At present, the global COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading, the global economy’s recovery is fragile, the challenges of climate change are pronounced, and China’s economic and social development tasks are extremely heavy and arduous. The Party Central Committee believes that, to address these once-in-a-century changes and the epidemic of a century, and to promote stable and healthy economic and social development, we must focus on the nation’s major strategic needs, stabilize the fundamentals of agriculture, do a good job of “three rural issues”¹ work, and continue to comprehensively promote rural revitalization of the countryside, so as to ensure stable agricultural production, the steady increase of farmers’ income, and rural stability and peace.

To do a good job of “three rural issues” work in 2022, we must: Be guided by Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era; fully implement the spirit of the 19th Party Congress and all the plenary sessions of the 19th CCP Central Committee; deeply implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference; adhere to the general work keynote of seeking progress while maintaining stability; ground our efforts in the new development stage, thoroughly implementing the new development concept, creating a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development; promote common prosperity; adhere to and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership on work relating to the “three rural issues;” firmly adhere to the two bottom lines of assuring national food security and preventing large-scale return to poverty; give prominence to annual tasks, targeted initiatives, and practical guidance; fully bring into play the leadership role of rural grassroots Party organizations; and do a solid and orderly job of the key tasks of rural development, rural construction, and rural governance, so as to promote new progress in rural revitalization and make new strides in agricultural and rural modernization.

I. Make every effort to ensure food production and supply of important agricultural products

1. Stabilize annual grain planting area and production. Insist on the Chinese rice bowl being firmly in our own hands at all times, with that rice bowl being filled mainly with Chinese grain; fully implement the joint responsibility of Party and government for food security; and strictly assess the food security responsibility system, ensuring that grain planting area is stable and production is maintained at over 650 million metric tons. Maintain [grain planted] area and yield in main production areas, main marketing (consumption) areas, and areas where production and consumption are in balance; constantly improve the overall grain production capacity of the main production areas; effectively stabilize and improve the food self-sufficiency rate of the main consumption areas; and ensure basic grain self-sufficiency in areas where production and consumption are in balance. Promote the building of a national food security industry belt. Vigorously carry out green, high quality, and efficiency-oriented actions, deeply implement high-quality grain projects, and improve grain yields and quality. Promote in-depth water conservation and water use control in Yellow River basin agriculture, and stabilize the grain planting area by improving water use efficiency and developing dryland agriculture. Actively respond to the adverse conditions affecting wheat, including late sowing, strengthen winter and spring field management, and promote the strengthening of weak seedlings.

2. Vigorously implement projects to boost soybean and oilseed production capacity. Increase farmland crop rotation subsidies and incentives for major oil crop-producing counties, with the focus on support for well-suited areas, key varieties, and agribusiness service entities; promote corn-soybean strip intercropping in the Yellow River-Huai River-Hai River, Northwest, and Southwest regions; carry out grain-soybean rotation in the Northeast; promote pilot projects on converting from irrigated to dryland farming and switching from paddy rice to soybeans in areas of excessive groundwater extraction in Heilongjiang Province; and in the Yangtze River basin, develop expanded rapeseed planting in winter fallow farmland. Carry out demonstrations of soybean planting on saline-alkali land. Support expansion of tea oil (Camellia oleifera) planting area, and transform and upgrade low-yielding forests.

3. Assure the supply of “vegetable basket” products. Increase efforts to implement the mayoral responsibility system for “vegetable basket” ² products (non-staple foods). Stabilize long-term support policies for hog production, stabilize basic production capacity, and prevent large fluctuations in hog production. Accelerate the expansion of beef, lamb, and dairy production, and promote pilot demonstrations of grassland animal husbandry transformation and upgrading. Stabilize the area under aquaculture and improve the quality of fisheries development. Stabilize the land area for year-round vegetable supply in large and medium-sized cities, vigorously promote the construction of facilities for vegetable cultivation in the northern region build bases for vegetables from the south to be shipped north, and improve capacity to guarantee vegetable supply in an emergency. Refine the target price policy for cotton. Explore the development of full cost insurance and planting income insurance for sugarcane. Carry out pilot projects on renewal and renovation of natural rubber and old rubber plantations.

