Frontline research | Where does the "funding flow" for rural revitalization in small villages come from? Hotspots | Funds | Funds Flow

Rural revitalization cannot be achieved without financial support. At the beginning of this year, Sichuan set a phased goal of building a higher level "Tianfu granary" for the new era. Yongfeng Village in Meishan, Sichuan happens to be located in the core model area of the "Tianfu Granary" demonstration zone. Recently, this small village received a reward of 600000 yuan, which excited the villagers. What exactly happened in the village? Where did this money come from? What do they need money for?

Yongfeng Village is located in the core model area of the "Tianfu Granary" demonstration zone in Sichuan. Currently, the high-quality transformation of this high standard farmland has been basically completed, with green seedlings everywhere. The road surface and ditch surface have also been refreshed, presenting a green pastoral scenery. For the village, one of the most important tasks this year is to comprehensively complete the upgrading and renovation of over 3000 acres of high standard farmland in the village according to the plan by June.

Yue Zhihui, Assistant Secretary of the Party Committee of Yongfeng Village, Taihe Town, Dongpo District, Meishan City: Comprehensive improvement in fields, soil, water, roads, forests, electricity, technology, and management. A total of 15 million yuan has been invested in fiscal funds, and if calculated, the fiscal funds invested per mu are around 4000 yuan.

Just upgrading and renovating high standard farmland requires an investment of 15 million yuan, so it seems that a bonus of 600000 yuan is not much. But for the village, this is a golden signboard.

Yue Zhihui, Assistant Secretary of the Party Committee of Yongfeng Village, Taihe Town, Dongpo District, Meishan City: Firstly, to obtain more financial funds to support the development of the village's rice industry; The second is to increase the collective sense of honor in the village and inspire the work confidence of village cadres and the masses; Thirdly, it can play a good demonstration and leading role in the development of the rice industry for other villages.

In early June, the Yongfeng Village Science and Technology Courtyard was officially launched. Moreover, this year, Yongfeng Village has launched a new project to relocate and vacate some houses in the core area of high standard farmland that affect large-scale production after consultation with villagers. The vacated land will be fully reclaimed for food production. This means that the high standard farmland in the village will further expand in area. Yue Zhihui said that the 600000 yuan bonus will be allocated to these projects in accordance with regulations.

Yue Zhihui, Assistant Secretary of the Party Committee of Yongfeng Village, Taihe Town, Dongpo District, Meishan City: Mainly used to support the development of the grain industry and supporting infrastructure. Like purchasing agricultural machinery and building smart parking and ancillary agricultural tourism facilities in the Yongfeng area. As of now, Yongfeng Village has added about 240 acres of arable land through methods such as vacating rural houses and organizing forest land.

Change the way! Incentive rewards and incentives to stimulate motivation

Not only Yongfeng Village, but also 5 cities, 10 counties, 50 townships, and 500 villages in Sichuan have all received bonuses. What's going on here?

Yu Jun, Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance, said: Our advanced county costs 60 million yuan per unit. Advanced townships receive a financial reward subsidy of 5 million yuan, while advanced demonstration villages for rural revitalization receive a financial reward subsidy of 600000 yuan. In 2021, we launched another incentive and subsidy program for advanced cities, with each city receiving 100 million yuan for those who are recognized as advanced cities.

In Sichuan, starting from 2018, a fiscal incentive and subsidy mechanism has been established for rural revitalization, and advanced evaluations are conducted annually in five aspects of rural revitalization, including industry, culture, and ecology. According to the selection results released by Sichuan this year, 5 cities were rated as "Advanced Cities for Rural Revitalization in Sichuan Province in 2022", 10 counties were rated as "Advanced Counties for Rural Revitalization in Sichuan Province in 2022", 50 townships were rated as advanced townships, and 500 villages were rated as "demonstration villages". After evaluation, Sichuan allocated a total of 2.15 billion yuan of provincial-level financial transfer payment funds for rural revitalization to local governments.

Yu Junren, Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance: This is a form of post subsidy that motivates our city or county to take the initiative to invest in the field of rural revitalization. After completion, the province will provide incentives, rewards, and subsidies to create a competitive atmosphere. Essentially, the approach of "you want him to do it" becoming "I want to do it" is very effective.

Intense competition! It's not easy to judge first and advance first

Being recognized as advanced can bring many rewards, but it is not easy to break through the barriers.

Intense competition! This is the journalist's biggest feeling during the interview. Taking the county and city level as an example, only 10 advanced counties can be selected in a year, each of which can receive a subsidy of 60 million yuan. However, there are a total of 176 agricultural counties in the province, which means that only about 5% can be selected each year. At the village level, 500 provincial demonstration villages for rural revitalization must be selected each year, which may seem quite numerous, but how many administrative villages are there in Sichuan? The answer is over 26000, with less than 2% being able to rate it.

Not only that, more than 40 detailed assessment indicators have also quantified the standards of excellence.

Yan Pengfei, a staff member of the Agriculture and Rural Department of the Meishan Municipal Finance Bureau, said: This money is very difficult to obtain. For example, is your farmland a high standard farmland? Is it a renovation? How much does the yield increase after the renovation? Now we need to change the sanitary toilets. How many toilets did you have before that were not hygienic? How many have you changed this time? How much is left? There are quantitative indicators.

So, what did Yongfeng Village, which was rated as an advanced village for the first time, do they do?

Yue Zhihui, Assistant Secretary of the Party Committee of Yongfeng Village, Taihe Town, Dongpo District, Meishan City: This includes projects such as improving the quality of high standard farmland, constructing complexes, science and technology small courtyards, and beautiful courtyards. These projects have now achieved significant results. This year, Yongfeng Village will not relax the work related to rural revitalization, and will maximize the role of this subsidy fund. The relevant departments will also check the usage of these funds at any time.

