CRI:

In recent years, people from all walks of life have been concerned about entrepreneurship and the development of new industries in rural areas. Would you please brief us on this and any related measures taken by the government?

Han Jun:

I think people have seen the vigorous development of the new industries of farm-based recreation and agricultural tourism in recent years. A new wave of migrant workers, trade owners and even some college students have started their businesses in rural areas. This trend has only just begun. We believe that, through appropriate guidance, the development of new industries and entrepreneurship can hopefully become deliverables in China's agricultural supply-side structural reform and highlights in the development of the country's rural reform.

What are the reasons behind these? After analysis, we believe there are three major points: first, urban and rural residents have such demands. In the past, the demand of people was to have enough food. Now, they not only demand enough food, but also demand good and safe food. They want to eat safely and enjoy the food. As their income levels and living standards have been improved, they have new demands for the development of agriculture and rural areas.

Second, the rural areas have advantages. Many villages have a very good environment, without PM2.5 pollution, great ecology, the water is clean and the mountain is green. The ecological advantage is more and more obvious. And, there are great folk cultural environments in the countryside. There are distinguishing architectures, unique folk customs, distinct regional cultures and ethnic cultures, and particular lifestyles. I can say the cultural charm in the rural areas is very outstanding. And the values of ecological and cultural advantages are clearly rising fast.

Third, there are conditions for development. The rural areas have new industries and businesses, and the business start-ups didn't come out of the blue. You can feel that at present that rural traffic and transportation is becoming ever more convenient and accessible. In addition, the internet and information technologies are increasingly popular in the countryside. The gap between rural and urban areas is clearly shrinking, while logistics distribution systems are quickly entering the rural areas. These have placed a very good foundation for the development of new industries and businesses in the rural areas.

The development of rural areas needs not only clean water and green mountains but also young talented people. Therefore, we encourage migrant workers, entrepreneurs and college graduates to launch start-ups in our countryside. The No.1 Central Document has set out an overall program with policies required to be implemented for dealing with a particular issue, shoring up land utility, financial applications and training programs.

In regard to land utility, there is a certain proportion of new construction land that should be contributed to emerging industries or to other trends concerning rural development.

Synergic efforts are being undertaken to support the various preferential policies, including, market access, fiscal and tax issues, financial services, land use, electricity consumption, entrepreneurial training and social security, all designed to inspire innovation and entrepreneurship in rural areas.

Migrants returning from the cities are encouraged to start their own businesses through innovation zones, incubators, start-up service platforms, streamlined and open-window administrative services to support new development modes in the countryside.

All in all, we believe, as long as the momentum emerging from village maiden entrepreneurship is maintained, China's rural economy, now known as the 2.0 Version of China's rural entrepreneurial endeavor, will flourish again with the inception of new start-ups and innovation among the returning migrant population. Thank you.

Han Changfu:

I'd like to give another figure. So far, the number of migrant workers returning home to start a business and permanent urban residence holders who are rural business owners has exceeded seven million. We welcome more people to follow suit.

CCTV:

We only have less than three years to go before 2020, but still many farmers are not well-off. Income increases for farmers has now become quite difficult after a streak of rapid growth in recent years. My question is what concrete measures will be taken next to ensure rapid income growth.

Han Changfu:

Affected by the international market, the price of farm produce saw only a slight increase in the past two years, which resulted in a sluggish increase in farmers' operating revenues. For migrant workers, their income increased, but at a slower rate. How to make the income growth sustainable for them? This is indeed a question for us. Anyhow we will never cease our efforts and continue to take it as our central task in our work related to agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

There are several key aspects to maintaining the good momentum: First, to keep up the growth of household business operating income. Specifically, we should prioritize a green and eco-friendly approach as well as safety in agricultural production, and nurture high quality farm products with brand recognition, so as to ensure they can be sold at a good price. And we should also be more efficient and energy-saving. Together with green development, water and energy saving should be widely applied in agricultural production, so as to reduce the cost of labor, transportation and resources. Meanwhile, we should facilitate the development of appropriately scaled-up agricultural operations.

