关注农业现代化 推进农村改革

China's central government has issued its first policy document of the year, also known as the Number One document. For the 12th straight year, the document focuses on agriculture, with modern farming and rural reform among the priorities.

This years's No.1 document lays out more than 80 policy measures to boost China's vast rural sector. The government categorizes the measures into five segments: rural development, enhancing farmer income, supporting village construction, advancing rural reforms and building the rule of law in rural areas.

"We can separate the five segments into two parts. The first three segments lay out the government's tasks in building a strong rural sector. The last two segments are about how we approach these goals. Namely, reform and the rule of law," said Chen Xiwen, Director of Central Rural Work Leading Group.

The document says the government will develop modern farming and accelerate the transformation of how the rural sector develops. That's a newly introduced concept in the No.1 document, and officials say that it will become a prime focus of the government's work in the area.

"This transformation is important. The government has shifted its focus on quantity of farming products to the balance among quantity, quality and efficiency. The previous documents haven't focused on that before," Chen said.

What is also new is building the rule of law in rural areas. The document proposes that the government will better protect farmers' property rights, as well as their operation rights over the farmland. Those are all part of the move to reform the rural sector's collective land ownership system.

"As reforms in the sector continues, the transfer of farmlands and other rural resources becomes more frequent. How to protect farmers' legal rights in these transactions needs further government efforts," said Li Guoxiaong, researcher at Rural Development Institute, CASS.

As China's economy shows signs of slowdown into 2015, boosting farmers' income and maintaining the pace of rural development is believed to be a major task for the government.