A view of guesthouses in Baiyan in Leishan county Photo: Courtesy of Leishan Rural Revitalization Administration

 

The optimization of the functions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MOA), under China's State Council institutions reform plan, is an important step in improving capacity and efficiency of governance, and will bring new opportunity to China's rural revitalization and agricultural science innovation, experts said.

According to the reform plan, the functions of the National Rural Revitalization Administration, such as preventing a return to poverty and promoting rural construction, will be assigned to the MOA. The administration will be removed as an independent institution and will be merged into the MOA.

The adjustment is conducive to form joint efforts to carry out work on rural revitalization and will give a strong boost to rural revitalization, Chen Ming, associate research fellow, Institute of Political Science, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Chen noted that in the past, the National Rural Revitalization Administration's main functions were centered on strategic poverty reduction and rural construction, with an emphasis on rural modernization. The MOA was mainly responsible for high-quality agricultural development and reform, with an emphasis on agricultural modernization. 

Chen said that rural construction will usher in a wave of development following the adjustment.

"The scale of construction and the intensity of investment will be increased. High-standard farmland construction, cold chain logistics, and other storage and preservation facilities will have new development opportunities," Chen said.

The State Council institutions reform plan also includes shifting agriculture-related functions and institutions under the Ministry of Science and Technology to the MOA.

The Ministry of Science and Technology will shift the responsibility of drawing up plans and policies for promoting agricultural and rural development to the MOA. The sci-tech ministry affiliated China Rural Technology Development Center will also be placed under the MOA, according to the plan.

Chen said that in the past, both ministries had departments dealing with agricultural sciences, and the merger of functions in one ministry will "clench a fist" to accelerate the pace of self-reliance in agricultural science and technology.

This will particularly boost the self-reliance of the seed industry, Chen said.

"After the optimization, seed industry management is expected to be integrated into one bureau, which will be conducive to the document approval efficiency, innovation pace and the development of the industry," Chen said.