Rural 'builders' wanted

As China's economic boom in urban areas lures more rural people to find higher-paying jobs in the cities, the country's rural areas are facing a grave aging problem. In 2020, as the country's urbanization rate reached 63.89 percent, people aged 60 and above accounted for 23.81 percent of the total rural population, while the proportion of elderly residents in the cities stood at 15.85 percent.

As per the United Nations' definition of an aging society, China's rural areas have entered the phase of a "moderately aging society" ahead of the urban areas. Since the country's economic growth and urbanization process will continue, the aging problem of rural areas will become increasingly prominent, sparking concerns of an impending agricultural labor force shortage. To offset the aging labor force, large numbers of "rural builders "are needed to transform the ways of agricultural production, increase its efficiency, and bridge the rural-urban gap.

The recently published No 1 Central Document, the first policy statement released by China's central authorities each year, outlined the key tasks to comprehensively push forward rural vitalization.

The document highlighted the importance of rolling out policies to encourage talented urban residents to move to rural areas and help rural vitalization. This is a key step for China to cope with an aging population in rural areas and promote agricultural and rural modernization. According to the document, China will establish a flexible and highly efficient system that both nurtures and attracts professionals to contribute to development in rural areas.

Through the system, young experts will be enrolled to work on the frontlines of rural work, and leaders in various industries will be encouraged to help cultivate professional farmers. In addition, the government will support higher education and vocational education related to agriculture and rural affairs by optimizing the structure of academic disciplines. Thus, more professionals in rural planning, building and management will be nurtured. The document also made clear that the target of rural and agricultural talent cultivation is to train people with practical skills.

A series of specific measures have been unveiled to incentivize urban professionals, including scientific researchers, engineers, teachers and medical workers, to serve in rural areas, providing institutional guarantees for urban people to work in rural areas.

These "rural builders" will become the new backbone for future agricultural production. They will speed up the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, raise the added value of agriculture, and boost the brand value of rural businesses. Under the integrated system of talent flow between urban and rural areas, more human resources will be channeled to rural areas via a two-way flow of people. People from the cities will help build new agricultural production models, reshape the rural governance system, and promote the rule of law in rural areas.

Currently, China has an urbanization rate of 64.7 percent, and nearly 500 million people still live in the countryside, with their incomes lagging far behind urban residents. In 2021, the median income of rural residents was only 38.9 percent that of their urban counterparts. Therefore, for the country to achieve common prosperity, it is imperative to raise agricultural productivity and the incomes of farmers.

On the one hand, the country should transfer rural labor to nonagricultural sectors by promoting the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in urban and rural areas, and boost the added value of agriculture through the development of agriculture with local characteristics, high-quality agricultural products, and extension of the value chain of farm produce.

On the other hand, China should accelerate the technological upgrading of agriculture. Efforts must be made to improve the quality of agricultural products, protect the fertility of arable land, and increase the efficiency of agricultural equipment, thus furthering the country's agricultural modernization. With the country's urbanization process not yet complete, and the rural population rapidly aging, more policies need to be rolled out to encourage urban professionals to contribute to rural development, to build an integrated talent flow system between rural and urban areas, and to apply new technologies, ideas, and innovations to the development of rural areas.

In recent years, practices in some localities have proved the benefits of attracting urban professionals to serve rural development. For example, in Ganzhou of Jiangxi province, entrepreneurs who went back to their rural hometowns have established eight intelligent waste treatment stations, which has greatly improved the local environment. In Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, training programs have been held and training bases have been established to cultivate agricultural professionals. In addition, e-commerce has emerged as a new driver of rural economic growth and proved effective in raising farmers' incomes, in which urban experts have played an important role.

The author is an associate researcher with the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn