China County Times:

One of the priorities of rural revitalization is to help boost the incomes of populations through industrial development. What are the key areas and directions in this year's No. 1 central document on promoting rural industrial development? Thank you.  

Tang Renjian:

This question is crucial, as industrial revitalization stays at the top of the "five priorities" of rural revitalization. Therefore, I'd like to invite Mr. Wu to answer this question.

Wu Hongyao:

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that thriving business is the basis for resolving all issues facing rural areas. Therefore, industrial revitalization stays at the top of the "five priorities" of rural revitalization. This year's No. 1 central document sets out precise requirements for promoting rural development by industrial development, aiming to step up efforts in three aspects. 

First, efforts should be made to promote the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas. Rural industries have their roots in agriculture. While making farming and breeding industries stronger, we will fully engage the multiple functions of agriculture, realize the multiple values of rural areas, and develop the three major industries of farm-produce processing, rural leisure tourism, and rural e-commerce. Vertically, we will build a comprehensive agricultural industry chain, facilitate the expansion of industries to the back end and downstream, and shift the focus from selling initial agricultural products to promoting brands, with the aim of increasing production values and industrial efficiency. Horizontally, we will advance the in-depth integration of agriculture with leisure, tourism, health care, ecology, culture, elderly care, and other industries to enrich the varieties of rural industries and enhance the value of the rural economy.

Second, efforts should be made to develop county-level industries that can help boost farmers' incomes. We will develop county-level industries with obvious comparative advantages which can drive agricultural and rural prosperity and create employment opportunities to ensure that every county has at least one characteristic industry. To achieve the coordinated development of county-level industries, we will scientifically arrange production, processing, sales, consumption, and other links, locate them in the most suitable places, and form a spatial industrial layout with a reasonable division of labor among counties, townships, and villages. Meanwhile, we will leverage the role of industrial parks as the platform, guide the transfer of farm-produce processing industry to counties and main production areas, and build characteristic industrial clusters featuring close coordination between urban and rural areas.

Third, efforts should be made to help farmers get jobs and increase incomes locally or in nearby regions, which is the purpose of industrial development in rural areas. We must not make business owners better off while leaving farmers in poverty. Nor should we exclude farmers from the industrial chain. We encourage industrial and commercial capital to invest in rural areas, give play to the advantages in capital, technology, management, and brand, and improve the interest linkage mechanism to help farmers gain prosperity through complementary strengths of industrial chains and an effective division of labor. We will also support commercial organizations to provide agricultural services such as contract farming, processing, logistics, and marketing so that farmers can share more benefits from the growth of industries. Thank you.