context: Further leveraging private capital, the prime source for ag and rural investment, is critical for sustainability and efficient use of funds in rural revitalisation. To make the policy work at the real grassroots level is challenging and most ag operators still struggle to get loans.
Preliminary calculations on rural revitalisation investment in the 14th 5-year plan by MARA (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs) show that funding demand will increase significantly from the last 5-year plan period, reports Economic Daily.
To facilitate capital inflows for rural revitalisation, MARA and National Rural Revitalisation Bureau released 'Guidelines on private capital investing in ag and rural areas 2021', specifying
- key investment fields, namely
- modern farming
- seed industry
- rural industries
- ag processing and products circulation
- rural services
- ecological ag
- ag sciences and innovation
- rural human resources development
- ag and rural infrastructure
- smart ag
- ag and rural entrepreneurship
- rural living environment improvement
- ag international cooperation
- supporting measures
- encouraging business models and solutions targeting whole supply chains
- launching PPP projects
- setting up a rural revitalisation fund, guided by government budget, supported by financial agencies, and participated in by private investors
- building platforms based on ag and rural industrial parks, zones and clusters
- consolidating major projects, including
- high-standard farmland
- ag products cold storage
Government budget is sufficient for making up the huge funding gap, Liu Huanxin 刘焕鑫 MARA vice minister told a working conference, calling for participation of financial agencies and private investors.
Rural and ag financing is difficult, costly and has high risk, say Liu, which is a big challenge for ag operators, limiting farming upscaling. A platform that connects financial agencies and new ag operators is being built to support them getting loans. A financial service platform specifically designed to finance ag products cold storage is now in operation, says Liu.