The agricultural and rural economy maintained a steady development trend.

In the first half of this year, all localities and departments conscientiously implemented the central government’s policies of strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers and enriching farmers, vigorously promoted the structural transformation of agriculture, and actively promoted the structural reform of the supply side of agriculture and the reform of key rural areas. The development of agricultural production was generally stable, the construction of infrastructure facilities continued to strengthen, the momentum of rural industrial integration was good, farmers’ income continued to grow, and rural reform and innovation steadily advanced, laying a good foundation for the rural economic development during the 13 th Five-Year Plan period.

First, agricultural production is generally stable and structural adjustment is carried out in an orderly manner.

First, the summer grain has been harvested again. The total output of summer grain was 139.26 million tons, a decrease of 1.621 million tons or 1.2% over the previous year, but it still ranked the second highest in history. The sown area of summer grain was 414.5 million mu, an increase of 0.03%; The yield per unit area was 336 kg/mu, a decrease of 1.2%. It is estimated that the area and output of early rice will decrease slightly this year.

Second, the production of cash crops is basically stable. The output of rapeseed harvested in summer is flat and slightly reduced, and the total output is estimated to be about 13 million tons, which is 500,000 tons less than that of the previous year. Cotton planting continues to decrease. According to the survey of planting intention of the Development and Reform Commission, the cotton planting area this year is about 56.2 million mu, 5.3 million mu less than the previous year. Vegetable production was basically stable. According to the information monitoring points of 580 key counties monitored by the Ministry of Agriculture, vegetable production in May was flat year-on-year and increased by 19.3% from the previous month.

Third, the production of animal husbandry declined steadily. In the first half of the year, the output of pork, cattle, sheep and poultry was 38.53 million tons, down 1.3% year-on-year, of which the output of pork was 24.73 million tons, down 3.9%. The number of live pigs was 402.03 million, a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%; 319.59 million pigs were slaughtered, a year-on-year decrease of 4.4%. Since December last year, with the rise in pork prices, the profit of raising pigs has increased for six consecutive months. Affected by the decrease of pig consumption demand in summer, the slaughter price of pigs fell in June, and the average profit of farmed pigs was 573 yuan, which was still at a historical high level. In June, the stock of fertile sows reversed the previous 30-month-on-month decline, the pig production capacity gradually recovered, and the pork supply was guaranteed in the second half of the year.

Fourth, the adjustment of agricultural structure has achieved initial results. Actively promote the adjustment of planting structure in the "sickle bend" area and promote the coordinated development of planting and breeding. It is estimated that the corn planting area will be reduced by more than 30 million mu this year. Efforts have been made to control outstanding problems in the agricultural environment, and the scale of pilot projects to control heavy metal pollution in cultivated land and groundwater overexploitation has been further expanded. Pilot projects have been launched to control cultivated grasslands in the farming-pastoral ecotone, comprehensively control agricultural non-point source pollution, and protect black land in Northeast China.

Second, the structural reform of the agricultural supply side was accelerated, and the reform of key rural areas was steadily advanced.

First, the efforts to make up for shortcomings in agriculture and rural areas have increased. This year, more than 230 billion yuan will be invested in the central budget for agriculture and rural construction to ensure that the investment in agriculture and rural areas will not be weakened and the total amount will increase. Vigorously promote the construction of high-standard farmland, and this year, the central government has allocated 76 billion yuan, which can build about 64 million mu of high-standard farmland. The construction of major water conservancy projects is progressing smoothly. Of the 172 major water conservancy projects, 88 have been started. Six projects, such as Xiajiang in Jiangxi and Hekou Village in Henan, have been basically completed and brought into play. Eight major projects, such as the second phase of Tianjin Yongding New River Regulation and Wuxikou in Jiangxi, have been basically completed. Key forestry ecological projects were accelerated, with a total afforestation area of 63.33 million mu in the first half of the year. The reform of "three subsidies" in agriculture and the integration reform of agriculture-related funds were actively promoted, and the interest compensation mechanism in major grain producing areas was studied and improved, and the agricultural subsidy system oriented to green ecology was accelerated.