4. Reasonably assure farmers’ profits from grain production. In accordance with the requirements of the goal of allowing farmers to grow grain profitably, and encouraging enthusiastic grain production in main production areas, we shall strengthen mechanisms to assure farmers’ profits from grain production. In 2022, appropriately raise the minimum purchase prices for rice and wheat, stabilize producer subsidies for corn and soybeans as well as rice subsidies, and achieve full coverage of full cost insurance and planting income insurance in the main producing provinces and major grain-producing counties for the three major grain crops (wheat, rice, and corn). Increase the incentives for major grain-producing counties, and innovate mechanisms for cooperation between grain production and grain consumption areas. Support family farms, farmers’ cooperatives, and leading agricultural industrialization enterprises in planting more and better grain. Focusing on key weak links and small farmers, accelerate the development of agricultural social services, and support agricultural service companies, farmers’ cooperatives, rural collective economic organizations, grassroots supply and marketing cooperatives, and other types of entities in vigorously developing single-segment, multi-segment, and full-process agricultural production trusteeship services, to carry out contract farming, processing and logistics, product marketing, etc., so as to improve the comprehensive benefits of growing grain.

5. Coordinate the regulation of important agricultural products. Strengthen the monitoring and early warning system for the entire agricultural product supply chain, promote the establishment of a unified system for the release of information on the supply and demand of agricultural products, and strengthen regulation and emergency response guarantees based on the category and variety [of agricultural product]. Deepen reform of the regulatory system and mechanisms in the field of grain purchasing and sale, carry out special rectification, and strictly punish systemic corruption according to law. Strengthen the construction of “smart” grain depots, promote both human and technological oversight, and bolster the dynamic supervision of grain stocks. Strictly control the processing of corn-based fuel ethanol. Do a good job in the production, storage, and transportation of fertilizer and other agricultural materials, so as to guarantee supply and price stability. Adhere to the priority of conservation, implement the food conservation action plan, deeply promote food saving and loss reduction throughout the whole chain of production, transportation, storage, processing, and consumption, strengthen food security education, and oppose food waste.

II. Reinforce basic supports for modern agriculture

6. Implement hard measures “with teeth” to protect farmland. Implement joint Party and government responsibility for the protection of farmland, and strictly adhere to the red line of 1.8 billion mu [~120 million hectares/~297 million acres] of farmland. Consistent with order in terms of total farmland and permanent basic farmland, ecological protection red lines, and urban development boundaries, coordinate the delineation and implementation of these three control lines, decompose and allocate level-by-level the tasks and locations for the full amounts of farmland and permanent basic farmland protection targets, and have central and local governments sign cultivated land protection target responsibility documents to serve as inflexible targets for implementing strict assessment, one-vote vetoing ³, and lifelong accountability. Differentiate and clarify the use of farmland, and strictly implement order of prioritization for farmland use, in which farmland is to be used primarily for the production of grain, cotton, oil, sugar, vegetables, and other agricultural products, as well as forage and feed, permanent basic farmland should be focused on grain production, and high-standard farmland is, in principle, to be used entirely for grain production. Guide the new development of forestry and orchard industries on hills and mountainsides, encourage utilization of the “four kinds of barren” land resources, and avoid competition with grain for land. Implement and refine the policy on balancing farmland occupation and supplementation, establish whole-process regulatory mechanisms for the approval, implementation, acceptance, and stewardship of supplementary farmland projects, and ensure that the supplementary farmland can be used on a long-term and stable basis, achieving parity between the production capacity of farmland that is occupied for development and farmland that is supplemented in its place. Improve the national coordinated management approach to cross-provincial supplementation of farmland. Step up supervision of farmland-related law enforcement, and strictly investigate and deal with illegal occupation of farmland for non-agricultural construction. Strengthen the control of farmland use, and strictly control the conversion of farmland to land used for other agricultural purposes (for example, indoor livestock facilities). Consolidate and improve the safe use of contaminated farmland. In a steady and orderly fashion, carry out special pilot projects for rectification of the indiscriminate occupation of farmland for housing construction in rural areas. Consolidate the results of the special clean-up and rectification of the “greenhouse building” problem. Implement the review, audit, and risk prevention system for flows of industrial and commercial capital into rural land.

7. Fully complete the phased tasks for creating high-standard farmland. Through increased multi-channel investment, in 2022 set up 100 million mu [6.67 million hectares/16.5 million acres] of new high-standard farmland, and reach a cumulative total of 400 million mu [26.67 million hectares/65.9 million acres] of efficient water-saving irrigation constructed. Carry out integrated planning and synchronous implementation of efficient water-saving irrigation and high-standard farmland construction. All regions should increase efforts to transform low-yielding fields and improve the grade of farmland. Study and formulate plans to increase the area of irrigated farmland. Implement key water source, major water diversion, and other types of water allocation projects. Increase efforts in continued construction and reconstruction of large and medium-sized irrigation areas, and plan and newly construct a number of modern irrigation areas in regions with suitable water and soil resources, giving priority to turning large and medium-sized irrigation areas into high-standard farmland. Promote the National Black Soil ⁴ Protection Project. Implement black soil conservation tillage on 80 million mu [5.34 million hectares/13.2 million acres]. Actively explore the potential for expanding farmland stock, and support the development of eligible saline-alkali land and other reserve resources into farmland in an appropriate and orderly fashion. Research and formulate comprehensive utilization plans and implementation programs for saline-alkali land. Classify and transform saline-alkali land, and promote a transition from focusing on management of saline-alkali land so it can be adapted to crops, toward more selective breeding of saline-resistant crop varieties that are adapted to saline-alkali land. Support the construction of national agricultural high-tech industrial demonstration zones for saline-alkali land and arid and semi-arid areas. Launch the third national soil survey.

