China’s top financial regulators have outlined ambitious new measures to expand support for the development of new forms of agriculture business entity.
The “Opinions Concerning Financial Support for the Development of New Forms of Agricultural Business Entity” (关于金融支持新型农业经营主体发展的意见) was recently issued by six of China’s top regulatory authorities, including the Chinese central bank, the Ministry of Finance, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
The Opinions state that China has recently seen the emergence of “new forms of agricultural business entity” as a mainstay force in the primary sector, including household farms, farmers cooperatives, and agricultural socialised service organisations.
According to the Opinions these new business entities are playing an increasingly important role in ensuring “steady increases in rural incomes, effective supply of agricultural goods, and transition and upgrade in the agricultural sector,” making greater financial support for their development imperative.
Measures outlined by the Opinions include:
- Strengthening information sharing for new forms of agricultural business entity.
- Strengthening the financial resilience of new forms of agricultural business entity.
- Improving a financial services organisation system that is adapted to the development of new forms of agricultural business entity.
- Driving the development of credit and lending for new forms of agricultural business entity.
- Expanding the scope of collateral for new forms of agricultural business entity.
- Innovation in specialised financial products and services for new forms of agricultural business entity.
The Opinions also call for staging more financial inclusion reform trials in rural villages, and the subsequent establishment of “financial service rural village revitalisation pilot zones,” with new forms of agricultural business entity to be included in their performance assessments.
