What problems does the Party, the State, and the Ying | rural revitalization face?

When it comes to rural revitalization, first of all, we must have a clear definition of rural areas. In March this year, the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank and other six major international institutions completed a very important work to divide the world's population layout types, which is conducive to solving the problem of urban and rural distinctions for many years. They divide the population layout into three categories: urban --- in contiguous areas with a population density greater than or equal to 1,500 people per square kilometer, a total population of more than 50,000 people, and at least half of the population in the central area fully cover---ed by urban facilities; Agricultural areas --- areas with a population density of less than 300 outside the above two types of areas. The regional distribution and boundaries of these three population layouts are not very clear in our country, but this layout concept is very important. Only when the population layout is clear can we know the more specific work goals of promoting the rural revitalization strategy.

Judging from the history of developed countries, the existence of municipalities and semi-densely populated areas is very important for the development of agricultural areas. In the cause of rural revitalization, the overall operation of this area and the agricultural area is conducive to solving many of the problems we are facing.

First, the problem of efficiency. Professor Zhang Hongyu predicts that by around 2040, the proportion of China's agricultural population in total practitioners may be less than 5%, which is a forward-looking statement. A significant proportion of the 5% of the practitioners are large-scale operators. In the future, what will be the relationship between these operators and those who have the right to contract land but do not engage in agriculture? Tenant-tenant relationship? And the delegation relationship? Is it good for agriculture to maintain such relationships over the long term? I'm skeptical. My view is that if we want to achieve economic efficiency, we still have to take the road of "moderate-scale operation + deepening social division of labor + socialized services", and small contractors must achieve historical transformation and become a real non-agricultural population. But this is a difficult point. Specific to this difficulty, it will involve the problem of family transfer, the problem of small city development, and the problem of agricultural product cycle. Among the efficiency conundrums are the conundrums of public services. For example, in some places, the quality of road construction is too high, the density of roads is too large, and the gap between input and output is too large; and some public service facilities have high maintenance costs, especially after the water treatment unit is invested, the utilization efficiency is not high. Of course, such a problem exists all over the world. At present, the corresponding expenditure of urban communities and the corresponding expenditure of rural communities in China are not too different, but the population coverage of rural public services is low, the quality of services is relatively poor, and there are efficiency problems in public services.

Second, the equality dilemma. After the scale of operation, will the peasants' income be raised? This is not the case. Of course, if there is no scale operation, farmers' incomes are lower. Judging from the situation in developed countries such as the United States, the real income from land operations only accounts for about 1/5 of the income of peasants, which is a big problem. Why is it that after the rural areas have large-scale operations, the main income of farmers cannot be increased, and even the proportion is getting lower and lower? How can a mechanism be established so that the incomes of agricultural workers are broadly consistent with those of the other population, or even slightly higher than those of the latter? This is also a conundrum. In addition, the equality dilemma also has the problem of basic public services. Public services should pursue accessibility, not necessarily "small and complete" in small settlements. But accessibility satisfaction is not easy.

Third, the problem of social governance. Has the central government's opinion on the separation of economic organizations from social governance organizations been implemented? Should smaller and smaller rural settlements continue to maintain autonomous organizations? Can social governance achieve urban-rural integration? Can the current countryside carry nostalgia? Can we make cities carry "nostalgia" through the improvement of urban construction? These are difficult problems. With the advancement of urbanization, the population layout described above will be formed in the future, that is, the population center of gravity in rural areas is in the municipal area, and the real agricultural residents are mainly agricultural families, who are small in number and scattered in small settlements, and some will set up settlements on their own farms that integrate production and household. In this case, can the existing village committee system adapt to the new form of residence?

From the experience of developed countries, solving these problems generally requires the following development actions or policy innovations.

First, it is necessary to respect the peasants' right to free choice, including the right to land circulation and trade, and the right to move freely. When the peasants' right to make their own choices is respected, there is a mechanism for correcting mistakes, and some of the government's untimely policies will not have too much negative impact on development, and good policies will be easier to implement.

Second, rural areas must have non-agricultural residents who far exceed the number of farmers. These residents include practitioners of other parts of the agricultural industry chain. However, these residents are generally not suitable to be neighbors of the farmer, but should become municipal residents, bringing a certain population size and density to the municipality. The size of the population of built-up areas with more than 20,000 people is a necessary condition for the effective operation of public service facilities. Such municipalities have the potential to become livable small cities and more likely to become regional centres serving agricultural farmers.

Third, the municipality should have a balanced layout. According to China's national conditions, the municipalities in the rural areas of the eastern, central and western regions can have different municipal radiation areas, which can be generally set between 100-300 square kilometers. The radiation surface of municipalities in the Netherlands is about 100 square kilometers, and in the United States it is about 250 square kilometers. Such municipal density helps to address farmers' access to public services.

Fourth, the center of gravity of the agricultural industry chain should sink. The value creation of the agricultural industry chain is 5-10 times the value of raw materials for agricultural products. The necessary agricultural chain sinks to the municipality, together with other related industries, enough to support the prosperity of a municipality. The seasonal part-time needs of farmers can also be met here, which will help to solve the problem of income difference between urban and rural areas.

Fifth, develop modern professional cooperatives across administrative regions. The small number and large scale of farmers' cooperatives in developed countries can convert part of the value appreciation of the agricultural industrial chain into farmers' income. Limited by the administrative division system and the village management system, there are now more than 2.2 million peasant cooperatives in China, and they basically cannot really play the role of cooperatives. The development of cooperatives must break through the boundaries stipulated in the administrative zoning system, gradually cultivate dozens of well-functioning farmers' cooperatives throughout the country, and make them have the operational capacity of multinational corporations in the international food market, so as to help improve the competitiveness of China's agriculture.

Sixth, social governance has achieved urban-rural integration. In the future, the middle-class and low-income people in agricultural areas will become a major trend, which requires the integration of urban and rural areas in social governance. Around 2040, the number of agricultural households in the country will be less than 20 million, and how to establish opportunities for rural governance at this time needs to be prepared, explored and deployed in advance.

Finally, to summarize, the target area for the implementation of China's rural revitalization strategy should be two parts, namely, semi-densely populated areas including towns and agricultural areas. The policy priorities of the two regions should also differ. The integration of urban and rural development is actually to deal with the relationship between these two target areas. This is the key to solving many problems in rural revitalization.