Chapter 36 6. Straighten your back and be a farmer

From October 12 to 14, 1998, the Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. Whether it is in the history of China's party or in the history of China's reform, the Third Plenary Session has special significance as a milestone.Since the reform and opening up, our country has held 5 times the Third Plenary Session of the Party Central Committee, each of which has brought about a great leap forward in China's reform and construction.It is the first time that the Third Plenary Session of the 15th CPC Central Committee uses a single party plenary session to study rural and agricultural issues.While the Asian financial crisis was still impacting the global economy, China specialized in rural and agricultural issues. Some people may not understand, but in fact, this is the wisdom of the Chinese Communist Party.

Zhu Rongji explained this: why my country has such a good situation today, the economy maintains rapid growth, the currency value is stable, and the people's hearts are stable. From the analysis of economic factors, it is mainly the success of the agricultural policy, and the greatest effect of macro-control is also here.The Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the Party also clearly pointed out: "my country's reform took the lead in breaking through from the countryside, and quickly pushed it to the whole country with a majestic momentum, and achieved great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. Conscientiously sum up the rich experience accumulated in rural reform in the past 20 years, It is of great significance for the whole party to consciously adhere to the line, principles and policies since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, and to further promote the reform and development of the countryside and even the whole country."

Yes, during the 20 years of reform, the rural areas have changed the most and contributed the most. The reason why we now have such a stable economic environment, material abundance, and stable prices is that Chinese farmers have made immortal contributions.Since the reform and opening up, farmers have provided us with a variety of agricultural products, making our rice bags full, our vegetable baskets heavy, and our tables rich. In 1997, my country's grain output reached 492.5 million tons, and the national grain inventory reached the highest level in history; cotton output was 4.3 million tons, and the total output of meat and aquatic products was 53.54 million tons and 35.61 million tons respectively.Walking into our vegetable market, fresh pork, mutton and beef are hung all over the store, there are a lot of aquatic products, and fruits are piled up like mountains.

From an international comparison point of view, Chinese farmers also make us proud.Since the reform and opening up, my country's total agricultural output value has grown at an average annual rate of 5.9%, while the average rate of world agricultural growth over the same period is 1.8%, Canada is 1.9%, the United States is 0.7%, and Japan is negative growth.China accounts for about half of the world's total increased output of major agricultural products.In the past 12 years, for every 100 catties of world grain increase, China accounted for 48.6 catties; for every 100 catties of world cotton output, China accounted for 69.8 catties.China has become the main driving force for the growth of world agricultural products.

Before 1978, tobacco leaf was the only agricultural product in China that ranked first in the world, but now, grain, cotton, meat, poultry eggs, aquatic products, fruits and oilseeds all rank first in the world.More than 80% of the world's meat growth and more than 90% of the egg growth come from China; more than 1/4 of the world's total aquatic product production is produced by Chinese farmers! Twenty years of reform practice has proved that agriculture, rural areas and peasant issues are major issues related to the overall situation of my country's reform, opening up and modernization drive.Without the stability of the countryside, there will be no national stability, without the well-off of the peasants, there will be no well-off for the people of the whole country, and without the modernization of agriculture, there will be no modernization of the entire national economy. .

Although the rural reform has made great achievements, we should also see that there are still many factors restricting the long-term and stable development of agriculture, and there are still many problems worthy of attention in rural work, which are manifested in: backward productivity, mainly relying on manual work Labor; the degree of marketization is low, and the self-sufficiency and semi-self-sufficiency economy accounts for a considerable proportion; the agricultural population is large, and employment pressure is high; science, technology, education and culture are backward, and the number of illiterate and semi-literate is relatively large; some local party rural policies have not been well implemented, and the rights and interests of farmers have not been fully implemented. It is well maintained, which dampens the enthusiasm of farmers; the sales of many agricultural products are not smooth and the prices are low, which slows down the growth of farmers' income; the living standards of farmers are relatively low, and tens of millions of people still have no food and clothing; Rural development is also uneven.

If these problems are not resolved, not only will agriculture and the countryside fail to achieve the established development goals, but the entire national economy and social development will also be affected.Therefore, the Party Central Committee is determined to take targeted measures to resolve these contradictions and problems. As early as the end of September 1998, General Secretary Jiang Zemin pointed out during his inspection tour in Anhui that the rural reform had made great achievements, but the task of deepening the rural reform was still arduous.To achieve the goal of cross-century development, one of the most difficult and unavoidable tasks is to maintain the sustained and stable growth of agriculture and rural economy.By grasping the big head of rural areas, we will have the initiative to grasp the overall situation of economic and social development.

