COUNTRYSIDE GAINS NEW LIFE THROUGH RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL MODERNIZATION

With the support of the national policy of strengthening and benefiting agriculture, China has achieved remarkable results in ensuring food security, promoting agricultural transformation and upgrading, integrating primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, and increasing farmers' incomes. The construction of a comprehensive well-off society in rural areas has been steadily advanced. The target mission of poverty alleviation is complete.

The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) is an important transition period for China's economic and social development, and it is also critical for achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. During this period, China's rural development will take on new traits.

The Rural Development Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Social Sciences Press jointly released the China Rural Development Report 2020 last year. The report predicts that by 2025, China's urbanization rate will reach 65.5 percent. It is conservatively estimated that the new rural migrant population will be more than 80 million; the proportion of agricultural employment will drop to about 20 percent; the proportion of rural population over 60 will be 25.3 percent, about 124 million.

The report points out that the overall idea of China's rural development during the 14th Five-Year Plan is to ensure national food security as a prerequisite, to deepen system reform and speed up scientific and technological innovation as the driving force, to take the high-quality development of agriculture and rural areas as the main line, and to promote rural industries.

The emphasis is on transformation and upgrading, improving the quality of rural public services, promoting farmers' continuous income growth and comprehensive improvement of governance capabilities, and accelerating the construction of beautiful and smart villages, and laying a solid foundation for the realization of agricultural and rural modernization by 2035.

To this end, it is necessary to make up for the shortcomings, adjust the structure, grasp reform opportunities, and strengthen governance to promote the overall revitalization of the villages. The primary task is to focus on key areas and key population to improve people's livelihoods. Second, under the premise of ensuring food security, governments at all levels should vigorously increase agricultural productivity, accelerate the construction of digital villages, and comprehensively optimize industrial structure. The third is to do a good job in the pilot project of extending contracted land term, focus on deepening the reform of the rural collective property rights system, and enhance the synergy effect throughout the reform. The fourth is to clarify the responsibilities of the governance, adapt to the new governance needs brought about by the changes in rural society, optimize governance methods, and enhance the comprehensive governance capabilities.

The income sources of Chinese farmers tend to be diversified, and the increase in income has entered a "multi-wheel drive" period, but the growth rate of various incomes has slowed down, and there are significant differences among regions. To this end, the report recommends that the market mechanism should be fully utilized while deepening reforms, establishing an institutional environment that is conducive to increasing farmers' income, and forming a long-term mechanism for increasing farmers' income based on local conditions, narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, and effectively improving farmers' sense of gain and happiness.

These pictures are selected from the 10th National Farmers Photography Exhibition hosted by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Chinese Photographers Association. Each photo follows the changes of the times, recording the great changes in China's rural areas, and presenting to the world the new look of Chinese farmers' lives.