News Bulletin

• Editorial Note
• Why China Wants Yuan to be the World's 5th Reserve Currency
• India China to hold Border Talks
• China's Regional Power Shift the Silk Road Initiative
• Indian CMs & Chinese Governors Tango Soon
• On the 65th Anniversary of India China Diplomatic Relations
• Highway To Modernization

Highway To Modernization
China's grain output hit 607.1 million tons in 2014, up 0.9 percent year on year; its rural per-capita net income stood at 989 yuan ($158), an increase of 9.2 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics. The income of rural residents grew faster than that of urban residents. While great achievements have been made in agricultural development, the pressure to do more lingers."Equal emphasis should be laid on elevating output, quality and efficiency," said Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group. Chen noted that the greatest challenges to agricultural development now come from rising production costs and a deteriorating ecological environment. Currently, production costs of major agricultural crops in China are higher than imports. "Since China has a huge population engaged in agriculture and household-based farming is usually small-scaled, it is difficult to lower production costs," Chen said. As was stressed during the Central Rural Work Conference held at the end of last year, registration and confirmation of farmers' rights to their contracted lands should be accelerated and transfer of land use rights should be encouraged to develop large-scale farming. "In the past, China's agricultural development was resource-intensive. To balance the importance of quantity, quality and efficiency, efforts should be made to propel scientific and technological progress and raise farmers' awareness of modern farming techniques," Han said. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the contribution rate of science and technology to agricultural development has reached 57 percent in China, and the country's comprehensive agricultural mechanization rate has surpassed 60 percent. Farmlands managed by large-scale farming entities, such as family farms and farmers' cooperatives, have accounted for roughly one third of the total contractual lands. China needs a new agricultural management system and new operating entities are encouraged to develop various forms of large-scale farming, says the No.1 Document. According to statistics from the MOA, there have been 870,000 family farms and 1.21 million farmers' cooperatives in China, which have greatly boosted efficiency of agricultural production.