Second, the reform of agricultural product price formation mechanism has been further deepened. According to the deployment of the State Council, on the basis of basically stabilizing the minimum purchase price level of rice and wheat, the minimum purchase price of early indica rice was lowered for the first time in 2016, gradually changing the market expectation of rigid price increase. Promote the reform of corn purchasing and storage system, and adjust the temporary purchasing and storage policy of corn in Northeast China to a new mechanism of "market acquisition" and "subsidy". Further promote the target price reform of cotton in Xinjiang, soybeans in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia, reduce operating costs, and ensure that subsidy funds are paid to farmers in full and on time.

Third, the pilot reform in key rural areas was carried out in an orderly manner. Rural land expropriation, collective construction land entering the market, and homestead system reform were carried out in 33 counties (cities, districts). Rural collective assets are confirmed to households and the reform of joint-stock cooperative system is promoted by classification, and the pilot project of farmers’ joint-stock cooperation continues. The innovation of rural financial system was actively promoted, the pilot measures for rural contracted land management rights and farmers’ housing property rights mortgage loans were introduced, the pilot projects for rural collective construction land mortgage loans were launched, the agricultural insurance regulations were revised, and the administrative examination and approval items for agricultural insurance market access were cancelled.

Three, the development momentum of rural industrial integration is good, and farmers’ income continues to grow.

First, new models and formats of rural industrial integration and development are constantly emerging. Support for the development of rural industrial integration has been increasing. Since last year, the state has arranged a total of more than 21 billion yuan of special construction funds to drive social capital to invest more than 300 billion yuan in the construction of rural industrial integration development parks and key projects. Sichuan, Hunan and other provinces actively promoted the establishment of investment funds for rural industrial integration development, which further incited social capital investment. Efficient, three-dimensional and circular agriculture, focusing on the combination of agriculture and animal husbandry and agriculture and fishing, was accelerated, and the integration of production and city, which combined rural industrial integration development with new urbanization, was accelerated. "Internet+agriculture", supported by information technology and e-commerce, developed rapidly, and the combination of agriculture and tourism was characterized by pastoral landscape tours, agricultural experience tours and folk customs tours.

Second, migrant workers and other personnel are returning home to start businesses in the ascendant. Attracted by the national policy of strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers and enriching farmers and supporting migrant workers to return to their hometowns to start businesses, some migrant workers have accumulated certain funds or technology and returned to their hometowns to start businesses. Some college graduates have returned to their hometowns to achieve employment, and some industrialists and businessmen have returned to their hometowns to invest in modern agriculture to achieve enterprise transformation and development after completing capital accumulation. Agriculture and rural areas are becoming an important field for entrepreneurship and employment. In the first half of the year, the investment in fixed assets in the primary industry was 746 billion yuan, up 21% year-on-year, which was 12, 17 and 9 percentage points higher than that in the whole society and in the secondary and tertiary industries respectively.

Third, farmers’ income continued to grow. In the first half of the year, the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 6,050 yuan, a real increase of 6.7%, keeping pace with economic growth. The relative income gap between urban and rural residents has further narrowed, and the per capita disposable income is 2.80, which is 0.03 lower than the same period of last year. The wage income of farmers continued to grow. At the end of the second quarter, the total number of rural migrant workers was 175.09 million, an increase of 730,000. In the first half of the year, the average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,202 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%.

While fully affirming the achievements, we should also be soberly aware that the current agricultural and rural economic development still faces some problems that need to be highly concerned. The losses caused by the continuous flood disaster are increasing, and the shortage of grain storage capacity leads to an increase in the risk of farmers’ difficulty in selling grain. The impact of weakening agricultural products prices is gradually emerging, and the slowdown in farmers’ income growth needs to create new kinetic energy.

In the second half of the year, we should continue to focus on the steady development of agriculture and the continuous increase of farmers’ income, earnestly do a good job in flood control and post-disaster recovery, and strive to reduce the losses caused by floods. Co-ordinate the work of grain purchase and inventory digestion to ensure that there is no "difficulty in selling grain" for farmers. We will continue to promote the structural transformation of agriculture in a down-to-earth manner, and step up the implementation of the plan to recuperate cultivated land, grasslands, rivers and lakes. We will continue to strengthen the construction of agricultural and rural infrastructure and actively guide social capital to participate in the construction and operation of rural infrastructure. Vigorously support the development of new formats such as rural industrial integration, and achieve a win-win situation for farmers to get rich and industrial development. Improve the support policy system for farmers’ income growth and ensure that farmers share the fruits of reform and development.