In view of this, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of my country's reform and opening up, facing the impact of the Asian financial crisis and the challenges of economic globalization, the Party Central Committee decided to hold the Third Plenary Session of the 15th Party Central Committee to focus on agricultural and rural issues, and made a decide accordingly.In order to truly implement the spirit of this conference, on December 10, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council held a national economic work conference, again putting stability and strengthening agriculture at the top of the list, requiring great efforts to increase farmers' income and maintain rural stability. an outstanding issue. On December 30, the Central Rural Work Conference made specific arrangements for rural and agricultural work in 1999.General Secretary Jiang Zemin emphasized at the meeting: In recent years, the agricultural harvest has been bumper and the rural situation is relatively good, but we must not relax at work.Agriculture is faced with two major risks, natural and market. Agricultural production is difficult to rise and easy to fall, so we must always attach great importance to it.

We must always attach great importance to it. This is our policy and attitude towards agriculture and rural work! The Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China determined the ten principles for realizing the cross-century development goals of my country's agriculture and rural areas, including always putting agriculture at the top of the national economy, stabilizing the basic rural policies for a long time, not relaxing grain production, and promoting agriculture through science and education. Wait.The proposal of this series of guidelines will undoubtedly provide a stronger impetus for the development of China's agriculture and rural economy.

After the publication of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's "Decision on Some Major Issues Concerning Agriculture and Rural Work", it aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad.Looking through the full text, people get an important message from it, which is to adhere to the "three unwavering", that is, to adhere to the party's basic rural policies; to insist on developing the rural economy and improving agricultural productivity as the center of the entire rural work. ; Adhere to the party's unwavering leadership over rural work. The "Decision" proposes a series of major policy measures to further promote the development of agriculture and rural economy: ——Industrialized management in rural areas is one of the realistic ways for China’s agriculture to gradually modernize; ——In the active development of public ownership economy At the same time, adopt flexible and effective policies and measures to encourage and guide the development of non-public economies such as rural individuals and private enterprises; -- China is a large agricultural country, and we must make agricultural science and technology a focus of the entire scientific and technological work, and strive to catch up with the world's advanced Level; —— Do everything possible to solve the problem of increasing farmers’ income, which is always an important task in agriculture and rural work; ——It is necessary to enhance the awareness of flood hazards of the whole nation and mobilize the whole society to build water conservancy projects, which is a major event for the prosperity of the people and prosperity of the country. ;——Vigorously develop water-saving agriculture, take the promotion of water-saving irrigation as a revolutionary measure, greatly improve water utilization rate, and strive to expand the effective irrigation area of ​​farmland;——Improve the ecological environment is the key to the survival and development of the Chinese nation The long-term plan is also the fundamental measure to prevent drought and flood disasters; at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party 20 years ago, the Communist Party of China systematically summarized the positive and negative experiences of rural areas since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and put forward the guidance of agriculture and rural work in the new era Since then, a magnificent rural reform has sprung up across the country.