Second, we should further expand the channels available for increasing rural incomes. This involves developing emerging industries, such as leisure agriculture, rural tourism, creative agriculture and e-commerce. In addition, we should also encourage migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns and villages.

Third, reform of the rural collective property-rights system will be deepened to clearly identify such rights and to provide rural residents with a more adequate property rights system.

Fourth, in poor counties, various actions for promoting rural development will be carried out vigorously. We will take targeted measures to cultivate business operations with distinctive local features, for instance, growing vegetables, fruits, tea trees, edible mushroom and herbal medicines as well as raising silkworms. We are confident in achieving the growth of rural income at a higher rate than that of the GDP and urban income.

Reuters:

I have two questions. The first is about pig breeding. About 200,000 pig farms have been shut down since this year's new environmental rules were introduced. Could you inform us about the specific drop in numbers of pigs? How many pigs will there be at the end of the year? The second question is about ethanol. China plans the nationwide use of ethanol fuel by 2020. How much corn will be consumed to achieve the goal? Does China have enough corn? Or will it have to import corn or other raw materials for ethanol as many predict? Thank you.

Ye Zhenqin:

It is important to control pollution caused by pig breeding. The Ministry of Agriculture has implemented the policies of the central government and made efforts in the following four aspects order to achieve a balance between production and environmental protection.

The first is introducing bans. Pig breeding is banned in drinking water-protected areas, scenic spots as well as in educational and sci-tech parks.

The second aspect involves setting limits. Limits have been set on the number of pigs bred in areas containing an intensive water network, restricting the huge amount of pigs and low farming capacity in southern China.

The third aspect is relocation. Some pig farms have been relocated to areas with high capacity, such as northeast China, where there is vast land and enough corn to feed the animals.

Finally, there is treatment. Environmental pollution is being controlled through such ways as ecological breeding and waste recycling.

All those efforts aim to handle properly the relationship between agricultural production, stock supply and environmental protection. Up to now, areas with high capacity in northeast China have accommodated a substantial number of pigs transplanted from the water-extensive areas in the south. I think this is a growing trend. Meanwhile, we should avoid the "one-size-fits-all" approach and only impose bans on a scientific basis so as to protect farmers' interests.

Han Changfu:

Please allow me to offer you two figures. The first relates to the number of hogs. There was a slight drop in those in stock, but the general situation remains stable. The total number of hogs in stock and sold is around 1.2 billion a year.

The second figure concerns hogs raised on large-scale farms. About half of the hogs are raised on farms capable of feeding at least 500 animals and even more, making it easy to prevent epidemic diseases and treat the manure in a more efficient manner.

Han Jun:

You have talked about the impact of using corn to make fuel ethanol just now. Lately, 15 government departments of China jointly issued a plan to increase the production capacity of fuel ethanol by another 8 million tons. Currently, only 2.6 to 2.7 million tons of fuel ethanol are produced from grain. With this plan in place, the production capacity will reach 10 million tons. What does it mean? It means every three tons of grain can be processed into one ton of fuel ethanol, and if all the fuel ethanol is to be made from corn, the production capacity of 10 million tons of fuel ethanol will consume 30 million tons of corn, or 30 billion kilograms.

One of the major considerations behind this plan is that our corn has had good harvests for several years in a row, which has accumulated into the largest stock of corn in the world, but the corn in the granary must be channeled due to its short storage period. So now, multiple channels have been utilized to reduce the excess stockpiles of policy-supported grain. According to the calculation and measurement of relevant national authorities based on the current grain stock, increasing the production capacity of fuel ethanol now will not have a big impact on the food supply and demand in the short term.

