Chongqing- According to the government work report, Premier Li Keqiang stressed that this year, China would advance rural revitalization across the board to promote the steady development of agriculture and increase rural income.

At Chongqing's second "cloud" press conference during China's Two Sessions, several deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) were invited to share their opinions on how to leverage advantages to shift the policy focus gradually from poverty alleviation towards rural vitalization.

Incorporating local characteristics

What role will Wushan County play in the efforts of rural revitalization? Li Chunkui, an NPC deputy and Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wushan County Committee, said that to advance rural revitalization across the board in the county based on local conditions, it is necessary to integrate its characteristics into the new development pattern.

The county will observe the five principles of achieving thriving businesses, an eco-friendly environment, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and a prosperous rural population to achieve great changes in the following aspects.

By enhancing the rural environment, Wushan county will develop a modern ecological industry system, mainly including ecological tourism, agriculture, health care, and industry.

The county will help urban resources, such as funds, talent, management, industrial and commercial capital, flow to the rural areas, gradually form a modern farmer-based rural governance pattern with participants from multiple parties, and comprehensively promote the construction of digital villages.

With regard to growth drivers, the county will explore to promote the development of the rural collective economy through Party building, accelerate the realization of "enterprise + cooperative + farmer," "rural collective economy + cooperative + farmer," and other modern agricultural models covering the whole region, and effectively put all kinds of idle resources into better use.

Li said the county would develop signature local products such as crisp plum, orange, and Chinese herbal medicine and create a national important ecological product supply place regarding the status of agriculture.

Integrating agriculture and tourism

Liu Jiaqi, an NPC deputy and secretary of the CPC branch of Muhe Village, Nantuo Town, Fuling District. He suggests promoting the integrated development of agriculture and tourism based on the exploration of the village.

Liu analyzed that the integrated development of agriculture and tourism can effectively put the rural collective idle resources in better use, such as barren hills and slopes, pond waters, lakes, forests, historical relics, ancient houses, ancient trees, and other assets, and attract a large amount of urban investment into the rural area.

Meanwhile, tourists can participate in farming work, including agricultural culture, flower and fruit appreciation, leisure and sightseeing, mountain summer vacation, skiing, ethnic festivals, and other interesting activities in different seasons or regions, so as to promote the integrated development of agriculture and tourism.

According to Liu, take Muhe Village as an example. The integrated development of agriculture and tourism can also help attract more villagers who work or do business in other places to return to their hometown to start their own businesses, effectively creating more jobs for them and realizing the desire to make money in the village.

Promoting agricultural branding

Wu Yanjie, an NPC deputy and General Manager of Chongqing Paisenbai Orange Juice Co., Ltd., thought that influential brands of agricultural products should be created to promote rural areas' development.

This year, she gave the following suggestions: building high-end and high-quality brands and establishing a smart agricultural big data system via 5G networks and IoT technologies to support government development planning, agricultural product safety, agricultural product supply, and sales, as well as enterprise investment.

Meanwhile, efforts should be made to improve the standardization system of agricultural products, build high-quality and high-value agricultural brands, and continuously push for the formulation of standards for seed selection, seedling cultivation, standardized agricultural park construction, planting management and protection, picking, processing and production, product classification, packaging, and transportation, so that standardization runs through the whole process of production, supply, and marketing.

"In order to create characteristic agricultural brands, we can build a few landmark brands, promote the large-scale development of brands, and strengthen the publicity and promotion of excellent brands," Wu said. "In addition, establishing a long-term mechanism for the government to empower agricultural branding can play an important role in the healthy and stable development of excellent agricultural brands."

Creating a sound ecological environment

"A sound ecological environment is the greatest advantage and precious asset of rural areas," said Yu Guodong, a CPPCC National Committee member and deputy director of the Chongqing Ecology and Environment Bureau. He thinks as part of the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. This will promote the green development of agriculture and enhance the living environment has become the focus of rural revitalization.

According to Yu, the bureau will further strengthen the environmental protection of rural drinking water sources. The Chongqing Ecology and Environment Bureau will improve laws, regulations, and technical standards for ensuring the safety of drinking water in rural areas. The Bureau will also strengthen the city's environmental monitoring capability and improve the water quality monitoring capability of water sources in districts and counties.

Additionally, it will carry out pilot projects for automatic monitoring of river and reservoir sections to continuously enhance the capability to give early warning and forecast water quality at water source areas.

Furthermore, through cooperating with the agricultural and rural departments in agricultural non-point source pollution control efforts, the bureau will create a database of agricultural non-point sources in the city's modern agricultural parks. Large growers and vegetable bases will be established, environmental quality monitoring will be launched, and checklist-based management will be gradually implemented as well.

Enhancing forestry work

"The main battlefield of forestry work is in rural areas," said Zhang Hong, a CPPCC National Committee member, a counselor of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government, and the former deputy director of the Chongqing Forestry Bureau, said that more than 90% of the forest land in the city is collectively owned in rural areas, the forestry industry belongs to comprehensive agriculture, the most direct service object of forestry industry is agriculture, farmers and rural areas, and the main practitioners of forestry are farmers.

By 2025, the forest coverage in Chongqing will reach 57%, the forest stock volume will amount to 280 million cubic meters, the total output value of the forestry industry will exceed 200 billion yuan, and the added value of the whole forestry industry will account for about 4.5% of the city's GDP, thus making contributions to the city's rural revitalization.

Zhang Hong suggested that, on the one hand, efforts should be intensified in ecological protection supervision and forestry ecological protection. Chongqing should empower eligible townships with the right to strictly enforce forestry laws, step up efforts to prevent fire, pests, and encroachment, and the crackdown on all illegal forest-related activities.

On the other hand, the city should make overall plans to promote the greening and beautification of mountains, at water banks, in forests, beside fields, around lakes, and of grass clusters, and carry out systematic management and overall improvement.

At the same time, the city should stress the green industry development and develop the rural economy. Efforts should be made to promote forest products' park-based processing and introduce and support powerful enterprises to carry out deep processing and trade of forest products. The city should continue to cultivate a number of characteristic forest homestays, forest health bases, and premium ecotourism routes and products to attract more urban residents to rural areas.

In addition, Chongqing should intensify efforts in ecological development for more benefits to the people and boost farmers to increase their income. The city should actively promote the construction of forestry science and technology demonstration bases, increase the transformation of new forestry technologies, new achievements, and new models, and strengthen technical guidance and assistance for the development of the forestry industry in rural areas so as to benefit farmers.