Peng Wei: Anchoring Agricultural and Rural Modernization to Build a Strong Agricultural Country
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was a highly significant meeting held during a critical period in which our country has entered the stage of consolidating the foundation and exerting full effort toward basically achieving socialist modernization. The Plenum reviewed and adopted the "Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the Recommendations), emphasizing that "the modernization of agriculture and rural areas concerns the overall situation and the essential quality of Chinese-path modernization. We must persist in taking the resolution of the 'three rural issues' [1] as the top priority of the whole Party's work, promote integrated urban-rural development, continuously consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation, push for rural areas to basically possess modern living conditions, and accelerate the building of a strong agricultural country." This fully reflects the important strategic considerations of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in advancing the modernization of agriculture and rural areas within the overall framework of Chinese-path modernization. It outlines a vision of agricultural and rural modernization characterized by "high-quality and efficient agriculture, livable and workable rural areas, and wealthy and prosperous farmers." We must anchor ourselves to the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and take solid steps toward the goal of building a strong agricultural country.
1. Enhancing Comprehensive Agricultural Productive Capacity, Quality, and Efficiency to Build Agriculture into a Modernized Pillar Industry
Enhancing comprehensive agricultural productive capacity, quality, and efficiency is a key task in accelerating agricultural and rural modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, "For China to be strong, agriculture must be strong." The Recommendations propose to "persist in simultaneously addressing output and capacity, production and ecology, and yield increases and income growth; coordinate the development of science-and-technology agriculture, green agriculture, quality agriculture, and brand agriculture; and build agriculture into a modernized pillar industry." Through technological drivers, ecological optimization, standard elevation, and brand shaping, we will promote a profound transformation of agriculture from traditional production to a modern industrial system with full chains, high added value, and sustainability.
"Enhancing comprehensive agricultural productive capacity, quality, and efficiency" places higher demands on agricultural modernization in terms of both aggregate volume and quality. In a narrow sense, the concept of capacity refers to the maximum production potential that arable land can reach; in 2025, China's grain output remained stable at over 1.4 trillion jin [2]. To enhance comprehensive agricultural productive capacity and quality/efficiency, we must stabilize the sown area of grain, take the large-scale improvement of per-unit yields of grain and oil crops as a key measure, invigorate the implementation of a new round of actions to increase grain capacity by 100 billion jin, and promote the dual forces of improving grain varieties and enhancing quality to strengthen the capacity to guarantee the supply of grain and other important agricultural products. In a broad sense, the concept of capacity refers to the maximum productive potential achieved through the efficiency gains of traditional factors and the tapping of new factor productivity. To enhance comprehensive agricultural productive capacity and quality/efficiency, we must establish a "Great Agriculture" [3] and "Great Food" [4] perspective, persist in the simultaneous development of farming, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries, develop modern facility agriculture, and construct a diversified food supply system. This means achieving "quality improvement" and "efficiency enhancement" on the basis of "guaranteeing volume." We must base our efforts on resource endowments and stages of development, follow the laws of modern industrial growth, promote regionalized layout, large-scale production, and industrialized operation of agriculture, and expand the connotation and boundaries of agriculture. Building on the foundation of agricultural product production, we must do a thorough and dynamic job in the "Grain-Head-Food-Tail," "Livestock-Head-Meat-Tail," and "Farm-Head-Factory-Tail" [5] initiatives. We should promote the extension of the agricultural industrial chain and the elevation of the value chain to comprehensively enhance agricultural quality, efficiency, and competitiveness in domestic and international market competition.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, to build agriculture into a modernized pillar industry, we must, first, always place food security at the forefront of "three rural" work. We will deeply implement the strategy of "storing grain in the ground and in technology," [6] strictly guard the "red line" of arable land, stringently manage the balance between occupation and compensation, and coordinate the optimization of agricultural land layouts. Through the three major measures of high-standard farmland construction, breakthroughs in superior seeds, and the upgrading of agricultural machinery, we will improve soil quality, enhance technological levels and production organizational management capabilities, and increase grain per-unit yields. We must properly handle the relationships between aggregate volume and structure, capacity and output, and grain and diversified food sources to guarantee national food security at a higher level. Second, we must develop new quality productive forces in agriculture according to local conditions. We should comprehensively integrate biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing technology into all links of agricultural production, empowering the process in an all-round way to help improve agricultural resource utilization, labor productivity, and land output rates. We will cultivate and strengthen emerging and future industries in the agricultural field, implement smart agriculture construction projects, and expand the application scenarios of big data, agricultural robotics, and artificial intelligence in agricultural and rural areas. We will promote the utilization of agricultural waste as resources, materials, and energy to accelerate the green transition of agriculture. Third, we must innovate agricultural production and operation modes. Adhering to trend-based changes in the quantity and quality structure of the agricultural workforce, the relationship between people and land, means of production technology, and agricultural comparative advantages, we will promote the intensification, organization, and socialization of agricultural production and operation, accelerating the comprehensive integration of smallholder farmers with modern agricultural development.
2. Advancing the Construction of Livable, Workable, and Beautiful Rural Areas to Create High-Quality Rural Living Spaces
Advancing the construction of livable, workable, and beautiful rural areas is an inevitable requirement for accelerating agricultural and rural modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "For China to be beautiful, the countryside must be beautiful," and noted that "rural modernization is an intrinsic requirement and necessary condition for building a strong agricultural country; building livable, workable, and beautiful rural areas is an inherent part of being a strong agricultural country." The Recommendations propose to "create high-quality rural living spaces," emphasizing key tasks such as learning from and applying the experience of the "Green Rural Revival Program" [7], improving mechanisms for rural construction implementation according to local conditions, and accelerating the filling of gaps in modern rural living conditions.
