Achievements and experience of rural reform and development in the past 40 years

　　The problem of farmers in agriculture and rural areas is a major issue related to the overall development of the cause of the party and the state. At the end of 1970s, China took the lead in launching reforms in rural areas, thus opening the prelude to reform and opening up. Reviewing the great achievements of China’s rural reform and development in the past 40 years and summing up rich experience have important enlightenment significance for comprehensively deepening rural reform and implementing rural revitalization strategy in the new era.

　　First, China’s rural reform and development has made historic achievements.

　　Over the past 40 years, the party and the government have persistently taken reform as the fundamental driving force to promote rural development, and rural reform and development have made historic achievements. (1) A rural economic system in line with the world, national conditions and agricultural conditions was initially established. We will continue to deepen rural reform and initially establish a rural economic system that meets the requirements of developing a socialist market economy. Abolish the people’s commune and the management system of "three-level ownership and team-based", implement a two-tier management system based on household contract management and combining unified management with separate management, deepen the reform of rural land system, implement the "separation of ownership, contracting rights and management rights" of rural contracted land, and consolidate and improve the basic rural management system. Break through the single rural collective ownership and implement the ownership structure with collective ownership as the main body and multiple ownership economies developing together. Cancel the system of unified purchase and marketing, steadily promote the reform of agricultural product circulation system, strengthen the role of market mechanism in resource allocation, determine the basic direction of the reform of agricultural product price formation mechanism of "separation of market pricing and price compensation", and strive to establish and improve the rural market system. (2) The level of agricultural productivity has been continuously improved. Continue to promote rural reform, pay attention to the dynamic role of scientific and technological innovation in promoting agricultural and rural modernization, and greatly liberate and develop rural social productive forces. Modern agricultural construction has taken a new step, agricultural mechanization has made great progress, and the comprehensive mechanization level of main crops cultivation and harvest has exceeded 65%; The contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress exceeds 56%;Moderate scale operation of land accounts for 40%. This indicates that China’s agricultural production has achieved a fundamental change, which is mainly based on mechanical operation and mainly driven by scientific and technological progress. Relying on major agricultural technological innovations such as hybrid rice, China has created a miracle of feeding about 20% of the world’s population with 9% of the world’s cultivated land. (3) The comprehensive agricultural production capacity has been significantly improved. China’s comprehensive grain production capacity has been continuously improved. From 1978 to 2017, China’s grain output increased from 609.5 billion Jin to 1,235.8 billion Jin, which successfully solved the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people, and achieved that "Chinese’s rice bowl must be firmly in its own hands at all times". Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s national food security and the basic supply capacity of bulk agricultural products have been significantly improved. After the first breakthrough in 2013, the national total grain output has been stable at more than 1.2 trillion Jin every year. The total output of meat and aquatic products in China ranks first in the world, and cotton, oilseeds, sugar, vegetables, fruits and other major cash crops have maintained a high output level, becoming a "ballast stone" for economic development and social stability. (4) The agricultural economic structure was continuously optimized. Constantly adjust and optimize the agricultural product structure, industrial structure and layout structure, promote the all-round development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and accelerate the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture. First, continue to adjust and optimize the structure of agricultural products, vigorously promote the development of green agriculture, and strive to promote the structural reform of the agricultural supply side.The second is to continuously adjust and optimize the rural industrial structure, promote the integrated development of rural primary, secondary and tertiary industries, increase the added value of products, extend the industrial chain and upgrade the value chain. Leisure agriculture and rural tourism, which are deeply integrated with culture, science and technology, ecology, tourism and recreation, have flourished, promoting diversification of subjects, industry specialization and formats. The third is to continuously adjust and optimize the agricultural layout structure. The proportion of the primary industry, namely the added value of agriculture, in GDP dropped from 28.1% in 1978 to 7.9% in 2017; Continuously optimize the agricultural industrial structure. In 2017, among the added value of the three rural industries, the proportions of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries were 33.5%, 51.7% and 14.9% respectively. (5) The living standards of farmers have greatly improved. The income of farmers in China has continued to grow rapidly, and the per capita net income has increased from 134 yuan in 1978 to 10,772 yuan in 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 7.28%. The anti-poverty work in rural areas has made remarkable achievements: according to the current poverty alleviation standards in rural areas, the number of poor people in rural areas in China has dropped from 770 million in 1978 to 30.46 million in 2017, and the incidence of poverty has dropped from 97.5% in 1978 to 3.1% in 2017, contributing to the cause of poverty alleviation in the world. The quality of life of farmers has been greatly improved, and the Engel coefficient has dropped from 67.7% in 1978 to 29.3% in 2017. (6) The rural landscape has undergone fundamental changes.Rural grassroots democratic political construction, spiritual civilization construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction have developed in an all-round way, and the construction of new countryside has been solidly promoted. In 2000, the goal of "two basics" in rural education was realized, and the quality of rural population was improved obviously. In 2006, the agricultural tax was completely abolished in China, and farmers went into battle lightly, resulting in social harmony; The construction of rural ecological civilization is gradually unfolding, and the awareness of environmental protection is increasing day by day. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, great achievements have been made in the construction of "five in one" in rural areas.