8. Vigorously promote research to tackle key and core agricultural technologies, including germplasm. Fully implement the Seed Industry Revitalization Action Plan. Accelerate the census and collection of agricultural germplasm resources, and strengthen accurate identification and evaluation. Promote the construction of a major national innovation platform for the seed industry. Launch major projects in agricultural biotechnology breeding. Accelerate the implementation of agricultural key core technology research projects, implement systems such as “unveiling the list” (open competition mechanism) and “ministry-province linkage,” and carry out pilot long-cycle R&D projects. Strengthen construction of the modern agricultural industrial technology system. Carry out R&D and post-extension subsidy pilot projects for major crop varieties. Implement the “Seed Law,” put into effect the essentially derived variety (EDV) system, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in the seed industry, and crack down according to law on illegal and criminal acts such as brand infringement.

9. Raise the level of agricultural equipment R&D and application. Comprehensively sorting out shortcomings and weaknesses, strengthen collaborative research on agricultural equipment engineering, accelerate the R&D and manufacturing of high horsepower machinery, small machinery for hilly and mountainous areas and protected “facility” horticulture, and high-end “smart” machinery, and include such R&D in the national key R&D program, so as to give it long-term, stable support. Implement the agricultural machinery purchase and use subsidy policy, and optimize the subsidy payment method. Refine agricultural machinery performance evaluation mechanisms, promote the addition and removal of machinery from the subsidy list, with superior machines getting priority for subsidies, and with the focus on supporting grain drying, crawler tractors, corn-soybean strip intercropping, rapeseed harvesting, and other types of agricultural machinery, and promote large-scale, “smart” farm machinery for intercropping. Promote upgrading of emissions standards for newly produced agricultural machinery. Carry out pilot projects on the integrated R&D, manufacturing, promotion, and use of agricultural machinery.

10. Accelerate the development of protected (“facility”) agriculture. Develop plastic greenhouses, solar greenhouses, continuous greenhouses, and other facilities according to local conditions. Concentrate on the construction of seedling planting facilities. Encourage the development of intensive factory farming, three-dimensional ecological farming and other new types of breeding facilities. Promote the integration of irrigation and fertilizer, automated feeding, intelligent environmental control, and other facilities and equipment technology R&D and applications. On the basis of protecting the ecological environment, explore the use of developable idle land and abandoned land for the development of facility agriculture.

11. Effectively prevent and respond to major agricultural disasters. Intensify efforts in agricultural disaster prevention, mitigation, and disaster relief capacity-building and investment. Repair water damage and disaster damage to agricultural and water (irrigation and water conservation) infrastructure, and strengthen construction and stewardship of ditches and channels, reservoirs, and pump stations. Strengthen reserve emergency supplies for flood control and drought relief. Strengthen the construction of monitoring and early warning systems for agricultural and rural, irrigation and water conservation, and meteorological disasters, so as to enhance the ability to respond to extreme weather. Strengthen construction of the grassroots animal and plant disease prevention and control system, which shall implement a local responsibility system, be fully staffed with competent professionals, and implement fixed responsibilities for fixed posts, to ensure that there are people responsible for, working on, and managing the prevention and control of African swine fever, fall armyworm, and other major animal and plant diseases and pests. Do a good job of preventing and controlling at the source diseases shared between humans and animals. Strengthen invasive alien species prevention and control management; do a good job of surveying and monitoring, entry inspection and quarantining, and domestic prevention and control; those that have already been introduced and have caused serious harm must be precisely managed with “species-specific policies” and effectively eradicated. Strengthen research on the medium- and long-term impacts of climate change on agriculture.

III. Resolutely hold the bottom line of no return to poverty on a large scale

12. Refine monitoring and assistance mechanisms. Precisely determine the targets of monitoring, include rural residents at risk of returning to poverty or who have sudden serious difficulties within the scope of monitoring, streamline workflows, and shorten identification times. When emerging problems due to disasters, disease, epidemics, etc. are discovered, social assistance, medical assurance, and other assistive measures shall be implemented promptly. Strengthen the implementation of monitoring and assistance responsibilities, ensuring that no gaps are left in the work or in policies. Continue to carry out post-assessment work to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation.

