Xi urges intensified efforts to advance rural reform

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for more efforts to advance rural reform to ensure a solid agricultural foundation and the well-being of farmers.

Xi made the remarks when he presided over a symposium on rural reform in Xiaogang Village of Fengyang County in east China's Anhui Province.

Addressing the symposium with local officials on Monday in Xiaogang Village, a major cradle of China's rural reform, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers is at the top of the CPC's agenda.

The core of deepening rural reform is upholding and improving the basic rural operation system, sticking to collective ownership of rural land, adhering to the fundamental status of household management in agriculture, and insisting on keeping land-contracted relationships stable, said Xi.

Xi called for greater efforts to implement a pilot scheme to allow contracted rural land-use rights, noting that the separation of contract rights and operation rights is a major innovation in rural reform.

The key to the scheme is to respect the wishes of farmers, safeguard farmers' rights and interests and ensure grain production capacity, Xi said.

Xi stressed that developing modern agriculture, increasing farmers' income and building a new socialist countryside are the three major tasks in boosting rural development.

A modern agricultural industrial system, production system, management system and a group of skilled farmers should be fostered, Xi added.

Xi urged CPC officials at all levels to make more efforts to help farmers solve problems and increase their income as well as maintain rural stability.