Innovations are needed also to save water and energy in agricultural and food production. The government should promote institutional innovations to link smallholder farmers to markets so that they can produce safe, nutritious and high value food for the increasingly affluent urban population.

The authorities have to use public funds to develop rural infrastructure, such as roads, transportation and communication, as well as human capital, including improved education and health facilities. Investments in human capital will be critical to building a higher-skilled, more capital-intensive workforce as China's economy continues to transform.

Furthermore, building rural infrastructure will also enable small and rural towns to act as service delivery points, linking the rural economy to external input and output markets and increasing transactions while cutting their costs.

Since land rights have become one of the most contentious issues in rural China, the government has to resolve the farmers' land rights issue to ensure that land is used efficiently and equitably. Certification of land rights, market-based transactions and fairer compensation for requisitioning of land by governments for infrastructure or industrial and urban development should be ensured to protect farmers' rights as well as ensure overall development.

An effectively targeted social security net should be established in rural areas and scaled up to cover most vulnerable groups such as children, women and senior citizens, and people living in remote areas. More importantly, the government should ensure that such people, along with migrants from rural areas, have access to food, healthcare and education. Additionally, migrants should also get unemployment allowance.

Addressing China's aging problem in rural areas is an essential task considering the vulnerability of senior citizens. This makes government support to elderly people's households mandatory. The National Rural Pension Pilot Scheme and the National Rural Social Assistance Program, which are being expanded, are crucial for such households. Other social protection policies that can help rural households cope with shocks, and increase their savings and productivity will also be valuable.

Many water sources, land and forests in China have been polluted and other natural resources degraded. This dangerous trend needs to be reversed to enable the countryside to regain its importance for rural residents, economic growth and sustainable development.

The author is director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute based in Washington.

(China Daily 11/07/2012 page9)