13. Promote sustained income growth of the previously impoverished population. Encourage poverty alleviation areas to rely more on development to consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation, so that those lifted out of poverty reach a higher standard of living. Consolidate and enhance specialty industries in poverty alleviation areas, and improve mechanisms for cooperating with and assisting rural residents, so as to raise the household incomes of the previously impoverished population. Gradually increase the proportion of central government assistance funds used for industrial development, focus on supporting and assisting industries to make up shortcomings in technology, facilities, marketing, etc., strengthen the leadership role, and promote the upgrading of industries. Consolidate the effectiveness of solar PV-based poverty alleviation projects, and develop the solar PV industry in poverty alleviation areas with the right conditions. Concentrate responsibility for employment assistance, and ensure a stable scale of labor force employment for people lifted out of poverty. Deepen east-west collaboration on labor services, and do a good job of transferring employment within provinces. Extend preferential policies to support the development of [employment] assistance workshops. Give full play to the role of food for work, which can be increased as a proportion of labor remuneration where appropriate. Coordinate the use of rural public welfare positions, and implement dynamic management. Gradually adjust and optimize the ecological forest ranger policy.

14. Increase support for key assistance counties in rural revitalization, and for centralized resettlement areas for poverty alleviation relocation. In key assistance counties for rural revitalization, implement a number of projects to make up shortcomings and promote development. Prepare an implementation plan for effectively linking the consolidation and expansion of poverty alleviation results with rural revitalization in key assistance counties for national rural revitalization. Do a good job of selecting technology envoys for key assistance counties for national rural revitalization, implement the industrial technology consultant system, and plan to carry out “group-style” assistance by cadres and talents in education and healthcare. Establish and improve monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the development of key assistance counties for national rural revitalization. Expand investment in credit funds and insurance coverage for key assistance counties for national rural revitalization. Perfect the supporting facilities and public services in centralized resettlement areas for poverty alleviation relocation, continue stepping up efforts to incubate industries in resettlement areas, and carry out special assistance programs to help relocated people find employment. Implement initiatives on the household registration management, protection of legal rights and interests, and social integration of relocated people, and raise the governance level of resettlement communities.

15. Promote the implementation and putting into effect of assistance policies for poverty alleviation areas. Maintain the overall stability of the main assistance policies, refine the implementation of various transition period assistance policies, and evaluate policy effects. Expand the fields of collaboration between eastern and western regions, and deepen paired-up assistance among counties, villages, enterprises, schools, hospitals, etc. Within the framework of eastern-western region collaboration and counterpart assistance, continue to carry out cross-provincial adjustment of surplus indicators linked to the increase or decrease of urban and rural construction land use. Continue to do a good job in the designated assistance work of Central units. Do a solid job of micro-credit for the previously impoverished population. Create consumer assistance demonstration cities and producing area demonstration zones, and utilize the role of network sales platforms for the agricultural and sideline products of poverty alleviation areas.

IV. Focus on industry to promote rural development

16. Continue to promote the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas. Encourage localities to expand agriculture’s multiple functions and tap into diversified value from rural areas, focusing on the development of industries such as agricultural product processing, rural leisure tourism, and rural e-commerce. Support large agricultural counties in focusing on the agricultural product processing industry, and guide enterprises to develop grain and oil processing and food manufacturing in producing areas. Promote the construction of modern agricultural industrial parks and strong agricultural industry towns, incubate advantageous and specialty industry clusters, and continue to support the creation of a number of national demonstration parks for integrated development of rural industries. Implement the rural leisure tourism improvement plan. Support the development of rural bed and breakfasts and scenic village (spot) farm guesthouses operated directly by farmers or with their participation. Include rural leisure and tourism projects that meet requirements within the scope of science bases and practice bases for primary and middle school students to learn about farm work. Implement the “revitalizing agriculture with digital commerce” project, and promote e-commerce going into the countryside. Promote the regulated and healthy development of live streaming commerce for agricultural and sideline products. Carry out improvement actions for agricultural variety improvement, quality improvement, brand building, and standardized production, promote the commitment and compliance certification system for edible agricultural products, and perfect the whole-production-chain quality and safety traceability system. Accelerate the implementation of land use policies for assuring and regulating the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas.

17. Vigorously develop people-enriching industries at the county level. Support large and medium-sized cities in migrating and extending industries to counties, and guide the orderly gradient-based transfer of industries. Vigorously develop industries that have relatively pronounced county-wide advantages, strong ability to drive agriculture and rural communities, and significant employment capacity, and promote the formation of a “one county, one industry” development pattern. Enhance grassroots innovation in counties, and strengthen the integration of production chains and innovation chains. Accelerate improvement of the industry services function of county seats, and encourage industries to concentrate in parks, and leading enterprises to grow stronger and larger. Guide the development of specialized small and medium-sized enterprise clusters in central towns with the right conditions, and promote the development of village workshops and home workshops in key villages.

