BEIJING, Dec. 30 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for solidly advancing rural revitalization across the board and promoting integrated urban-rural development, with a strong focus on agricultural and rural modernization.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in his instructions on work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, which were learned at the annual central rural work conference held in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday.
The conference analyzed the current situation and challenges facing the country's rural work and mapped out policy priorities in 2026.
Prior to the conference, a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee put forward requirements for the conference and work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers.
Xi said that the year 2026 marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), and it is of vital importance to do a good job in the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers.
Efforts should be made to ensure grain production and enhance the efficacy of policies that strengthen agriculture, benefit rural areas, and enrich farmers, Xi said.
China should work to keep the prices of important agricultural products such as grain at a reasonable level and promote stable income growth for farmers, he said.
Xi called for consolidating and expanding achievements in poverty alleviation to prevent rural residents from lapsing or relapsing into poverty on a large scale.
Region-specific measures should be adopted to build a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in, he said.
China should strive to build agriculture into a major modernized sector and basically ensure modern standards of living in rural areas so that farmers can enjoy a more prosperous life, Xi said.
The conference discussed draft opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on focusing on agricultural and rural modernization and advancing rural revitalization across the board.
The conference highlighted the need to accelerate building up China's strength in agriculture. Greater efforts should be made to advance a new round of initiatives for increasing grain production capacity by 50 million tonnes, improve crop varieties, and ensure that the total area of farmland remains above the specified red line.
China should strengthen its push for breakthroughs in core agricultural technologies in key fields, promote efficient application of scientific and technological advances, and develop new quality productive forces in agriculture tailored to local conditions, according to the conference.
The country should make coordinated efforts to establish regular mechanisms for preventing rural residents from lapsing or relapsing into poverty, the conference noted.
It demanded efforts to nurture and expand county industries that enrich local people, and to improve the rural living environment.
The conference also stressed the need to further deepen rural reform, including carrying out province-wide pilot programs across the board to extend rural land contracts by another 30 years upon the expiration of the second-round contracts.
