Winners of Second Ten Best Farmers of the Year Award revealed in Beijing
DATE:2016-01-19 SOURCE:Information Office, MOA
The winners of the second Ten Best Farmers of the Year Award were revealed in Beijing on Jan. 17, 2016. Mr. Li Sumin, director of Sumin Grain Production Specialized Cooperative of Zhao County, Hebei Province, and other 9 farmers from across the country were honored for their outstanding performance in agricultural production.
Addressing the ceremony, Vice Minister Chen Xiaohua from MOA stressed that, over recent years, thanks to the persistent efforts of hundreds of millions of farmers, China has witnessed a number of successes in rural economy, including the growth of grain output for 12 consecutive years and growth of farmers' income faster than that of GDP and income of urban residents for 6 years in a row. The prospering rural economy has laid a solid foundation for China's economic and social development. He also pointed out that the ten best farmers represent the new type of professional farmers, who are the role model in developing agriculture with new technology and the pioneers in agricultural reform, playing a leading role in the development of a beautiful countryside and well-off society.
Vice Minister Chen encouraged the winners to champion the concepts of innovation-driven development, balanced development, green development, open development and development for all, so as to make more contributions to agricultural development and social progress in china.
The Ten Best Farmers of the Year Award is facilitated by Farmer's Daily and China Agriculture Film and Television Center, with China Agricultural Science and Education Foundation providing each winner a lump sum of 50,000 yuan. The winners are selected from the new type professional farmers, who have been engaged in agricultural operation for 5 years at least, featuring advanced production technologies, scale operation, environmentally sustainable practices and an outstanding demonstration role.
The annual award aims at promoting agricultural awareness and respect to farmers, creating a favorable social environment for agricultural development, boosting the enthusiasm of farmers in grain production and the development of modern agriculture, and making agriculture and the countryside more attractive.