18. Strengthen the building of a county-level commercial system. Implement actions to build county-level commerce, so as to promote rural consumption expansion and quality upgrading. Accelerate the layout of the rural logistics and express delivery network, implement the “express delivery into the village” project, encourage the development of township “multi-station” service stations integrating passenger, cargo, and mail services, “one point, multiple functions” integrated service points for village-level delivery logistics, promote the joint distribution mode of county-township-village logistics, and promote the integrated development of rural passenger, cargo, and mail services. Support large-scale circulation enterprises in focusing on county seats and central towns when extending supply chains to rural areas. Accelerate implementation of the project to get agricultural products out of villages and into cities using “internet plus,” and promote the establishment of long-term and stable production-marketing linkages. Promote the extension of the cold chain logistics service network to rural areas, promote construction of cold chain logistics facilities for storage and preservation of agricultural products in production areas throughout counties, and promote the cooperation and affiliation, and networked support, of such facilities. Support supply and marketing cooperatives in carrying out circulation service network construction and upgrading actions at the county level, and construct county-level collection and distribution centers.

19. Promote employment and entrepreneurship for rural people local to or nearby their homes. Implement various types of employment stabilization policies for migrant workers. Fully utilize the employment-driving role of large and medium-sized cities. Implement actions to improve the quality of urbanization for county-level migrant workers. Encourage the development regulate the development of new employment forms, and foster the development of domestic services, logistics and distribution, elderly care, and other consumer-oriented services. Promote the construction of entrepreneurship parks for those moving or returning to rural areas to start businesses, and implement various support policies. Vigorously carry out skills training, and training for new occupations and new business models, suitable for the employment of migrant workers. Reasonably guide migrant workers engaged in flexible employment to participate in basic health insurance for employees and basic pension insurance for urban workers according to regulations.

20. Promote the green development of agriculture and rural areas. Strengthen the comprehensive management of agricultural surface pollution, deepen promotion of agricultural input reduction, strengthen the utilization of livestock and poultry manure resources, promote the scientific use and recycling of agricultural plastic film, and support the comprehensive use of straw. Build national agricultural green development pioneer areas. Carry out evaluation of agricultural green development conditions. Carry out water system connectivity and “Beautiful Water Village” construction. Implement major ecological protection and restoration projects, restore the ecological environment of rivers and lakes, and strengthen natural forest protection and restoration, and grassland recuperation. Scientifically promote land greening. Support the development of pastoral areas and income augmentation of pastoralists, and implement the third round of grassland ecological protection subsidy and incentive policies. Research, develop, and apply carbon reduction and carbon sink agricultural technologies, and explore the establishment of a value realization mechanism for carbon sink products. Implement major biodiversity protection projects; Consolidate the results of the Yangtze River fishing ban, strengthen the resettlement of retired fishermen, and bolster routine law enforcement supervision. Strengthen the conservation of aquatic organisms and regulate their proliferation and release. Build a nature reserve system with national parks as the mainstay. Issue guiding opinions on promoting ecological revitalization of the countryside.

V. Solidly and steadily promote rural construction

21. Improve mechanisms for implementing rural construction. Implement the requirements of rural revitalization for the farmers and rural construction for the farmers, adhere to a bottom-up approach with villager autonomy and farmer participation, launch the implementation plan for rural construction action, choosing methods according to local conditions, and advancing vigorously in an orderly fashion. Insist on quality over quantity and effectiveness over progress, seek “good” instead of “fast,” and grasp the “time, degree, and impact” of rural construction. Carry out rural construction based on the existing village foundation, and do not blindly demolish old villages to build new villages, nor engage in large-scale financing, development, or construction beyond the stage of development, avoiding waste caused by ineffective investment, and preventing the risk of village-level debt. Coordinate the layout of towns and villages, scientifically determine the classification of villages, accelerate promotion of village plan preparation by villages with the appropriate conditions and needs, and strictly regulate village consolidation. Carry out demonstrations of the protection and utilization of concentrated and contiguous traditional villages, and improve mechanisms for the monitoring and evaluation, warning and withdrawal, and pre-consolidation review of traditional villages Protect characteristic ethnic minority villages. Implement the “Rescuing Old Houses Campaign.” Promote the streamlined approval of small construction projects in villages, regulate project management, and improve financial performance. Summarize and extend the effective practices of villagers’ autonomous organizations, rural collective economic organizations, and farmers’ participation in village construction projects. Clarify the property rights of rural construction projects, and organize the preparation of lists, with counties as the units, of responsibilities for the management of public infrastructure in villages.

