Accelerating rural reforms

Reform in China's rural areas and agriculture started in the late 1970s after decades of central planning. The resulting rapid growth in agricultural production provided a strong foundation for urban and industrial reforms. Strong agricultural growth continued even after the initial reform. Agricultural production growth increased at an average annual rate of nearly 4 percent and agricultural output value grew more than fourfold from 2000 to 2011, data from the World Bank shows.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics figures, rural incomes increased by 162 percent from 2000 to 2010 and the rural-urban income disparity decreased by 5 percent. This progress is the result of the implementation of a series of policies to expedite rural transformation and boost rural incomes, especially for small farmers.

The government phased out the centuries-old agricultural tax and implemented a number of support policies aimed at boosting the production of staple crops and giving farmers greater access to improved inputs.

These measures have contributed to a substantial increase in agricultural output, as well as raised farmers' incomes by freeing up capital and increasing incentives to invest in agriculture.

The relaxation of rural-urban migration rules has created huge economic dynamics both for rural and urban areas, leading to rapid increase in rural income and the much-needed labor for industrialization and urbanization.

Despite these advances, transformation of China's rural areas remains a big challenge, with many emerging issues threatening to complicate it. Rural-urban income disparity remains high. Access to quality healthcare and social protection is severely limited.

Rural environment and natural resources such as land and water have deteriorated at an unprecedented speed. More than 10 percent of the country's population is still food insecure and the majority of them live in rural areas. So the government has to further advance the welfare and rights of rural migrants.

As the Communist Party of China prepares for its 18th National Congress, it is hoped the country will take further action to sustain rural transformation and address the above challenges.

The government has to continue increasing its expenditure on agriculture, and allocate more funds to increase agricultural productivity through innovations and market development, instead of granting input and output subsides, for they breed economic inefficiency and distort markets.