Advancing agriculture efforts put into focus

President Xi Jinping underlined the importance of relentless work in grain production, furthering supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector and concerted efforts to win the battle against poverty next year in instructions published on Saturday.

Xi's instructions on work related to the agricultural sector, rural areas and farmers came as the central rural work conference was held in the capital on Friday and Saturday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, emphasized the need to improve the living environment in rural areas, pushing forward the new round of rural reform and improving weak links in rural infrastructure and public services in 2019.

The year of 2019 is the key year to secure a decisive victory in achieving the country's first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Xi said.

It is important to prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas, follow the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, implement the requirements for high-quality development and further the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy, he said.

Planning and construction in rural areas, as well as social governance should be further moved forward, and the sense of gain, happiness and security among the farmers must be further enhanced, he said.

Premier Li Keqiang said in an instruction that more work should be done in the new year to implement favorable policies for farmers and further the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

To further the supply-side structural reform in rural areas, it is important to enhance the grain production capacities and the foundation for agriculture, to optimize the agricultural sector and push forward the integrated development of various sectors in rural areas, he said.

Li added that the fostering of new growth engines in rural areas should be accelerated, and that more efforts will be made to support innovation and entrepreneurship in rural areas so that employment can be expanded and farmers can increase their incomes through multiple channels.

China will intensify poverty alleviation efforts in areas and for groups affected by extreme poverty and enhance their impetus to reduce poverty, according to a statement released after the conference.