The de-stocking of corn will help the market return to its basic balance of supply and demand gradually within three to five years. Also, we are not just using grain to produce fuel ethanol now. Actually, if you take a look at the plan by the 15 government departments, you will notice that we will adopt many other ways to develop fuel ethanol apart from corn, for example, raw materials like the crop straws.

Based on China's national conditions, one thing has been made very clear in the policies is that it is not permitted to appropriate agricultural land or grain to develop fuel ethanol. China is a country with a large population density, so our primary guideline is to make sure that everyone has food to eat. You asked if China will import corn from abroad to develop fuel ethanol. This is a question many people have asked before. Actually, I have already answered this question just now. The leading reason why we are developing fuel ethanol and expanding its production capacity now is to de-stock the corn. So I think, from our national conditions, it is not practical to import corn from abroad to develop the industry of fuel ethanol.

That's all I would like to say for now. Thank you.

People's Daily Online:

This year's No. 1 Central Document put forward the need to keep advancing agricultural supply-side structural reform. Please introduce in more detail the progress made so far. Thank you.

Wu Hongyao:

Agricultural supply-side structural reform involves using the reform approach to promote the adjustment of the agricultural structure, so that the supply of agricultural products better fit ongoing changes in demand, thus being better able to meet consumers' expectations. Over the past two years, various regions and departments have implemented fully the spirit of the No. 1 Central Documents, deeply promoted agricultural supply-side structural reform, and made positive progress mainly in the following aspects.

First, the structure of agricultural production has been constantly improving. Fostering high quality products and distinctively local products has become the direction of current agricultural development. In the past, we cared only about yield. Now, we rely on high-quality brands to develop the market and improve incomes at all levels.

Second, we are fostering an environment-friendly mode of agricultural development. Green ecology has become the consensus for agricultural development.

Third, we have speeded up reform of the rural industrial structure. In particular, the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and promoting flourishing new industries and businesses in rural areas, all of which have injected fresh impetus into agricultural and overall rural development. These have all become the most prominent agricultural and rural development highlights. Overall, the ecological and cultural values of rural areas, and such functions as sightseeing and recreation, are becoming investment hot spots.

As for rural reform, we have mainly activated the following three points.

First is to activate the market. The reform of the agricultural products' purchase and storage system has achieved remarkable results. The reform of the guaranteed base price policy for cotton is better than expected. We have initially established the pricing mechanism for agricultural products, activated the mainstay market of industrial chains, guaranteed the basic income of farmers, and enhanced the overall efficiency and competitiveness of agriculture.

Second is to activate the key elements. We have implemented measures for separating land ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights for contracted rural land. We have taken steady steps to reform the rural collective property rights system. We have also made overall arrangements to carry out pilot reforms with regard to rural land requisition, the marketization of rural collective land designated for commercial construction and the system covering rural residential land. Through a series of reforms, we have made rural resources proactive and effective, and the potential of the rural economy is gradually being played out.

Third is to activate the principal parts. The principal production and service parts in new agriculture continue to develop in various forms and in moderate scale. At the same time, governments at all levels are paying great attention to supporting small-scale production. By strengthening cooperation and service, small producers are gradually being brought into the track of agricultural modernization. Thanks.

Economic Daily:

I'm concerned about the crop seed industry. A modern crop seed industry is a strong symbol of modern agriculture. In recent years, China has made a series of arrangements to grow the industry. Would you like to elaborate on the industry's development? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

China is a large agricultural country with a big population. It ranks first in the world in the output of many agricultural products, so it is necessary for the country to have its own crop seed industry.

In recent years, the industry has seen obvious changes as a result of unswerving sci-tech and institutional innovations. These changes can be summarized as follows:

First, the industry is now significantly more capable of innovation. In 2016, the number of intellectual property applications for new seed products doubled that of five years ago. Seed strains independently bred by China now account for 95 percent of those used for the country's staple crops. For the two staple crops of rice and wheat, the proportion is 100 percent. For vegetables, the proportion of foreign-bred strains has been reduced across the board to 13 percent from 20 percent five years ago.

