(Yicai) Feb. 4 -- China’s top annual rural policy blueprint sets out new measures to raise farmers’ income, focusing on stabilizing grain-production earnings, expanding county-level industries, supporting migrant worker employment, and activating idle rural assets.

The No. 1 Central Document, released yesterday, aims to sustain recent gains in rural income growth while addressing mounting challenges. Farmers’ incomes have risen steadily in recent years, and the income gap between urban and rural residents has continued to narrow, but prices of some agricultural products remain low, and employment pressure on migrant workers has increased, making further income growth more difficult.

The document is structured into six sections, covering efforts to enhance agriculture’s overall production capacity and quality efficiency, provide regular and targeted assistance, promote sustained income growth for farmers, advance the development of livable and business-friendly rural areas adapted to local conditions, and strengthen institutional and policy innovation.

At a press conference today, Zhu Weidong, deputy director of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs of the Communist Party of China, said stabilizing income from farming and grain production requires better coordination of price, subsidy, and insurance policies to improve income protection mechanisms for grain farmers and prevent losses caused by falling grain prices.

Grain and Farming Income Support

On pricing, Zhu, who is also the deputy director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, said authorities should make effective use of tools such as minimum purchase prices and target prices, while coordinating market-based purchases with policy-backed procurement to keep prices of key agricultural products, including grain, at reasonable levels.

On subsidies, Zhu called for the continued implementation of cultivated land quality protection subsidies, corn and soybean producer subsidies, and rice subsidies, as well as subsidies for the purchase and application of agricultural machinery. Local governments should also be encouraged to pilot interest subsidies for loans used for grain planting.

Strong industrial development is the material foundation of rural revitalization and a key channel for increasing farmers’ income, Zhu said. Regions should be supported in leveraging their distinctive local resources to develop county-level economies with unique characteristics, promote integrated progress in industrial development, county strengthening, and livelihood improvement, and improve overall planning of industrial projects to avoid homogenization and destructive competition.

New business models such as rural e-commerce and live-streaming sales have expanded rapidly in recent years. Zhu said policy and standard systems should be improved to ensure healthy and orderly development, so these models can genuinely help raise farmers’ income. Authorities should expand channels for farmers to participate in industrial development, improve mechanisms for fair sharing of industrial gains, and foster a virtuous cycle between industrial growth and income growth.

Wage income accounts for the largest share of farmers’ total income. The policy calls for the effective implementation of support measures to stabilize employment for migrant workers, assistance for key industries in reducing costs and expanding job opportunities, and large-scale vocational skills training to better align training programs with labor market demand. It also stresses strengthening employment services for migrant workers, supporting those who return to their hometowns for work or entrepreneurship, ensuring timely payment of wages, and intensifying efforts to address wage arrears.

Editor: Emmi Laine