2) Agricultural and rural infrastructure development was further strengthened. Construction on major water conservancy projects was accelerated. We stepped up efforts to upgrade water-saving facilities in medium-sized and large irrigation areas and carried out farmland improvement projects to support the plan to increase China's grain production capacity by 50 million metric tons, while also developing the infrastructure needed for a modern seed industry and expanding the capacity of grain silos. Further progress was made in strengthening rural infrastructure such as roads, housing, and water, power, and methane supply capacity. In order to increase cooperation and connectivity, urban and rural areas moved faster to jointly build and share infrastructure as well as public service facilities. Pilot projects were launched to control pollution from non-point agricultural sources, utilize and protect chernozem soil in the northeast, and improve the management of grassland reclamation areas; and progress was made in the trials for treating heavy-metal pollution on farmland and the over-abstraction of groundwater.

Box 12: Agricultural and Rural Infrastructure Development

3) New strides were made in agricultural structural adjustment. Grain output reached 621 million metric tons, and harvests and production levels remained high for major agricultural products such as meat, egg, milk, fruits, vegetables, tea, and aquatic products. As much as 54% of livestock and poultry farming is now carried out on a large scale; trials to replace grain crop cultivation with feed crop cultivation and to rotate crops between grain and soybean were launched across the board. The overall level of mechanization in plowing, sowing, and harvesting reached 63%, and advances in agricultural science and technology contributed to 56% of agricultural production.

4) Steady progress was achieved in rural reform. Pilot reforms relating to rural land requisition, the marketization of rural collective land designated for business-related construction, and the system of land used for rural housing were carried out in 33 county-level administrative areas; and trials to allow contracted rural land-use rights and farmers' home property rights to be used as collateral to borrow money were implemented in 278 county-level administrative areas. The pilot reform relating to granting shareholder rights for rural collective assets proceeded in an orderly manner. The number of family farms, farmers' cooperatives, leading agricultural enterprises, and other new types of agribusiness amounted to nearly 2.5 million.

6. We intensified efforts to promote ecological progress, and surpassed this year' s targets for energy conservation and environmental protection. Energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by at least 5.6%, carbon dioxide emissions by at least 6%, sulfur dioxide emissions by 5.8%, chemical oxygen demand by 3.1%, ammonia nitrogen by 3.6%, nitrogen oxide emissions by 10.9%, and water consumption per 10,000 yuan of value-added of industry by 3.9%.

1) Efforts to promote ecological conservation continued to intensify. We promulgated and implemented both the guidelines on accelerating ecological advancement and the integrated reform plan for promoting ecological progress, and continued to ensure the smooth development of pilot demonstration zones for promoting ecological progress. Environmental policies relating to functional zones, the national plan for marine functional zones, and the revised national plan for ecosystem service zones were published and implemented. We expanded the scope of a new round of projects to return marginal farmland to forest or grassland and afforested 6.32 million hectares of land, and the national vegetation fractional coverage of grasslands reached 54%. Efforts were intensified to prevent the expansion of stony deserts and protect wetlands, and integrated measures were taken to bring soil erosion under control on an additional 5.4 million hectares of land.

2) Further progress was made in energy conservation and emissions reduction. A ceiling on total coal consumption was imposed in each major air-polluting city, and the action plan to promote energy conservation and reduce emissions through the upgrading of coal-fired power plants was fully implemented. The pilot demonstration projects to commission a third party to treat pollution, encourage the trading in of old equipment and parts for remanufactured ones, and implement a system for extended producer responsibility were all carried out in an orderly manner. We promoted both the construction of green buildings and the comprehensive utilization of crop straw.

3) An all-out effort was made to address pollution. The average concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) dropped by 14.1% in the 74 cities where the new ambient air quality standards were first applied last year. More efforts were made to prevent and control water pollution in major water basins and to protect the ecosystems of lakes; as a result, the proportion of surface water with a water quality rating of Grade III or higher has risen to 66%. The pilot demonstration project to treat and restore contaminated soil was launched, and progress was made in trials for the environmental monitoring of contaminated sites.

4) Fresh achievements were made in responding to climate change. The first round of pilot projects for low-carbon cities (towns) were launched, and trials for trading carbon emissions rights were carried out in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong, Hubei, and Shenzhen. Our participation and constructive role at the United Nations Climate Change conference in Paris allowed us to put forward China's approach to climate governance and make a contribution toward the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement.

7. We put greater emphasis on ensuring and improving living standards and made consistent progress in improving people's quality of life. Multiple methods were used to increase investment, strengthen points of weakness, and help those most in need, thereby helping to weave a strong social safety net.

1) The implementation of targeted measures to reduce poverty gathered pace. We launched a number of projects to alleviate poverty, such as relocating people from inhospitable areas, supporting the development of local industries, promoting education and helping to increase health standards in poor areas, and providing support for people seeking employment. The number of people living in poverty in rural areas was reduced by 14.42 million. Greater efforts were made to support the development of the old revolutionary base areas and the revitalization of the former Central Soviet areas including southern Jiangxi. We strengthened support from the central government and pairing assistance programs for underdeveloped localities, and took further steps to promote both the economic and social development and the long-term peace and stability of Xinjiang, Tibet, and Tibetan ethnic areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai.

2) Personal income increased steadily. Per capita disposable personal income increased by 7.4% in real terms. Rural per capita net income exceeded 10,000 yuan and registered a 7.5% increase in real terms, making it the sixth consecutive year in which the increase in rural per capita net income has surpassed the growth rate of both GDP and urban per capita disposable income. The ratio of urban income to rural income per capita dropped to 2.73:1.

3) Steady progress was made in the area of social security. The number of people covered by basic old-age insurance has reached 858 million. The rate of participation for basic medical insurance stood at over 95% and pension benefits for enterprise retirees continued to rise. The minimum basic pension benefit for rural and non-working urban residents rose from 55 yuan to 70 yuan per month. The annual government subsidy for basic medical insurance covering rural and non-working urban residents was increased from 320 yuan to 380 yuan per person. Work to establish a standardized system to provide basic necessities for people experiencing extreme difficulties began. The system for granting living allowances to people with disabilities who are facing financial difficulties and a caring subsidy to people with serious disabilities was put in place in 20 provinces and provincial-level municipalities, with over eight million people benefiting from the system.