Held at 10 am, November 16, 2009
Spokesman: Xia A-Guo, Vice Secretary-general of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, and Director of Zhejiang Agriculture Office

The initiation of China¡¯s reform and opening-up policies marked the boundary of Zhejiang explorations in rural reforms over the six decades following the founding of new China. The rural reforms met hardships in the first three decades and then experienced fast advancement in the latter half. Over the recent three decades, Zhejiang integrated the lines, principles and policies of the Chinese Central Government into the reality in the province and spearheaded the effort to push market economy in the rural areas with an aim of developing agriculture and rural areas and promoting the well-being of farmers. Such a route, with both Chinese characteristics and distinctive Zhejiang features achieved remarkable success and brought along epoch-making changes in Zhejiang agriculture and the rural areas.

I. Enormous strides have been made in agriculture and rural economy.
(I) Agriculture realized a historic transition from traditional agriculture to modern, effective eco-agriculture.
1. The comprehensive agricultural production capacity has been greatly upgraded. Yields in major farm products were tremendously increased. Total grain output increased from 4.3 million tons in 1949 to 7.76 million tons in 2008. Yields per mu (Chinese unit of area, 1/15 of a hectare) grew from 98 kilograms in 1949 to 407 kilograms in 2008. Yields in meats, dairy products, tea and fruits were 4, 6, 2.7 and 51.2 times those in the year 1978 respectively. Total yields in farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery were worthy of 140 million yuan in 1949 while those in 2008 were 178 billion yuan, indicating a growth of 127 times. Gross agricultural output value an average agricultural laborer produced rose from 190 to 26,713 yuan.
2. Profound changes have taken place in the agricultural structure. The ratio of farming/forestry/animal husbandry/fishery went from 81:5:11:2 in the year 1949 to 46:6:24:23 in 2008. A leading industry characterized by abundant resources and competitive advantages took an initial shape. Tea yields, fruits yields, the area of flowers and seedlings and export volume of silkworm cocoons ranked the top in the nation.
3. Agricultural infrastructure was significantly improved. Hydraulic engineering projects were built including a great number of reservoirs, dykes and seawalls. The level of agricultural mechanization was greatly enhanced. Before 1949, farming tools were mainly man-powered and animal-powered. In 1979, the mechanization level of tillage, transportation and threshing reached 50% and the total power of agricultural machinery amounted to 4.18 million kilowatts. And in 2008, the total agricultural machinery power came to 23.31 million kilowatts.
4. The operations of agricultural industrialization have been vastly enhanced. The area of land-use rights transfers has reached 6.11 million mu, or 30.9% of the general contracted land area. The number of leading agricultural enterprises in the province has climbed to 5,883. Big specialized households of crop and animal productions amounted to 217,000. Over 1,200 enterprises and 400,000 farmers have set up agricultural product bases outside Zhejiang province, covering over 24 million mu. Agricultural enterprises, co-operatives and specialized households have operated contracted land of 353,000 mu and got timer harvesting authorization for 3.375 million mu in over 30 countries and regions.
5. Agricultural service system is being constantly socialized and upgraded. Distributed in the province are over 3,600 agricultural technology extension agencies and 25,000 extension practitioners. The contribution rate of science and technology to agriculture is up to 56%, improved varieties of major crops exceed 85% of the total, and fine breeds of rice, live pigs and poultries surpass 90%. In addition, Zhejiang province boasts 598 wholesale markets of various agricultural products, 83,000 specialized households and 188,000 people going in for purchasing and selling agricultural products.
(II) Where rural economy was purely agricultural economy, now it has seen an integrated advancement of the primary, secondary, and tertiary economic sectors.
1. Rural economic structure is going through incessant optimization. In 2008, of the gross income from the provincial rural economy, the percentage of income from farming, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery dropped to 3.15%, that of industries and construction industry rose to 86.65%, and that of services and other sectors was 10.2%.
2. Rural industrialization and urbanization are advancing fast. The traditional development mode of rural areas focusing on agriculture and urban areas on industries has been broken. Central towns have become the main platform for rural economic development and relocation of farmers. The percentage of population in small cities and towns has arrived at 35.4%. In the year 2008, urbanization rate in the province stepped up to 57.6%. Through 1979 to 2008, labor force in the primary economic sector dropped nearly half from 13.01 million to 6.66 million, and the percentage in rural labor force dropped from 89% to 29%.