In advancing the construction of livable, workable, and beautiful rural areas, we must focus on the "hardware" goal of "rural areas basically possessing modern living conditions," organizing and implementing rural construction actions so that farmers can lead a modern, civilized life in situ. Regarding "software," we must strive to shape a rural spiritual outlook characterized by benevolence, harmony, and tranquility, coordinating the advancement of rural economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization construction alongside Party building. This will promote the rural areas' leap from "shaping the form" to "casting the soul"—a comprehensive elevation that is thorough from the inside out, possessing both form and spirit. On the basis of the "Plan for Comprehensively Promoting Rural Revitalization (2024–2027)," which calls for "promoting comprehensive rural revitalization in an orderly and categorized manner," the Recommendations added the term "regionalized" (片区化)—that is, "promoting rural revitalization in an orderly, categorized, and regionalized manner." Following the principles of adjacent geography, similar endowments, connected industries, and proximate cultures, rural areas are divided into several regions. These regions serve as units for unified planning, construction, operation, and governance, promoting the clustered and holistic development of industries, environmental remediation, and organizational co-construction across entire areas.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, to create high-quality rural living spaces, we must, first, adhere to the people-centered development philosophy. We must respect the wishes of farmers, persist in the principle that rural construction is for the farmers, learn from the "Green Rural Revival Program" experience, and fully stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of farmers. We must establish mechanisms for the broad participation of farmers and social forces in everything from planning and design to project supervision, and from environmental remediation to industrial development. Second, we must persist in the principle of adapting to local conditions. Changes in rural forms and population have led to shifts in rural space and layout; we need to coordinate and optimize the layout of villages and towns based on these changes, carrying out construction by category while applying policies tailored to local conditions regarding priorities and sequencing. Third, we must take the high-quality promotion of rural quality living construction as the focal point. Creating high-quality rural living spaces does not mean building villages to look exactly like cities; rather, it means proceeding from the reality of each locality to respond to farmers' needs, gradually improving the completeness of rural infrastructure, the convenience of public services, and the comfort of the living environment, making beautiful rural areas a happy home for the masses of farmers. We must continuously remediate and improve the rural living environment, addressing "small but critical matters" such as rural toilet renovation and trash-encircled villages with the "spirit of driving a nail" [8]. We must accelerate the filling of gaps in modern rural living conditions, achieve synergy between production, life, and ecology, and promote the transformation of the countryside from "outward beauty" to "inward beauty," and from "temporary beauty" to "lasting beauty."
3. Increasing the Effectiveness of Policies for Strengthening, Benefiting, and Enriching Farmers to Promote Steady Income Growth
Increasing the effectiveness of policies for strengthening, benefiting, and enriching farmers is a powerful guarantee for accelerating agricultural and rural modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "For China to be rich, the farmers must be rich." The Recommendations propose to cultivate and strengthen rural characteristic industries, improve mechanisms for linking and leading farmers, and promote steady income growth for farmers. Currently, the growth of farmers' incomes in China mainly relies on wage-based income and transfer income. We must expand the channels and methods for farmers' participation in industrial development, improve mechanisms for the equitable sharing of industrial development benefits, and guide new types of agricultural operational entities to lead farmers toward prosperity.
To increase the effectiveness of policies for strengthening, benefiting, and enriching farmers, we must optimize a diversified investment pattern characterized by fiscal priority, financial emphasis, and active social participation, ensuring that the intensity of investment in rural revitalization continues to grow. The Recommendations emphasize "protecting and mobilizing the enthusiasm of farmers for farming and grain production." We must properly handle the relationship between guaranteeing food security and promoting farmers' income growth, establishing a long-term mechanism for diversified income increases. At the same time, we should increase the benefit compensation mechanism for major grain-producing areas and implement inter-provincial horizontal benefit compensation between production and marketing areas. We will steadily advance the pilot program for extending the second round of land contracts by another thirty years upon expiration, and work to resolve the problem of land fragmentation. We will coordinately establish a regularized mechanism to prevent a return to poverty, creating normalized management and operation mechanisms in areas such as organizational leadership, social mobilization, evaluation and supervision, monitoring and early warning, and identification and assistance.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, to promote steady income growth for farmers, we must, first, increase policy support. In 2025, the per capita disposable income of China's rural residents reached 24,456 yuan, a real increase of 6% over the previous year; however, challenges to maintaining steady growth are increasing and becoming more difficult. Therefore, we must strengthen the coordination of policy support for prices, subsidies, and insurance. Following the logic of "stabilizing returns, extending the chain, increasing employment, and expanding consumption," we will increase support for farmers' income growth. Second, we must develop county-level industries that enrich the people, promoting the nearby and local employment and income growth of migrant workers. We should leverage the role of "local specialties" to form a pattern of "one industry per county" and "one product per village." We will build a modern rural industrial system with distinct characteristics, fully tapping into and expanding the multiple functions of agriculture to promote the coordinated linkage of industrial, value, and supply chains. We should give full play to the important roles of professional cooperatives and their associations, leading enterprises, professional service companies, and collective economic organizations to create a "community of shared interests" across the entire rural industrial chain. Third, we must strive to break the urban-rural dual structure and promote integrated urban-rural development. We will scientifically and orderly promote the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population and improve supporting services for their employment, housing, education, and medical care. We will promote the two-way flow of urban and rural factors, encouraging all types of talent to serve the countryside and engage in entrepreneurship and employment. We will protect the land contract rights, residential land use rights, and collective benefit distribution rights of farmers who have settled in cities in accordance with the law, and explore ways to establish methods for voluntary and compensated withdrawal [9]. We will implement large-scale vocational skills training, ensuring a precise match between training projects and job requirements, to promote stable employment for migrant workers.