Today, 20 years later, the Third Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has made decisions on several major issues concerning agriculture and rural work on the basis of systematically summarizing the successful experience of 20 years of rural reform and in-depth analysis of the current situation of agricultural and rural development. .It marks that the whole party has a deeper understanding of the law of my country's rural reform and development, and has a higher awareness of strengthening agriculture and rural work. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's agriculture has taken off twice.The first time was in 1952 after the completion of the land reform, farmers owned their own land, and the agricultural productivity was liberated to the greatest extent; the second time was in 1979, when the household contract responsibility system was promoted nationwide, farmers’ enthusiasm for production increased, and agricultural production grew rapidly. development; we have reasons to believe that the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee will effectively guide and greatly encourage the whole party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country to work together, forge ahead, and create a new situation in my country's agricultural and rural work. Agriculture will therefore take off for the third time! Chen Jinsheng, a villager in Henan Village, Baihe Town, Mengjin County, Henan Province, signed a 30-year land extension contract with the village. He said happily: "Land is the lifeblood of farmers. After signing the contract this time, I feel at ease when I sleep. From now on, we will We must use all our strength to dig wells, fertilize, and plant fields.” Like Chen Jinsheng, in 1998, the vast majority of farmers across the country signed land extension contracts.They all said happily that the extension of the land contract stabilized the land use rights and gave the farmers a "peace of mind". Beginning with farmers in Xiaogang Village voluntarily distributing fields to households, the household contract responsibility system was implemented throughout the country.The earliest contracting period was 3 years, and the Central Document No. 1 in 1984 decided to extend the 3 years to 15 years.However, in recent years, land adjustments in some places have been arbitrary and land adjustments have been frequent. In some places, under the name of the "two-field system", the contracted fields in the hands of farmers have been withdrawn and contracted, which has increased the burden on farmers and seriously affected families. The stability of the joint production contract responsibility system in rural areas.As the first round of 15-year land contracts in various places is about to expire, the conflict between people and land is particularly prominent in some places.On the basis of extensive investigation and understanding, the Party Central Committee decided to extend the land contract for another 30 years in compliance with public opinion.And it is clearly stated that, as a basic system, the household contract responsibility system will remain unchanged for a long time. Why extend it for 30 years?The Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee held that: household contract management not only conforms to the law that production relations must adapt to the development of productive forces, but also conforms to the characteristics of agricultural production itself. It is not only suitable for traditional agriculture, but also modern agriculture, and must be persisted for a long time. Stabilizing the land contract relationship is the basic premise of rural reform and development.Only when the land contracting relationship is stabilized, farmers will have long-term plans and will be willing to repair canals and dig wells in their own fields, fertilize the land, increase input, and increase output.Only when the land contract relationship is stabilized, the property rights are clear, the management is standardized, and the land circulation mechanism in line with the laws of the market economy can be truly established, which will promote the further separation of land contract rights and use rights, and solve the problem of "no land to plant" and "no land to plant" contradiction. The 30-year change is not an empty slogan, it is a solemn commitment by the party and the government to the long-term stability of the land contract relationship and the basic rural management system, and it is a real long-term "reassurance". The policy is stable and the democracy is smooth. Leading groups for contract extension and village groups have been generally established in various places to investigate people's conditions and promote the second round of land contracting according to local conditions.Due to the extension of the land contract, the contract period was extended, and the household contract responsibility system was stabilized, so that farmers dared to invest in the land.After the first round of land contract expired in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, the second round of land contracting began in early 1996, which has been basically completed. In the past two years, more than 4,500 new motorized wells have been added each year, which is twice the previous year many. The second round of land contracting is not just a simple continuation of the previous round of land contracting, but a process of improvement and perfection, thus laying a solid foundation for agricultural efficiency, farmers' income, rural stability and the development of a market-oriented rural economy. It has a solid foundation and will effectively promote the further adjustment of rural production relations. The land issue is one of the most sensitive issues in the countryside, because it involves the vital interests of thousands of farmers.For farmers in most areas of our country, land is still their basic means of production and source of livelihood.The Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced that it will continue to stabilize the rural joint production contract responsibility system and extend the land contract period for another 30 years. Farmers have been reassured, feel at ease, have a clear direction, and will be motivated to farm again. upswing.This has greatly promoted the development of agricultural production. People regard food as their heaven, and food depends on grain as their source.Without stable food production, there will be no stable life for us.Marx tells us: "The production of food is the first condition for the survival of the direct producers and for all production." However, for a long time, although we have repeatedly emphasized that agriculture is the foundation of the national economy, we have intentionally or unintentionally neglected that farmers are the foundation of agriculture.Without the support of farmers, there will be no agricultural development; without the enthusiasm of farmers, there will be no bumper harvest in agriculture.Therefore, we must vigorously develop agricultural production and increase food production. The key measures are to improve agricultural efficiency and increase farmers' income, so as to stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for production.As Chairman Li Peng emphasized: "To promote the development of grain production in major producing areas, the enthusiasm of local governments and farmers must be mobilized. The core issue is to improve the