development. Adhere to county-level overall coordination, and support villages that have the conditions and needs to develop village plans by zoning and categorizing them, thereby rationally defining village layouts and construction boundaries. Incorporate village planning into the agenda of village-level deliberation and consultation. Standardize and optimize administrative division arrangements in rural areas, and strictly prohibit the abolition or merger of villages against the will of farmers or the creation of large-scale communities. Promote comprehensive land‑use improvement at the township level across entire regions. Actively revitalize existing collectively owned construction land, giving priority to meeting the needs of farmers for housing, rural infrastructure, public service facilities, and industrial land, and issue policy guidelines on land use for rural revitalization. Develop guidelines for enhancing the appearance and quality of villages, drawing on local characteristics, regional features, and ethnic identities to improve village aesthetics, while preventing large‑scale demolition and reconstruction, as well as the indiscriminate construction of archways, pavilions, and “miniature landscapes.” Implement demonstration projects for the concentrated, contiguous protection and sustainable utilization of traditional villages, and establish and refine systems for surveying and identifying traditional villages, conducting pre‑approval reviews for their abolition or merger, and preventing damage from disasters. Formulate guidelines for building basic modern living conditions in rural areas.

(25) Solidly advance the improvement and upgrading of the rural living environment. Intensify efforts to improve village public spaces and continue carrying out village clean-up campaigns. Consolidate the results of identifying and rectifying issues related to household toilets, and guide farmers in upgrading their indoor sanitation facilities. Strengthen the construction and maintenance of public toilets in rural areas. Focusing on densely populated towns and villages as well as those located around water source protection zones, progressively implement rural domestic wastewater treatment in a tiered manner. Promote source-based sorting and reduction of rural solid waste, ensuring timely collection and proper disposal. Advance the localized, on-site resource utilization of toilet fecal sludge, biodegradable waste, and organic residues. Continuously carry out the Patriotic Health Campaign.

(26) Continuously strengthen rural infrastructure development. Enhance the maintenance and safety management of rural roads, and promote integrated development with supporting facilities along roadways, industrial parks, tourist attractions, and key villages for rural tourism. Advance the construction of large-scale rural water supply projects and the standardized upgrading of small-scale water supply systems, while launching special campaigns to improve water quality. Consolidate and upgrade the rural power grid, and develop renewable energy sources in rural areas. Support the renovation of dilapidated rural housing and seismic retrofitting, essentially completing the identification and remediation of safety hazards in farmhouses, and establishing a comprehensive oversight system covering the entire process. Launch demonstration projects for the construction of modern, livable farmhouses. Deeply implement the Digital Rural Development Initiative, driving the research, development, and widespread adoption of digital application scenarios. Accelerate the application of big data in agriculture and rural areas, and promote the development of smart agriculture. Ensure that responsibilities for the operation and maintenance of village public infrastructure are clearly defined and fulfilled. Strengthen the building of basic emergency management capabilities in rural areas, and carry out intensive efforts to address risks and hidden dangers in key sectors such as rural transportation, fire safety, and privately built commercial buildings.

(27) Enhance the capacity of basic public services. Promote the decentralization of basic public service resources and focus on strengthening weak links. Advance high-quality, balanced development of compulsory education within counties and raise the standards of rural schools. Implement policies providing living allowances for rural teachers. Coordinate medical and health resources at the county level and bolster the capacity of rural two-tier medical and health services and medical insurance systems. Address comprehensively issues related to rural doctors’ remuneration, allocation, and benefits, and promote the professionalization and standardization of the rural medical workforce. Strengthen rural capacities for infectious disease prevention and control and emergency response. Ensure effective COVID‑19 prevention and control in rural areas by assigning responsibilities at every level, enhancing medical care for key groups such as the elderly, children, the sick, the disabled, and pregnant women, and safeguarding the physical health and normal production and daily life of rural residents to the greatest extent possible. Optimize the review and confirmation procedures for subsistence allowances to ensure that all eligible people in need receive the support they require. Deepen social work services in rural areas. Accelerate the construction of regional elderly care service centers at the township level and expand day‑care, mutual‑aid elderly care, visiting and caring services, and senior dining halls. Implement a program to improve the quality of rural women, strengthen protection for minors in rural areas, improve the social security system and care service network for persons with disabilities, and provide support and care for individuals with mental disorders.