Second, seed enterprises have grown much stronger. Research institutes and universities used to carry out seed breeding research, but now it is mostly enterprises. This change is the result of government incentives being given to enterprises. Meanwhile, we support and encourage enterprises to engage in mergers and restructuring and increase their spending on R&D. Currently, the top 50 seed enterprises spend 7.4 percent of their collective sales revenues on R&D.

Third, seed production and supply capacity have improved remarkably. In the past, seed breeding was quite scattered and farmers kept a portion of the seeds from their own crops for future use. We have set up seed breeding bases where conditions are favorable. There are currently three national bases in Gansu, Sichuan and Hainan respectively.

Fourth, legal oversight has been strengthened. Not long ago, China revised its Seed Law along with nine supporting rules and standardization documents to improve the legislation regulating the industry.

Going forward, we will focus on breeding green, high-quality and cost-effective seeds and increasing the competitiveness of seed enterprises in the international market. It will take time for China's seed industry to grow strong, but it won't be long. Thank you!

China News Service:

Rural land expropriation, collective operational construction land entering the market, and rural residential land pilot reforms have been underway for more than two years, so I would like to ask how the pilot reforms are progressing? How can you protect the rights and interests of farmers in carrying out these reforms? Thank you.

Han Jun:

Rural land expropriation, collective operational construction land entering the market, and rural residential land system reforms are the three key areas of the rural land system that we identified as the "Three Reforms." This reform task was proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, and is being led by the Ministry of Land and Resources, and also involving the participation of the Central Agricultural Office and the Ministry of Agriculture. The three reforms were planned to be completed by the end of this year, but have now been moved back to the end of 2018. Looking at the reforms occurring in the past two years, the most important thing is that we have recorded a number of institutional achievements with the aim of further improving the rural land system. Land expropriation reform can be said to have entered the actual operational phase. Collective operational land for construction entering the market is now covered by a relatively mature and efficient system of rules, so that the results of reform in this aspect are outstanding.

In regard to rural residential land system reform, people are very concerned about it, and it is a very sensitive issue. It also has achieved very profound progress, and the protection of farmers' residential land property rights and interests has scored remarkable results.

For example, the first deal of the collective operational construction land entering the market, and the first land officially entered into the market transactions occurred in Deqing County, Zhejiang. Last year, while conducting research in Deqing County, we found 49 cases involving nearly 400 mu of land that had entered the market, with the volume of transactions reaching 104 million yuan. Meanwhile collective economic organizations and farmers obtained income of 83.55 million yuan.

Deqing comrades told me they have 1,180 cases involving 10,000 mu of land in 12 townships and 150 administrative villages that can enter the market as collective operational construction land. If all this land were put on the market, can you guess how much money would be involved? About 2.6 billion yuan! Farmers and collective economic organizations would get more than 2 billion yuan in revenue. This reform brings tangible benefits to the farmers. More importantly, when this 10,000 mu enters the market, it provides land support for local rural new industries, as well as for many people to return home to start businesses.

Another example is the system for rural residential land, where reform efforts have paid off. Yujiang County, Jiangxi Province, for instance, has achieved a success in its institutional reform far beyond expectations.

Nearly 40 percent of villagers in the county possessed more than one house site under a single household, which violated the law that one household can only possess one site.

The county has 92,400 house sites among which 23,000 are deserted. How to reclaim these abandoned sites? Within two years, villagers submitted a total of 28,000 house sites covering 3,800 mu (or 253.33 hectares). The retrieved land can sustain housing supply to the entire village for the next 10 to 15 years. Most of the 28,000 house sites were illegally built, and 81 percent of the land was providing no returns.

The difficulty of the work is beyond our imagination. However, after learning from their experiences, we know that highly autonomous governance with an executive board comprising local farmers is the key to addressing the disputes like those about residential land in rural society.

