When autumn arrives, harvest of grains and fruits would perfume the air across China, where massive farmers celebrate a bumper year and share their joys.
China just embraced its third Chinese farmers’ harvest festival on Sept. 22 this year. The festival, set on Autumnal Equinox in the lunar calendar since 2018, has improved the sense of honor, contentment and fulfillment for hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers.
This year’s harvest is a hard-won result, as China grappled with the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and overcame the impacts of the severe floods in Yangtze River basin. The country’s summer grain output hit a record this year, and the production of early rice also went up. At present, the country is working to secure a bumper autumn production.
Solid agricultural foundation guarantees momentum for development. Facing risks and challenges, China has showcased strong resilience with general stability in its society, in which the steady supply of grains and important agricultural products played an important role. It proved that for a major country with 1.4 billion people, the fundamental position of agricultural industry shall never be neglected or weakened. The more severe the situation is, the more the overall performance of agriculture shall be stabilized, so as to ensure the role of agriculture, rural areas and rural people as the ballast stone.
Issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers are the most prominent areas of weaknesses as China strives to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The quality of the country’s poverty alleviation to a great extent relies on the performance of these issues. With a theme to celebrate harvest and embrace a moderately prosperous society in all respects, this year’s Chinese farmers’ harvest festival further encouraged the Chinese people to fight for the final victory over poverty and improve the weaknesses in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
At present, the country’s poverty alleviation has entered a final and crucial stage. There are still huge difficulties and challenges ahead for the country to move from decisive achievements to final victory. Efforts will be made to pool resources, enhance support and take targeted measures, so as to advance the fight against poverty in greater determination and intensity. Absolute poverty, which has haunted the Chinese nation for thousands of years, will soon become a thing of the past. This will bring a moderately prosperous society in all respects to all Chinese farmers.
The strategy of rural vitalization is key to China’s efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers in the new era. The country must take rural development as a priority, guarantee food security, steadily improve grain production, promote supply-side structural reform for agriculture, foster featured industries in accordance with local conditions, advance integrated development of the first, secondary and tertiary sectors in rural areas, deepen rural reforms and revitalize the endogenous power of rural vitalization. Besides, the country should also promote the docking between poverty alleviation and rural vitalization, establish and improve the long-term mechanism preventing people from slipping back to poverty, and revitalize impoverished regions. The country should advance the revitalization of rural industries, rural talents, rural culture, rural ecology. and rural organizations, so as to make agriculture a prosperous industry, make farmer an attractive job, and make the countryside a satisfying homeland.
This year’s Chinese farmers’ harvest festival marked a day when Chinese farmers celebrated harvest, as well as one when all sectors of the Chinese society was looking forward to a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
As the whole Chinese society is nurturing an atmosphere to care for agriculture, the countryside and farmers, and mobilizing the activity, initiative and creation of the farmers, China will definitely secure a final victory over poverty and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects as scheduled, writing new splendid chapters of rural reform and development in the country’s efforts to achieve its two centenary goals.