VIII. Improving the Rural Governance System Under the Leadership of Party Organizations

(28) Strengthen the political and organizational functions of grassroots Party organizations in rural areas. Uphold a clear orientation toward prioritizing grassroots work, reinforce the responsibility of county-level Party committees to guide townships and promote village development, and deepen efforts to advance rural revitalization through Party building. Conduct comprehensive training to enhance the capacity of township and village leadership teams to lead rural revitalization. Dispatch and effectively utilize first secretaries and work teams stationed in villages, and strengthen the support provided by sending units to assist villages. Launch campaigns to address corruption and misconduct in the field of rural revitalization. Continuously carry out inspections at the city and county levels, promote effective coordination between grassroots discipline inspection and supervision bodies and village affairs supervisory committees, and strengthen all‑round management and ongoing oversight of village-level cadres. Organize phased, tiered centralized training for rural Party members. Through measures such as establishing posts and assigning responsibilities, give full play to the vanguard and exemplary role of rural Party members.

(29) Enhance the effectiveness of rural governance. Uphold Party building as the guiding force in rural governance, strengthen the functions of the three-tiered governance system at the county, township, and village levels, ensure that county-level responsibilities are firmly shouldered, empower townships to expand their authority and capabilities, and consolidate the grassroots foundation at the village level. Fully implement the systems whereby members of county-level leading bodies are assigned to specific townships and villages, members of township-level leading bodies are assigned to villages and households, and village-level cadres conduct regular door-to-door visits. Improve the mechanism of villagers’ self-governance under the leadership of Party organizations, and fully enforce the “four deliberations and two public disclosures” system. Strengthen legal education and legal services in rural areas, and carry out in-depth efforts to establish “demonstration villages (communities) for democracy and the rule of law.” Uphold and develop the “Fengqiao Experience” for the new era, and refine the multi‑channel mechanisms for preventing, mediating, and resolving social conflicts and disputes. Enhance the grassroots governance platform featuring grid‑based management, refined services, and information‑technology support. Promote the institutionalization of efforts to eradicate organized crime and evil forces in rural areas. Launch a special campaign to crack down on and rectify gambling‑related illegal and criminal activities in rural areas. Severely punish, in accordance with the law, any illegal or criminal acts that infringe upon the rights of rural women and children. Further refine and widely apply practical and effective governance approaches such as point‑based systems, checklist‑based management, digital tools, and the “respond and resolve immediately upon receipt of complaints” model. Deepen pilot programs for building a rural governance system, and organize nationwide initiatives to designate model villages and towns for rural governance.

(30) Strengthen rural spiritual civilization. Deepen publicity and education on the core socialist values, and continue to carry out campaigns in rural areas that encourage villagers to heed the Party’s guidance, be grateful to the Party, and follow the Party. Further advance the development of mass‑based spiritual civilization in rural areas, expand the construction of New Era Civilization Practice Centers and county‑level integrated media centers, and support rural communities in organizing their own mass cultural activities. Attach great importance to building sound family traditions, parenting practices, and family ethos. Implement the Project for Inheriting and Protecting Agricultural Culture, and enhance the protection and sustainable utilization of important agricultural cultural heritage sites. Successfully host the Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival. Encourage localities to formulate norms tailored to their specific conditions for changing outdated customs and practices, strengthen the binding force of village rules and covenants, and ensure that Party members and cadres take the lead by example. Conduct targeted campaigns to address prominent problems in key areas such as exorbitant bride prices and lavish wedding celebrations. Promote reform of rural funeral customs.

IX. Strengthening Policy Support and Institutional Innovation

(31) Improve the diversified investment mechanism for rural revitalization. Continue to prioritize agriculture and rural areas in the general public budget, and hold local governments accountable for their investment commitments. Steadily increase the share of land‑transfer revenue allocated to agriculture and rural development. Include eligible rural revitalization projects within the scope of local government bond support. Support the establishment of rural revitalization funds through market‑based approaches. Enhance the linkage between government investment and financial and social capital, encouraging the bundling of eligible projects for implementation by market entities in accordance with regulations, thereby leveraging greater private and financial investment in agriculture and rural areas on a market‑oriented basis. Make effective use of policies such as re‑lending and re‑discounting, differentiated reserve requirements, and tailored financial regulation and performance assessment to encourage financial institutions to expand lending in rural revitalization‑related sectors, with a particular focus on meeting credit needs for food security. Guide credit‑guarantee services to tilt toward agriculture and rural areas, and fully leverage the national agricultural credit guarantee system. Strengthen the sharing of agricultural credit information. Harness the role of multi‑tiered capital markets in supporting agriculture, and optimize the “insurance + futures” model. Accelerate the reform and risk‑mitigation efforts of rural credit cooperatives, and promote the structural restructuring of village and township banks. Encourage the development of fisheries insurance.