The major challenges facing land requisition are unspecific scope, low compensation standard and irregular procedures. Our pilot reform is drawing lessons from those experiences so that they can work as a testimony for amendment of pertinent laws.

The No.1 Circular has made it clear that we'll learn from the spearheading reform of the system for rural residential land to keep the property rights of farmers from being infringed by external capital. In view of such a prerequisite, the government should implement farmers' collective rights for residential lands, ensuring their rights to use and live on them, seeking rental or other cooperative models to ensure reuse of abandoned lands in the form of collective economic organizations, all contributing to an increase in farmers' incomes.

Beijing and Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, are leading the way in testing the effectiveness of the reform. The Central Agricultural Office is resolved to press ahead with the pilot programs under the concerted efforts of other authorities, such as, the Ministry of Land and Resources, to release maximized reform dividends in this regard. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

This press conference is about to end. We only have the time for two more questions.

CCTV:

Food safety has been a great concern to the public over the past years. In particular, the people want to be assured that domestic formula milk is safe for our kids to drink. My question is for Mr. Han Changfu. What measures have the government taken to ensure the safety of agricultural products and to promote the sound development of the domestic diary industry? What progress has been made? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

The people want safe food. That's natural. The agricultural department shoulders the responsibility of ensuring the safety of agricultural products. Many measures have been taken in this regard.

In the past five years, we conducted food sampling annually. More than 96 percent of the sampled products from the farming, husbandry and fishery sectors met the quality standard. In the first half of this year, the ratio went up to 97.6 percent.

But of course, there are problems to be solved. One is the small-scale producers, who pose a great threat to food safety, and the other is law enforcement, which needs to be further improved and intensified.

The production process and regulation of agricultural products are crucial to ensuring product safety. There were three notable changes in the regulation field.

Firstly, sound systems have been established. In recent years, we have revised over 6,000 items of pesticides and veterinary drugs residual limited standards, and over 5,000 agricultural industrial standards. Powerful enforcement and operations will be ensured under these standards.

Secondly, supervision of farm products safety has been strengthened since the 18th CPC National Congress. We have built up a team from all levels to oversee quality safety of agricultural products. The supervision is becoming even more effective.

Thirdly, responsibilities have been clarified. We have urged the local governments to perform their administrative responsibilities and operational entities to fulfill their primary responsibilities.

The dairy industry also produces milk powder. The quality of milk powder produced by China has improved a lot over the last five years compared with that produced eight years ago. Several China's mainland milk powder brands have been certificated by the EU, and some have entered the Hong Kong market. Specifically, improvements have been made in three aspects. First, dairy farming has been scaled up. Second, the milking process has been mechanized. Mechanization has been achieved in large-scale farms. Third, production, supervision, and product standards of the dairy industry are in place. The dairy industry is a relatively modern one with a long and complete industrial chain, so its regulatory framework is developing from strength to strength.

All in all, now we have undergone a great change and laid a sound foundation. We have the confidence to revitalize China's dairy industry, and let our children be able to enjoy high-quality and safe milk produced in China. Thank you.

China Business News:

I have two questions. First, I would like to ask Mr. Han Changfu: the "No. 1 Central Document" in 2013 proposed that China should complete the registration for rural land contract rights and management rights in five years. And just now you mentioned that the rights covering 78 percent of the land has been made clear. During the process, are there any experiences and what are the difficulties? How will we handle the remaining 22 percent? And my second question is to Mr. Han Jun: Anhui, Hubei and Sichuan yesterday launched a minimum purchase price plan for medium and late rice. According to the plan, the minimum purchase price of 50 kilograms of medium and late indica and japonica was reduced by 2 yuan and 5 yuan respectively. The minimum purchase price of wheat was the same as 2016, but 3 yuan lower for early indica. So, what are the considerations behind such adjustment? Will there be further reforms in the future?

