Enjoy a good harvest in good days (Observation on “Three Rural Issues”)

Data source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, etc.

More than 100 kilograms of longan were sold, most of them in one morning. Recently, at the Harvest Festival held in Fuqing City, Fujian Province, Lao Wang, who has been growing longan for decades, went from carrying burdens to go to the market to now setting up a booth in front of his home. He felt particularly real: “The Harvest Festival is great! There are so many people coming, so I don’t have to worry about selling the longan.” A simple sentence expresses the farmer’s wish: good harvests, and hope for good sales; lively festivals, and even more prosperous days.

It’s the Autumn Equinox again, and we welcome the ninth “Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival”. This year is the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan”, and the weight of the harvest is even greater. Overcoming the adverse effects of heavy rains, floods, severe typhoons, and local high temperatures and droughts, summer grain output reached 301.49 billion jins, exceeding 300 billion jins for the first time. Early rice output has remained stable at more than 56 billion jins for six consecutive years, laying a good foundation for a bumper autumn grain harvest. Stabilizing the fundamentals of agriculture adds confidence to a good start and a good start. “A bumper harvest opens a new chapter and hard work promotes revitalization” is not only the theme of the festival, but also the direction of continued struggle.

A bumper harvest is connected to the granary of the country and to the life of the farmers. In the first half of this year, the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 12,699 yuan, a year-on-year real increase of 5.5%. Behind the increase in income is the hard work of the villagers and the continuous expansion of rural development space. To measure the quality of a good harvest, it depends not only on how much more is harvested in the fields, but also how much more farmers earn. It depends on whether the granaries are full and whether life is more prosperous.

There is no automatic progression from good harvests to good income. Can a fruit be processed to add value in addition to being sold fresh? Can a farmhouse develop a special B&B after improving its living conditions? Dongjiao Village, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province, where this year’s national main event of the Harvest Festival is held, is developing planting and breeding, and is also exploring rural tourism to make tourists willing to stay and take agricultural products back. This kind of exploration enlightens us that a good harvest of rural industries lies not only in the growth of several business formats, but also in whether farmers can share the profits through work, business, equity participation, etc. By extending the industrial chain, farmers should have more opportunities to increase their income.

Harvest also has the joy in singing and the confidence on stage. In September, Xuan’en County, Hubei Province held the central region competition of the Harvest Festival Village Song Competition. Villagers sang about changes in the village and farming life into songs; the competition used an existing stage and farmers became the protagonists. The vitality of rural culture lies not only in how many performances are given to farmers, but also in giving them a place to display their talents and an opportunity to talk about their lives. The improvement of material life nourishes the spiritual world; the enrichment of spiritual life adds to the enthusiasm for building a hometown. Farmers’ festivals should allow farmers to gain and express themselves.

The stage for harvest is in the countryside, and the space for development connects urban and rural areas. On September 4, this year’s Harvest Festival Golden Autumn consumption season was launched in Shanghai, bringing local goodies closer to urban consumers. Citizens go to the countryside to experience farming, and agricultural products go to cities to find markets. Festivals connect supply and demand and allow more people to see the value of the countryside. To continue this interaction, we need to make up for shortcomings in cold chain logistics and commercial circulation, and improve rural infrastructure and public services. Only by allowing good products to be shipped and sold well, and allowing people who are willing to return to their hometowns to start businesses to stay and succeed, can exchanges between urban and rural areas become more stable development opportunities.

The festival will eventually come to an end, but the farmers’ hope for a better life will not. Only by converting an exhibition into a long-term order, making good use of the facilities left by an event, and turning temporary popularity into long-term business can celebrating harvest and promoting revitalization mutually empower each other. Letting the folks not only smile happily during the Harvest Festival, but also live comfortably all year round is the best way to cherish this festival.