(32) Strengthen the development of rural talent teams. Implement a Rural Revitalization Talent Support Program, organizing and guiding professionals in education, health, science and technology, culture, social work, and spiritual civilization to provide services at the grassroots level, while supporting the cultivation of locally needed, scarce talents. Launch a High-Quality Farmer Training Program and carry out initiatives to nurture rural entrepreneurship leaders, enhancing the effectiveness of training. Vigorously develop vocational education geared toward rural revitalization, deepening industry–education integration and school–enterprise cooperation. Improve the incentive mechanism for urban professional and technical personnel to regularly serve rural areas, granting appropriate preferential treatment in promotion and professional title evaluation to those who have served in rural areas for extended periods. Encourage urban professionals to take on part-time, paid positions in rural areas or to start businesses while remaining employed elsewhere. Allow eligible returnees and those who have moved to rural areas to register as residents either in their place of origin or at their employment/entrepreneurial location. Continue to implement the Rural Order‑Directed Medical Student Free Training Program, the “Outstanding Teacher” Program, the “Special Post” Program, and the “National Training” Program, and launch the “College Student Rural Doctor” Special Program. Also, implement the Women’s Action for Rural Revitalization and the Youth Talent Development Initiative.

(33) Promote integrated urban–rural development at the county level. Improve the institutional mechanisms and policy framework for such integration, and ensure the smooth flow of factors between urban and rural areas. Coordinate urban–rural planning and development across counties, accelerate efforts to address shortcomings and strengthen weak links in county‑level urbanization, and enhance the provision of municipal and service infrastructure in central towns. Deepen the process of integrating rural migrant workers into urban life, establishing a sound mechanism that links basic public services to the resident population and ensures their delivery at the place of residence. Strengthen financial services for rural migrant workers. Allocate public resources across counties, townships, and villages in a tiered manner; develop urban–rural school communities, closely integrated healthcare networks, and joint elderly‑care service systems; and promote coordinated urban–rural planning, construction, and maintenance of universal‑access facilities such as power supply, gas supply, telecommunications, and postal services. Where conditions permit, extend municipal utility networks and rural micro‑networks to individual households. Solidly carry out pilot projects and demonstration initiatives for rural revitalization.

To deliver on rural development and achieve rural revitalization, the Party is the key. Party committees and governments at all levels must earnestly study, publicize, and implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, deeply understand and apply General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” work, give top priority to this work, and ensure its effective implementation, continuously raising the standard of “three‑rural” efforts. We must strengthen the building of a sound work style; Party members and cadres, especially leading officials, should firmly uphold the mass perspective, follow the mass line, frequently go to the grassroots, stay close to the people, and vigorously promote a culture of investigation and research. We should give full play to the principal role of farmers, mobilizing their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity in participating in rural revitalization. Strengthening systemic thinking, we must coordinate and address the dilemmas and complex challenges in “three‑rural” work, while carefully managing the timing, intensity, and effectiveness of our efforts. We will deepen efforts to rectify formalism and bureaucratism in rural revitalization, effectively reducing the burdens on the grassroots—such as preparing for inspections, filling out forms and reporting data, and excessive record‑keeping—and encouraging them to focus their main energy on pursuing development, improving governance, and delivering concrete benefits to the rural population. We will fully implement the responsibility system for rural revitalization, uphold the principle of having secretaries at all five levels take charge, and carry out coordinated assessments of the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and of the effective linkage between consolidating and expanding poverty‑alleviation achievements and rural revitalization. The performance of Party building in promoting rural revitalization will be an important component of the annual reports, evaluations, and assessments of Party secretaries at the city, county, and township levels on their work in strengthening grassroots Party building. We will also enhance statistical monitoring of rural revitalization. A plan to accelerate the building of a strong agricultural country will be formulated, with comprehensive planning and systematic arrangements that are aligned with existing plans and advanced in a phased, steady, and pragmatic manner.

Let us rally closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, maintain firm confidence, press ahead with determination and hard work, comprehensively advance rural revitalization, accelerate the building of a strong agricultural country, and make new contributions to the all-round development of a modern socialist country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Source | Xinhua News Agency

Editor | Kang Xianshan

Editor-in-Chief | Jiang Lin

Supervision and Review | Zhong Qian