BEIJING: Despite the havoc of severe summer floods in some areas, China has secured another bumper harvest in 2023, laying a solid foundation for the steady recovery of the Chinese economy.
China’s grain output rose 1.3 percent year on year to a record high of 695.41 million tonnes in 2023, official data showed. This is the ninth consecutive year for China to register a grain harvest of over 650 million tonnes.
At the annual central rural work conference that concluded on Wednesday, China specified moves and tasks to advance rural revitalization across the board and boost the modernization of the countryside in the year ahead.
The country will make unremitting efforts to strengthen the foundation of the agricultural sector and accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas to firmly advance Chinese modernization.
Advancing rural revitalization across the board creates enormous potential for the economy in terms of investment, consumption, industrial development, and more.
Investment in infrastructure such as water conservancy and road construction projects has continued to increase. From January to November this year, China invested a record 1.09 trillion yuan (about 153.6 billion U.S. dollars) in water conservancy construction. The fixed assets investment in rural roads increased 5.1 percent year on year to reach 358.7 billion yuan in the first three quarters.
The huge investment demand in rural areas will be an important driver for growth. In the next five to 10 years, key tasks such as the construction of high-standard farmlands and modern agriculture facilities will generate an investment demand of nearly 15 trillion yuan, according to experts.
Online retail sales in China’s rural areas increased by 12.2 percent year on year to reach 1.7 trillion yuan in the first three quarters. The sales of new energy vehicle models which participated in promotion activities in the countryside increased by 80 percent, 169 percent and 87 percent, respectively, in 2020, 2021 and 2022, data with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed. The sales of such vehicles are expected to continue to rise this year. The impressive momentum in consumption shows the promising role of rural areas in expanding domestic demand.
As a crucial component of rural revitalization and robust agriculture, industrial development in produce processing, specialty products and tourism has experienced significant progress in recent years. For example, the central budget has supported the construction of hundreds of special and competitive industry clusters and modern agricultural industrial parks nationwide. Booming industries mean reliable sources of income for tens of millions of farmers. China holds that the most challenging and arduous tasks in building a modern socialist country in all respects are in its rural areas. With the historic achievement of eradicating absolute poverty and the steady increase in farmers’ income, rural areas will unlock new and sustained development potentials during the revitalization process that will serve as an important driving force for the Chinese economy in the years ahead. –Agencies
