The bell for the New Year's Day will ring out the old year and ring in the new. The Central Rural Work Conference will be convened soon after the closure of the Central Economic Work Conference held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council. The conference will analyze the present situation and arrange the agricultural and rural work for next year. This fully embodies the CPC Central Committee's determination for solving the issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers. The conference will carry out the principles of the 16th National Congress of Communist Party of China, the third and fourth sessions of the 16 Central Committee of the Party and the Central Economic Conference, which will exert an important and far-reaching impact on the agricultural and rural work for a period to come in strengthening overall agricultural production capacity, boosting the stable grain growth and farmers' income increase.

A rarely good momentum has been shown in the agricultural and rural development in China in 2004 with grain output turning for the better and a rapid income increase for farmers. A great progress has been made in rural reforms with important achievements gained in rural social undertakings. The recovering increase of grain output may avoid the possibility of price rise in a big margin due to imbalance of supply and demand while the more rapid increase of farmers' income can boost domestic requirements. All these profit from the scientific viewpoint of development, balancing urban and rural development, a series of supporting measures and preferential policies for rural areas; from national solidarity and overall coordination; and from many favorable factors including new State incentives for farmers and helpful weather.

The good situation in the agricultural and rural development has played a vital role in stabilizing the national economy as a whole and will lay a good foundation for the rural work next year. But we have to keep a sober mind that the grain growth and the income increase for farmers are of recovery nature without a solid foundation. The major problems are as follows: there is a shortage of grain supply, there are contradictions in varieties and regional balance; there is no obvious improvement in overall agricultural production capacity, the income gap between urban and rural areas is still expanding; there is no basic change in the shortage of rural investment, a long-term mechanism for grain production growth and income increase for farmers has not been set up; and the in-depth contradictions curbing the agricultural and rural development have not been eliminated. The coming uncertainties are what kind of climate and market there will be next year. We cannot overestimate the present agricultural production capacity, farmers' affluence and the rural development. There are the difficulties for maintaining a stable growth in grain output and continuous income increase for farmers. So it is an arduous task to maintain a good momentum of growth in agricultural and rural development.

In order to maintain a good momentum of growth in agricultural and rural development, an effective policy to support agriculture should be stabilized, improved and strengthened. For the coming year, all supporting agricultural measures should be enhanced; supporting grain-producing areas and grain-growing farmers will be continued; rural system renovations involving rural taxation, grain circulation, rural financing, and land taxes should be pushed forward; the strategic readjustment of the economic structure in agriculture and rural areas should go on; the employment of rural labor force should be improved; and the social undertakings in rural areas will be accelerated.

In order to maintain a good momentum of growth in agricultural and rural development, prominence should be given to the key points while weak links should be strengthened. For the moment and for a period to come, it should be an important and urgent task of strategy to strengthen the agricultural infrastructure, quicken the progress of farming science and technology and boost overall agricultural production capacity. To lay a solid foundation for stable grain growth and the continuous income increase for farmers, more effective measures should be adopted; outstanding improvement should be made in the material and technical conditions of agriculture; the capability to fight natural calamities and market risks should be enhanced; land yield factor and labor productivity should be boosted; the systems for the renovation of farming science and technology and the popularization of farming techniques should be enhanced; the quality of farmers, quality of farming produce and market competitiveness should be boosted. It is not only very necessary to solve the prominent contradictions in agriculture at the present, but also the strategic choice to improve the future agricultural development; it is also an important measure to push ahead with rural economic development and a vital guarantee for the social progress in rural areas.

In order to maintain a good momentum of growth in agricultural and rural development, the scientific viewpoint of development, balancing the economic and social development in urban and rural areas should be carried out. In the initial stage of industrialization, it is a universal tendency for agriculture to support industry; when industrialization reaches to a certain degree, it also a universal liability for urban areas to support rural areas. China has entered into a development stage, in which industry improves agriculture. The party committees and governments at all levels should be in tune with the times to readjust the distribution pattern of national income, support agriculture, establish an effective system for the mutual improvement between urban and rural areas, realize industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, and bring the agricultural development into the modernization process of the whole country.

Agriculture is a basic and strategic industry and enters into a difficult stage. There are many advantages with some difficulties. It is very significant to keeping a rapid economic development and long-term social stability by maintaining a good momentum of growth in agricultural and rural development. The party committees and governments at all levels should have more confidence in supporting agriculture, countryside and farmers so as to bring the rural work to a new stage.

By People's Daily Online