　　Second, the rural reform and development has accumulated rich experience.

　　(1) We must uphold the Party’s leadership over rural work. Always regard upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership over rural work as a political guarantee for promoting rural reform and development. Since the reform and opening up, our party has deeply realized that the issue of farmers in agriculture and rural areas is a fundamental issue related to the national economy and people’s livelihood. It has held many plenary sessions of the Central Committee to specifically deploy the work on agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and held a central rural work conference every year. The 20 central "No.1 documents" have basically established a mature and stable policy system of strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers and enriching farmers. This shows the importance attached by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to the work concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and the most important position of the work concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers in the work of the whole party. The party’s leadership over rural work is also reflected in constantly summarizing and refining farmers’ inventions and creations in practice, and promoting the experience with universal significance into policies for promotion.

　　(B) We must adhere to the market-oriented rural reform. Only by adhering to the market-oriented rural economic system reform can we give full play to the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of farmers. It is precisely because of adhering to the direction of market-oriented reform that the vitality of the broad masses of farmers is competing in generate, township enterprises have sprung up everywhere, and small towns have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Relaxing the employment restrictions of rural labor force, breaking down the barriers of household registration system, and allowing the rural surplus labor force to flow freely have promoted the rapid acceleration of urbanization. The proportion of urban population in the total population has increased from 17.9% in 1978 to 58.5% in 2017.

　　(3) We must fully respect the initiative of farmers. We must fully respect farmers’ initiative and rely on farmers to promote rural reform and development. The practice of rural reform and development for 40 years proves that farmers are the main body of rural development and a group full of vitality and creativity. The formation of household contract responsibility system, the creation of township enterprises and the development of grass-roots organizations are all the results of farmers’ inventions and creations. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out, "We should persistently promote rural reform and institutional innovation, give full play to the main role and initiative of hundreds of millions of farmers, constantly liberate and develop rural social productive forces, and stimulate the vitality of rural development." To implement the strategy of rural revitalization in the new era, we should continue to respect the initiative of farmers and mobilize their initiative, enthusiasm and creativity.

　　(4) We must persist in safeguarding and developing the fundamental interests of farmers. Realizing, maintaining and developing the fundamental interests of farmers is the starting point and the end result of rural reform. To mobilize farmers’ enthusiasm, the core is to protect farmers’ material interests and respect farmers’ democratic rights, which is the fundamental principle to solve the "three rural issues". The rural household contract responsibility system, such a profound change involving the vital interests of 800 million farmers, has not caused social unrest and turmoil. The most fundamental thing is to safeguard and develop the fundamental interests of farmers. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core has always put the people in the highest position, kept in mind the purpose of serving the people, and abided by the ruling philosophy of building the party for the public and governing for the people. Always adhere to the dominant position of farmers, ensure their material interests economically, safeguard their democratic rights politically and promote their all-round development. Persisting in safeguarding and developing the fundamental interests of farmers is the guarantee for continuing to promote rural reform and development and smoothly implementing the rural revitalization strategy.

　　(5) Adhere to the problem-oriented, step-by-step reform method according to local conditions. The General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that the reform was forced by the problem and deepened by constantly solving the problem. In the past 40 years, rural reform has been deepened by constantly solving problems. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has strengthened the problem awareness, adhered to the problem orientation, firmly grasped the "bull nose" of comprehensively deepening rural reform, focused on solving major practical problems such as "who will farm", and further stimulated the new vitality of agriculture and rural areas. The particularity of "three rural issues" in different regions and different stages of development determines that the rural reform in China must be a gradual reform from point to surface and from part to whole. Practice has proved that only by adhering to the problem-oriented, adapting measures to local conditions, step by step, scientifically grasping the characteristics of rural differences and development trends, and persisting in overall promotion and key breakthroughs, can rural reform be promoted in an orderly and in-depth manner. (Author: Li Nan, professor and doctoral supervisor of Marxism College of Wuhan University, Li Yuanfeng, doctoral student of Marxism College of Wuhan University)