22. Continue to implement the five-year action for rural habitat environment improvement and upgrading. Promote rural toilet improvement based on farmers’ actual requirements. Sanitary flush toilets can be promoted where conditions permit, coordinating to do a good job of water supply assurance and sewage treatment; where conditions do not permit flush toilets, sanitary dry toilets can be constructed. Consolidate the results of troubleshooting and rectification of household toilet issues. Promote the differentiated treatment of rural sewage by area, giving priority to the treatment of densely populated villages, and promote small-scale ecological treatment and resource utilization of sewage in places not suited to centralized treatment. Accelerate the treatment of darkened and odorous water bodies in rural areas. Promote domestic waste source separation and reduction, strengthen the construction of comprehensive disposal and utilization facilities for organic waste in villages, and promote local utilization and treatment. Implement village cleanup, greening and beautification efforts.

23. Solidly carry out rural infrastructure construction in key fields. In an orderly fashion, promote the connecting of townships with grade three or above highways, and the connecting of relatively populous natural villages (groups) with hardened roads; and implement rural highway safety and life protection projects, and the reconstruction of dangerous bridges. Solidly carry out rural highway management and maintenance system reform pilot projects. Steadily promote automatic road condition detection for rural highways. Promote the construction and renovation of rural water supply projects, supported with complete purification and disinfection facilities and equipment. Deepen implementation of rural power grid consolidation and upgrading projects. Promote the construction of rural solar PV, biomass, and other clean energy. Implement projects to improve the quality and safety of rural housing, continue to implement dangerous house renovation and seismic retrofitting in rural areas, and improve the specifications of rural housing construction standards. Strengthen the rectification of safety hazards of rural self-built buildings used for business.

24. Vigorously promote digital village construction. Promote the development of intelligent agriculture, and promote the integration of information technology with agricultural machinery and agronomic applications. Strengthen the digital literacy and skills training of farmers. Empower rural public services with digital technology, and promote the extension of “internet + government services” coverage to rural areas. Focusing on solving practical problems, expand the application scenarios of agricultural and rural big data. Accelerate digital village standardization, study and formulate a development evaluation index system, and continue to carry out digital village pilot projects. Strengthen the construction of rural information infrastructure.

25. Strengthen county-level coordination of basic public services. Accelerate promotion of urbanization with county seats as important vehicles. Strengthen inclusive, basic, and bottom-up livelihood improvement, and promote a transformation in the supply of basic public services from a focus on institutional administrative area coverage to a focus on resident population service coverage. Implement a new round of the preschool education action plan, use multiple channels to accelerate the construction of universal preschool education resources in rural areas, and properly handle special education. Solidly promote the building of urban and rural school communities. Deeply promote the building of close-knit county-level medical and health communities, implement health insurance based on total payment, strengthen supervision and assessment, and realize surplus retention and reasonable over-expenditure sharing. Promote the informatization of health insurance in designated rural grassroots medical institutions, strengthen the full coverage of “smart” monitoring, and enhance the supervision of health insurance funds. Implement the policy of differentiated funding for groups with special difficulties to participate in basic health insurance for urban and rural residents. Where conditions permit, localities can provide subsidies for the operation of village health offices, and implement social security benefits such as old age security and health insurance for village doctors in a differentiated manner. Heighten the ability of county-level homes for the elderly to care for the disabled, and the level of centralized care in township homes for the elderly, and encourage the development of daytime care, dining halls for seniors, and other services in villages where conditions permit. Strengthen township convenience services and social work services, and implement village-level comprehensive service facility improvement projects. Improve the hierarchical differentiation of the social assistance system to effectively assure the basic livelihoods of farmers in need. Improve the care and contact system for grassroots Party members and cadres, and frequently visit empty nesters, left-behind children, and the disabled. Improve the care and protection network for minors.

VI. Highlight effectiveness in improving rural governance

26. Strengthen the building of rural grassroots organizations. Strengthen the responsibilities of county-level Party committees in “grasping townships and promoting villages,” deepen reform of the township management system, improve the unified command and overall coordination mechanisms of township Party committees, strengthen the building of leadership teams in townships and villages after leadership transitions, and carry out comprehensive training for rural grassroots cadres on rural revitalization topics. Continuously investigate and rectify weak and lax village Party organizations. Make good use of the roles of village first secretaries and task forces in grasping party-building and promoting rural revitalization. Improve mechanisms for the study and discussion of important village-level matters and major issues by village Party organizations, and fully implement the “four discussions and two disclosures” system. Carry out in-depth city and county inspections, strengthen grassroots supervision, enhance communication and cooperation between grassroots discipline inspection and supervision organizations and village affairs supervision committees, and strengthen the supervision of village cadres. Improve the Party-led rural governance system combining self-governance, rule of law, and rule of morality, and put into effect grid-based management, digital empowerment, and refined services. Promote the standardization of village committees. Deepen pilot demonstrations of rural governance system construction. Carry out innovative experiments on village-level deliberation and consultation. Promote the list system for village-level organizations on matters of self-governance and matters of assistance with government work according to law, regulate the institutional signage and certification matters of village-level organizations, implement the “one table” system for basic information statistics at the village level, and lighten the burdens of village organizations.