Han Changfu:

I will answer the first question. In relation to registering and certifying the rights to the contracted use of land in rural areas, I have stressed that it is a basic work. What kind of basic work is it? It is a basic work on rural reform, on the stability of rural land contract relations, and on the policy of separating land ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights for contracted rural land.

Primarily, land is collective and the form of ownership cannot be changed. Meanwhile, land is contracted by households and the contracting right cannot be changed, either. If this basic work can be done well, it will be of great significance for us to further improve the reform of rural land contract relations. President Xi Jinping said that, the main line of rural reform is still to manage well the relationship between farmers and the land.

The central document put forward outlines that it will take us five years to complete the work of registering and certifying the rights to the contracted use of land in rural areas. Namely by 2018, we will basically complete the work. The schedule may be postponed for some remote areas, ethnic minority areas and larger areas. Currently, five provinces have basically completed the work, and the country has completed 78 percent of the work.

When talking about experience, I would say there's a lot available. However, I think the most important experience may be summed up by the following two points. First, there is the attention of the leaders. Now, Party committees and governments at all levels, down to county Party committees and governments, are attaching importance to this matter, and organizing and implementing in accordance with the central government's policies, and then giving support in providing the best working conditions, in particular, leadership in regard to in-depth grass-roots research, so that the leaders can understand the situation and be able to resolve problems and conflicts. This may be a very important experience.

A second element involves relying on the public. It is a good thing for farmers when the central government issues them with the registry certificates confirming their rights to contracted farmland. This soothes farmers' nerves and they become active. You issue a certificate to one farmer, give him confidence that a land is contracted to him for a long time, and then he would like to expand, and move on to other places and businesses. Even when a new entity occupies his land, the original holder will still rest assured that all is well. We have to rely on the public to solve problems, so that in everything you should start from the realities, and rely on the public of a county, a township and a village to carry out the land contract work efficiently. In such a big country, with so many farmers and so much land to be cultivated, there are no huge clashes of interests and social instability. I think these two points are very important.

Han Jun:

The question you asked concerns a major reform carried out over the past few years. Generally speaking, we want to offer different policies to different products and reform the pricing system step by step.

The price of domestic corn has remained high, so Chinese processing factories and animal feed producers are inclined to use foreign products. From 2013 to 2016, they purchased 100 billion kilograms of foreign sorghum, barley, distillers grains and cassava to replace domestic corns in production.

This resulted in a growing stockpile of policy-supported corns. In view of this situation, in 2016, the government decided to reform the pricing system to let the market determine the price. Corn farmers are now subsidized directly, so as to guarantee their basic earnings.

Things are different concerning wheat and rice, which are a staple food.

Regarding wheat, supply and demand has remained basically balanced, with a gap of 2 million tons last year and a surplus of 5 million or 6 million tons this year. Because of the sound balance, the stock-piled policy-supported wheat can be auctioned at a price basically the same as the price the government purchased it - therefore not requiring a government subsidy. Wheat has a special advantage. It can be stored for a long time.

Regarding rice, the government will take actions this year too. The rice supply is increasing faster than demand. What's worse, it can't be stocked for a long time like wheat, and its industrial chain is not as long as for corn. Therefore, the pressure on stockpiles is mounting. We need to find a solution to reduce the stock of policy-supported rice.

This year, the prices of early indica rice, middle-season and late indica rice and japonica rice have been revised down 0.06 yuan, 0.04 yuan and 0.1 yuan per kilogram respectively. This shows that, on the whole, the supply of rice exceeds demand. As required in this year's No. 1 Central Document, we will take constructive, steady steps to reform the pricing mechanism for grain and other important agricultural products. We will also continue and improve the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat, making reasonable adjustments to these prices, to enable parity between prices. The reform should reflect the market demand under the basic policy framework. Therefore, these measures should play a vital role in maintaining farmer's enthusiasm to grow grains, pushing forward grain production and increasing farmers' income. Thanks.

Hu Kaihong:

Today's press conference will end here. Thanks to the spokesperson. Thank you everyone.