"Through a line" good things to do

There are policies and bonuses, but good things need to be done well to ensure that funds are truly and accurately implemented.

Zhang Fubing, from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Sichuan Finance Department, almost logs into the integrated budget system every day to see if agricultural related funds are successfully issued and how the progress is. Recently, he has been most concerned about the allocation of 2.15 billion yuan in rural revitalization transfer payment funds.

Zhang Fubing, a staff member of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance: We have now issued all orders to the cities and counties.

So, when all this money is distributed to cities and counties, how can we ensure that the funds are in place and not misappropriated?

Zhang Fubing from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance: This year, we have a hot indicator tracking issue regarding the reward funds for rural revitalization, which can dynamically monitor and track financial indicators.

Not only for indicator tracking, this year the indicator system has also set up "project classification", clarifying that funds should be centrally and accurately arranged and used around major national and provincial decisions and deployments.

Zhang Fubing from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance: After each of our funds is allocated, we will focus on a central task. What is the key task of this fund, and the hot topic classification is "Tianfu Granary". We will clearly inform the cities, prefectures, counties, and districts that this money will be used to support the construction of "Tianfu Granary".

After leaving the Finance Department of Sichuan Province, the reporter rushed to the Finance Bureau of Meishan City and met Yan Pengfei, a staff member of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department. They had already received provincial reward funds. According to the local government's requirements, by 2030, Meishan will build all 1.84 million mu of basic farmland into high standard farmland, which puts a great financial pressure. This time, Meishan was selected as the Advanced City for Rural Revitalization in Sichuan Province in 2022, and Yan Pengfei was very excited.

Yan Pengfei, staff member of the Agricultural and Rural Section of Meishan Municipal Finance Bureau: This is all the reward funds of Meishan City, 137.2 million yuan. Among them, there are 0.1 billion yuan at the municipal level and 37.2 million yuan in 6 districts and counties. This is a very big support.

Yan Pengfei said that a total of 37.2 million yuan in bonuses has been allocated at the district and county levels. They have just formulated a distribution plan with the agricultural and rural departments for the 100 million yuan municipal bonus, and are currently preparing to submit it to the executive meeting of the municipal government for approval. Once approved, it can be distributed to various districts and counties. In terms of fund management, the city implements all funds, tasks, rights, and responsibilities to the county, and the county level can flexibly use them around this year's hot topic "Tianfu Granary" according to its actual situation. Of course, the municipal finance department is not a one size fits all approach.

Yan Pengfei, a staff member of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Finance Bureau of Meishan City: We need to coordinate with the competent department. The project needs to establish a ledger. This project, which county and which project? What do you want to say and do yourself? When will it be completed? How much does it cost? How much is the city level investment? How much investment should be made at the county level? We completed this task in May. What was your progress in June? Ledger style management.

Dongpo District, where Yongfeng Village is located, has already received bonuses allocated by the Meishan Municipal Finance Department. On the budget management integration system of Dongpo District Finance Bureau, the reporter can already see that the 600000 yuan bonus from Yongfeng Village has been allocated to the village.

From the source of funds to the final landing of funds, it is clearly demonstrated in the integrated budget management system. And this also ensures the standardized, safe, and precise use of funds, allowing limited funds to be spent on the cutting edge.

Zhang Fubing from the Agriculture and Rural Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance: Through this system, it can run through a line, from the superior central finance to the grassroots level, and dynamically reflect and reflect the funding situation throughout the entire process. We can see through the system warning which areas have problems with the use of funds, which funds have not met the standards for expenditure, and which funds have been used illegally or exceeded the scope of expenditure.

By following a line from top to bottom, one can clearly see the flow of funds. However, for places that are rated as advanced, is it enough to receive funds? The reporter learned during the interview that this is not actually the case.

Yu Junren, Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance: Policies need to be consolidated, and we need to "look back", continuously evaluate for two more years, and look back for two more years. If you look back and fail twice, there are reward and punishment measures from a financial perspective. If you are still outstanding twice, then you also need to be commended.

In the interview, the reporter learned that implementing a financial reward mechanism and focusing on the "Tianfu Granary" this year is just one of the means for Sichuan to support the construction of a higher level "Tianfu Granary" in the new era.

At the beginning of this year, the first session of the Chinese New Year in Sichuan issued an action plan, and by 2025, significant results have been achieved in the construction of the "Tianfu Granary"; By 2030, the construction goal of "Tianfu Grain Warehouse" will be basically achieved, and the grain output will be increased to over 37.5 million tons; By 2035, we will basically achieve the goal of becoming a modern and strong province in agriculture. The task has been assigned, which also means an increase in financial pressure. The financial departments at all levels in Sichuan province have adjusted the stock, introduced incremental funds, and expanded the total amount. In the general public budget for 2023, Sichuan's agricultural, forestry, and water expenditure has been allocated 130.2 billion yuan. Among them, the plan is to raise and arrange financial funds of over 80 billion yuan for the construction of the "Tianfu Granary".

Li Shihong, Deputy Director of the Finance Department of Sichuan Province: We will concentrate our financial resources to accomplish major tasks, and all the incremental financial investment in agriculture and rural areas will be used for the construction of the "Tianfu Granary". From 2023 to 2025, the province plans to raise 250 billion yuan in funds for the construction of the "Tianfu Granary" to support the construction of high standard farmland, the protection and quality improvement of arable land fertility, the revitalization and development of the seed industry, the construction of modern agricultural parks and industrial clusters, the improvement of agricultural machinery and equipment capabilities, and the enhancement of agricultural operation and service capabilities.