Report urges decisive progress in rural modernization

China needs to make decisive progress in modernizing its agriculture and rural areas during the 2026-30 period to remove one of the biggest bottlenecks in the country's modernization goals, according to a new annual report released on Tuesday.

The China Rural Development Report 2026, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, identifies agriculture and rural development as the "most arduous and burdensome task" in advancing the Chinese path to modernization.

The report emphasizes that the country's next stage of development should focus on narrowing the gap between agricultural and rural modernization and the rapid progress achieved in industrialization and urbanization.

The report was unveiled in Beijing during a symposium on ensuring decisive progress toward basically realizing agricultural and rural modernization.

According to the report, the core objective of achieving decisive progress is not simply to raise agricultural productivity or improve rural living standards, but to end the long-standing relative lag of rural modernization within China's overall modernization process.

The report identified major weaknesses, including the slow transition to new growth drivers in agriculture, insufficient progress in rural governance and village development, relatively slow income growth among farmers, and institutional barriers hindering deeper urban-rural integration.

During the country's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), agriculture and rural development are entering a critical stage in which gradual quantitative changes are expected to translate into qualitative transformation, the report said.

It highlighted profound structural shifts reshaping rural China, including continued population decline, growing geopolitical uncertainties, the rapid application of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, and mounting pressure from resource constraints and climate-related risks.

At the same time, evolving food consumption patterns, changes in support policies and adjustments in urban-rural integration are creating new development demands, the report said.

Policymakers need to balance food security with agricultural upgrading, adapt public services to shrinking rural communities, and narrow digital divides while promoting technological innovation, it added.

To address these challenges, the report proposed seven strategic priorities for the coming years, including strengthening food security while expanding diversified food supplies, accelerating agricultural technological innovation, and supporting new rural employment groups.