II. Remarkable changes have taken place in farmers¡¯ life style and rural areas.
(I) Zhejiang farmers have enjoyed an astonishing transformation from dressing warmly and eating their fill to leading a fairly comfortable life on the whole.
1. Farmers¡¯ income has surged and their consumption expenditure soared. The net income per rural resident has skyrocketed from 47 yuan in the year 1949 to 9,258 yuan in 2008, indicating a growth of 196 times, or an annual increase of 6.3% in real terms after deducting price factors. Of the 2008 net income per rural resident, 1,651 yuan, or 17.8% came from agriculture, 6,715 yuan, or 72.5% from non-agricultural undertakings, and 892 yuan, or 9.7% from transfer income and property income. From 1949 to 2008, per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents shot up from 51 to 7,072 yuan, indicating a proliferation of 138 times. Per capital clothing expenditure expanded from 17.2 to 399 yuan, housing expenditure, from 43.2 to 1,425 yuan, cultural & recreational, health care, and transportation & communications from nearly zero to 733 yuan, 512 yuan and 777 yuan respectively.
2. Farmers¡¯ consumption is upgrading constantly. The Engel coefficient for rural residents plummeted from 60% at the initial stage of new China to 36.4% in 2008. From the food consumption point of view, food expenditure has shifted from staple foods to non-cereal foods. Clothing expenditure has transferred from buying cloth and making clothes to pursuing brands, fashion and individuality. In housing expenditure, rural residents have moved out of thatched cottages and houses with tile roof to live in storied buildings. And average living space multiplied from 11.7 square meters in 1962 to 58.5 square meters in 2008. The farmers¡¯ demand for durable consumer goods rapidly boosted and experienced the transition from the old ¡°four major articles¡± of watches, bicycles, sewing machines and radios to the new ¡°four major articles¡± of color TV sets, refrigerators, recorders and washing machines. In the new century, a new generation of durable consumer goods including motorcycles, air-conditioners, mobile phones, computers and cars began to settle in rural families. In 2008, every 100 rural households owned 56.9 motorcycles, 61.3 air conditioners, 159.7 mobile phones and 23.4 personal computers.
(2) Rural areas have transformed from traditional village clusters to modern rural communities.
1. Constant improvements have been made in rural infrastructures. Highways have extended to all the villages, and 97% of villages can access hardening highways. Passenger transports are directly accessible to 90% of the villages. Safe drinking water coverage in the rural areas has been enhanced to 86%. Every household has access to electricity with the same price as that in urban areas. Street lights burn in 58.3% of villages. 12,756 villages with over 20 households are qualified to install radio and TV. Chain supermarkets cover all the towns and townships and chain convenience stores can be found in 37.1% of administrative villages.
2. Eco-construction has been constantly reinforced in rural areas. By the year 2008, over 800 large scale livestock and poultry farms and ecological breeding areas had been built. More than one million rural households benefited from the 4,237 projects of domestic sewage and methane purification. The clean energy utilization hit 60%. Up to 14.56 million mu of public welfare forests had been planted, thus enhancing the forest coverage to 60.5%.
3. Rural environment has been rapidly improving. The advance of eco-province construction has shattered the previous image of the traditional villages being scattered, disorderly, dirty and inferior. Over half villages have been renovated on a full scale. A large batch of "National-level Towns and Townships with a Beautiful Environment" and new rural communities with scientific layouts, clean environment and comfortable life have come into being.

III. A great shift has been made in the mechanism of the development in agriculture and rural areas.
(Omitted.)

IV. Social work and public services in rural areas are greatly promoted.
(1) A social relief and safety net covering both urban and rural areas has been put in place. Over 56,100 farmers in the province are granted rural minimum subsistence guarantee. Those eligible are mostly guaranteed. As many as 3.68 million people whose land has been appropriated have been brought into the basic social safety net, 5.12 million migrant workers have been covered with basic insurance against work injury and 4.28 migrant workers have been included in the basic medical insurance. Old and dilapidated houses of 13,700 poverty-stricken families and 13,000 families with handicapped members have been renovated. 9,849,700 rural households have obtained policy-based rural housing insurance.
(2) Rural public health care services have seen a boost in an all-round fashion. The 65 county-level health inspection institutions have established 271 local offices in villages and towns, serving 14.45 million rural residents. Every thousand rural residents are equipped with 0.8 responsible doctors. Over 92% of rural residents have joined the new rural cooperative medical system with per capita funding 1,735.9 yuan. A biannual medical checkup system has been made available to those in the new cooperative medical system.
(3) The education in rural areas has been vastly promoted. Compulsory education has been popularized at a full scale. Popularization rate of 15-year education has come up to 95.4%. For 76.4% of villages, primary schools are located within 3 kilometers; for 70.1% of villages, secondary schools are located within 5 kilometers. Vocational education in rural areas is making headway. 8.115 million farmers have been trained since 2004.
(4) Sports and cultural undertakings are steadily gaining prosperity in rural areas. 99% of villages and 95.9% of hamlets in the province can pick up TV signals. 91.2% of villages and 86.8% of hamlets have installed cable TV. 77.4% of villages can surf the internet via broad band connection. 30.2% of villages are equipped with kindergartens and nurseries, 30.3% with sports fitness centers, 21.8% with reading rooms and cultural stations, and 74.6% with activity rooms for the elderly. Active in rural areas of Zhejiang are 1,300 movie projection teams, over 10, 000 cultural relic protection teams, over 400 non-government professional troupes and 25, 000 amateur troupes with 514, 000 recreational and sports activists. Also available to rural residents are over 5,000 village-level sports clubs and 2.5 million square meters dedicated for cultural activities and sports.

V. Notable progress has been registered in improving democracy and rural grass roots units.
(Omitted.)

VI. A historic leap has been made from solving regional poverty to pushing low-income rural households to strive to prosper at an overall scale.
(Omitted.)