27. Innovate effective platforms and vehicles for building spiritual civilization in rural areas. Rely on the New Era Civilization Practice Centers, county-level media centers, and other platforms to carry out targeted and audience-specific propaganda and education, and carry forward and practice the core socialist values. In rural areas, innovate in carrying out “listen to the Party, be grateful to the Party, and follow the Party” propaganda and education activities. Explore specific ways to coordinate promotion of the integrated development of urban and rural spiritual civilization, and improve the nationwide civilized villages and towns assessment system. Launch implementation of the plan for using cultural industries to empower rural revitalization. Integrate resources of cultural activities for benefiting the people, and support farmers in organizing their own cultural and sports activities that reflect the fun and flavor of farming, such as village songs, “village nights,” square dances, and fun games. Do a good job of holding Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festivals. Strengthen protection of the cultural inheritance of farming, and promote the protection and utilization of the intangible cultural heritage and important cultural heritage of agriculture. Promote the point-based system and other forms of governance, effectively utilize the role of village rules and regulations, and of family education and family traditions, promote rural wedding customs reform pilot projects and funeral customs reform, and carry out special control campaigns against prominent problems in key areas of changing customs and traditions, such as high-priced dowries and exorbitant spending on big events.

28. Effectively maintain social peace and stability in rural areas. Promote construction of a higher-level of peaceful villages under the rule of law. Create a number of “Fengqiao-style public security police stations” and “Fengqiao-style people’s courts.” Normalize the fight against underworld and evil forces, and continue to combat “village bullies.” Prevent rural grassroots power from being eroded and negatively influenced by underworld and evil forces, family forces, and clan forces. In accordance with law, crack down on rural pornography, gambling, drugs, and crimes against the personal rights of rural women and children. Strengthen propaganda and education on the rule of law in rural areas. Strengthen grassroots public psychological services and crisis intervention, and build a one-stop mechanism for resolving diverse conflicts and disputes. Reinforce rural religious work. Coordinate promotion of emergency management and rural governance resources integration, accelerate the construction of rural emergency broadcast active release terminals, and guide the proper performance of emergency personnel evacuation work. Carry out investigations and special treatment of risks and hidden dangers in the fields of rural traffic, firefighting, safe production, natural disasters, and food and drug safety, and crack down according to law on the production and sale of counterfeit and shoddy agricultural products, illegal fundraising, telecommunication fraud, and other illegal and criminal acts in rural areas. Strengthen capacity building for comprehensive administrative law enforcement in agriculture. Put into effect responsibility for disease prevention and control in primary healthcare institutions. Improve the system for normalized COVID-19 prevention and control in rural areas, and strictly implement joint prevention and control and group prevention and control measures.

VII. Increase policy assurance and institutional mechanism innovation

29. Expand investment in rural revitalization. Continue to take agriculture and rural areas as a priority area for assurance in the general public budget, further tilt investment within the central budget toward agriculture and rural areas, and compress the responsibility for local government investment. Strengthen assessment and supervision, and steadily increase the percentage of land concession revenue used for agriculture and rural areas. Support local governments in issuing government bonds for eligible rural revitalization public welfare projects. Improve the quality of the rural revitalization projects in the pipeline. Strengthen budget performance management and supervision.

30. Strengthen financial services for rural revitalization. For local corporate financial institutions with legal persons and business in counties, and whose funds are used mainly for rural revitalization, increase support for re-lending and re-discounting to support agriculture and small businesses, and implement more preferential deposit reserve policies. Support various financial institutions in exploring medium- and long-term credit models for agricultural and rural infrastructure. Accelerate the reform of rural credit cooperatives, improve the governance mechanisms of provincial (autonomous region) rural credit unions, and steadily resolve risks. Improve the statistical system of financial services for rural revitalization, and carry out assessment and evaluation of financial institution services for rural revitalization. Carry out in-depth construction of the rural credit system, and develop credit facilities for farmers. Strengthen the popularization and education of financial knowledge and the protection of financial consumer rights in rural areas. Actively develop agricultural insurance and reinsurance. Optimize and improve the “insurance + futures” model. Strengthen the market sharing and compensation of agricultural credit risks, and give full play to the role of agricultural credit guarantees.

