In the first half of 2021, per capita disposable income increased by 15.3 percent over what was logged during the same time period in 2020 in rural Anhui, or 0.7 percent more than the gains that China’s total rural population experienced, to a historic high of 10,010 yuan (US$1,548), according to the province’s department of agriculture and rural affairs, which placed it tenth out of the nation’s provincial-level administrative areas and first of those in the country’s central region with regard to the metric.
Incomes have continued to grow at a rapid pace after the conclusion of China’s 13th Five-year Plan period (2016-2020) in rural Anhui, in spite of the fact that it is not easy to maintain this kind of momentum. Added value associated with primary industry increased to 126.69 billion yuan (US$19.59 billion) in the province during the first half of 2021 as compared with the first half of 2020 – a 9.2-percent improvement – or 1.4 percent more than the overall 7.8-percent rate that the country experienced during this interval, which benefited the administrative area’s families. Yields per unit of land area and total summer grain output reached new record highs in Anhui for the 18th consecutive year as well, which helped its rural residents increase their incomes. Flourishing secondary industry also boosted incomes and employment opportunities in the province’s rural areas. Output value achieved by agricultural product processing increased by 15.4 percent during the first half of 2021 in the administrative area as compared with the first half 2020, or 4.7 percent more than the overall rate recorded in the nation.
Acceleration of the implementation of various reforms and broadening of income-increasing channels are helping to raise incomes in Anhui’s rural areas. Eleven thousand of the province’s villages have enacted the “Three Changes” reform, which involves resources’ economic value being unlocked so that they become assets, capital being converted into equity, and rural citizens becoming shareholders in collective economic organizations, as of the end of June, or 69 percent of the total. Thorough execution of the “Millions” program has resulted in 900 million yuan (US$139.14 million) of funding being invested in 1,833 projects designed to strengthen the collective economies in the administrative area’s villages. These measures have boosted the collective economies and helped inhabitants of these villages increase their incomes. A total of 889 villages in the province have competitive collective economies at present.
The overall income generation situation was good in rural Anhui in the first half of 2021, but additional methods need to be developed and concrete measures need to be taken in order to improve wage income and property income, as they are still lacking. The province plans to consolidate achievements that have been made related to its rural collective property rights system and accelerate implementation of the “Three Changes” reform in order to help its rural residents unleash the power of unused resources by transforming them into profit-generating assets. Comprehensive execution of the “Millions” program will support and enhance the collective economies in its villages as well.