comparative efficiency of grain production." Simply put, it is to give benefits to grain growers! Needless to say, we have neglected or even treated farmers badly. Over the past 20 years of reform, although Chinese farmers have made immortal contributions to my country's economic development and stability, the growth rate of farmers' income has been declining, and the gap between urban and rural areas has widened. The scissors gap between industrial and agricultural products has become more and more obvious, which has seriously dampened farmers' enthusiasm for production to a certain extent and has become an obstacle affecting agriculture, especially grain production.If the situation of low prices of agricultural products and low income of farmers is not changed, it will be difficult for China's agricultural production to continue to develop.For this reason, at the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held at the end of 1997, the increase of farmers' income was raised to a prominent position.At the Ninth National People's Congress, the Chinese government made it clear that it would favor agriculture in terms of finance, credit, technology, and education, and support agriculture in terms of policies, funds, and public opinion.The Third Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the Party, the Central Economic Work Conference, and the Central Rural Work Conference successively emphasized and deployed the two major issues related to the overall situation of increasing farmers' income and maintaining rural stability. In specific work, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have formulated a series of policies and measures that are beneficial to increase farmers' income.The most prominent thing is to cooperate with the reform of the grain circulation system, fully implement the policy of openly purchasing surplus grain from farmers at protective prices, and formulate strict procurement disciplines. The interests of farmers have been effectively protected.In addition, the national and local finances have correspondingly increased the proportion of investment in agriculture, the credit sector has increased the credit line for agriculture, and relevant departments have also strengthened their support and support for agriculture. However, due to the excessive debts in the past, the unsmooth circulation system of agricultural products has not been completely resolved, and the scissors gap between industrial and agricultural products has not been effectively curbed. Therefore, increasing farmers' income is still facing considerable difficulties.This requires us not only to have a unified ideological understanding, but also to raise the increase of farmers' income to the height of "maintaining the stamina of my country's economic growth and enhancing our ability to resist various economic risks", and to have effective and specific measures.Based on opinions from all sides, to increase farmers' income, both "addition" and "subtraction" must be done. "Addition" is to increase the income level of farmers from various aspects; "subtraction" is to reduce the burden on farmers. The Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that on the basis of stabilizing the rural joint production contract responsibility system: "strengthen and improve the state's macro-control of grain, a special commodity, protect the enthusiasm of farmers, and ensure the basic stability of supply and prices." Emphasizes that "it is necessary to stably develop grain production, and at the same time adjust the rural industrial structure, implement agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline fishery, and combine the development of diversified operations with supporting and promoting grain production, so as to ensure the effective supply of agricultural products and the continuous growth of farmers' income." To increase farmers' income, it is necessary to establish a price mechanism that is conducive to increasing production and income.To this end, the government should strengthen macro-control and support for agriculture, formulate reasonable price policies, and ensure that the price of agricultural products increases faster than the price of agricultural means of production.Specifically, one is to establish and improve the protective price operation support system so that the protective price can really play a role in protecting the interests of farmers; the second is to gradually narrow the gap between the grain purchase price and the market price, and pay attention to protecting the economic benefits of farmers; It is necessary to pay attention to adjusting the price comparison of industrial and agricultural products, curb inflation, establish a price declaration and monitoring system for agricultural production materials, stipulate the statutory profit rate of business departments, and control the price increase of agricultural production materials below the price increase of major agricultural and sideline products. If the price scissors is poor, other measures should be taken to compensate gradually; fourth, the government must correctly handle the relationship between the majority and the minority when regulating prices, and first focus on the interests of the 900 million farmers. Take appropriate measures to take care of the affordability, and cannot one-sidedly emphasize the emotions and demands of some consumers while ignoring the income of the majority of agricultural producers. Increasing farmers' income is a complex and arduous systematic project, and it is impossible to fully achieve the goal by relying on one or two policies or one or two measures. It is also very important for farmers to enhance their market awareness and improve their scientific farming level.Generally speaking, only through multifaceted and long-term efforts, by deepening rural reforms and improving rural efficiency, can we maintain rural stability and farmers' income grow steadily.Specifically, such as establishing and improving a new socialized service system to help farmers solve problems, establishing production, supply and marketing or trade, industry and agriculture integration organizations to lengthen the "chain" of agricultural production; supporting farmers to adjust product structure and industrial structure; building small towns and developing townships enterprises to facilitate the transfer of rural surplus labor, etc.On the government side, establish a new macro-control mechanism to create good external conditions for the development of the rural economy, including formulating policies and regulations, strengthening supervision and management to ensure that the interests of farmers are not violated; establishing a risk protection mechanism to disperse the risks of agricultural production and operation; Establish a new type of agricultural development support system and guide social investment to ensure the construction of rural infrastructure and agricultural scientific research.Increasing farmers' income is not only related to the vital interests and enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of farmers, and the realization of the goal of a well-off rural life, but also related to the implementation of the strategic policy of expanding domestic demand and opening up the domestic market, and related to maintaining the sustained, rapid and healthy development of the national economy. The starting point and end point of the rural economy.