31. Strengthen the building of talent teams for rural revitalization. Discover, train, and use strategic scientists in the field of agriculture. Launch the “Shennong Talents” program, and accelerate the training of science and technology leaders, young scientific and technological talents, and high-level innovation teams. Deeply implement the system of science and technology envoys. Implement a high-quality farmer incubation program, the “Lead Goose” project for cultivating leaders for rural industrial revitalization, the youth achievement action for rural revitalization, and the women’s action for rural revitalization. Implement the policy of tilting toward grassroots business units in hardship and remote areas in open recruitment, carry out “targeted evaluation and targeted use” work for the professional title evaluation of professional and technical personnel below the county level, and implement total number control and separate listing of proportions for middle and senior professional and technical positions. Improve the farming practice-based education system. Optimize the structure of disciplines and specialties, and support the operation of agriculture-related higher education schools and vocational education. Cultivate rural planning, design, construction, and management professionals and local talents. Encourage localities to introduce incentive policies for urban talents to go to the countryside to serve rural revitalization.

32. Properly grasp implementation of key rural reform tasks. Carry out county-wide pilot projects to re-extend land contracts for another 30 years after the second-round contracts expire. Consolidate and enhance the results of the reform of the rural collective property rights system, explore the establishment of a rural collective asset supervision and management service system, and explore development paths for the new type of rural collective economy. Steadily and cautiously promote pilot rural homestead system reform, normalize the carrying out of integrated (housing and land) homestead rights registration. Promote, in a steady and orderly fashion, the entry into the market of rural collective construction land. Promote carrying out mortgage financing with the use rights to collective construction land. In accordance with laws and regulations, and in an orderly fashion, carry out the pilot project on comprehensive land consolidation in the whole region. Deepen reform of the collective forest rights system. Improve the land use rights management system for state-owned agricultural land from agricultural reclamation. Carry out a pilot project for the normalized construction of markets for rural property rights transfer transactions. Formulate an implementation plan for the new phase of deepening rural reform.

VIII. Adhere to and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership of agriculture, farmers, and rural areas work

33. Compress responsibility for comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. Formulate measures to implement the responsibility system for rural revitalization, clarify the responsibilities of the central and state institutions for promoting rural revitalization, and strengthen the responsibilities of the secretaries at five levels for grasping rural revitalization. Conduct performance assessment of provincial Party and government leadership teams and leading cadres in promoting the rural revitalization strategy. Improve the system for assessing the performance for municipal and county Party and government leadership teams and leading cadres in promoting the rural revitalization strategy, encourage localities to give appropriate incentives to cities and counties with high appraisal rankings, and conduct interviews for those with low appraisal rankings and ineffective performance. Implement the rural revitalization contact point system for comrades in charge of Party committees and governments at all levels. Drawing on the experience of the “Ten Million Project” in Zhejiang, encourage local Party committees and governments to carry out practical and useful activities such as on-site observation and exchange learning. Conduct a summary assessment of the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization (2018-2022). Strengthen the training of Party and government leadership cadres at all levels after centralized changes of leadership [in provinces, cities, counties, and townships at the same time], especially those in charge of agriculture, farmers, and rural areas work.

34. Build and strengthen the Party’s rural work institutions. Rural work leading groups of Party committees at all levels must fully play their roles—taking the lead in grasping the overall picture, coordinating, etc.—in agriculture, farmers, and rural areas work, and must shoulder as one their responsibilities for consolidating and expanding the results of poverty alleviation, and for deliberating and coordinating the comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization. Promote the standardization and institutionalization of deliberations by the rural work leading groups of Party committees at all levels, establish and improve division of labor and implementation mechanisms for key tasks, and coordinate promotion of rural revitalization. Strengthen the construction of the rural work leading group offices of the Party committees at all levels, replenish their work force, improve their operation mechanisms, and strengthen their responsibilities as to the decision-making advice, coordination, policy guidance, promotion of implementation, supervision and inspection, etc.

35. Promote the comprehensive development of rural revitalization by extending experience from pilot points to whole areas. Carry out the creation of “100 counties, 1,000 towns and 10,000 villages” rural revitalization demonstration sites, adopt the method of first creating and then identifying, and create a number of rural revitalization demonstration sites at different levels—demonstration counties, demonstration townships and towns, and demonstration villages. Promote the creation of agricultural modernization demonstration areas. Widely mobilize social forces to participate in rural revitalization, and promote the “ten thousand enterprises to revitalize ten thousand villages” action. In accordance with provisions, establish a commendation and incentive system for rural revitalization.

Let us unite closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, make real efforts, work hard, strive to create a new situation in the comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization, and welcome the successful convening of 20th Party Congress with practical actions!