To implement the rural revitalization strategy, we must solve the problems of where the money comes from, where it is invested, and how to use it. Recently, the Provincial Department of Finance, together with the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, issued the Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Management of the Rural Revitalization Investment Fund, which is the first local guidance document to standardize the government investment funds in the field of rural revitalization investment in China. Through all-round institutional supply, the Jiangsu "road map" of rural revitalization investment funds has been defined.

Clarify policy guidance and make good use of capital power

The revitalization of rural industries focuses on the optimization of resource allocation. The Notice clearly defines the policy orientation of fund investment: support the construction of the modern agricultural industry system, production system and operation system in our province, support the improvement of agricultural innovation, competitiveness and total factor productivity, improve the development pattern of rural industries, and improve the quality and efficiency of rural industries.

"Based on the situation of Jiangsu Province, we will focus on commercial breeding, agricultural product processing, warehousing and logistics, green circular agriculture, agricultural science and technology equipment industry and other fields." Xiong Jie, director of the Fund Management Department of the Provincial Department of Finance, said that in the first half of 2020, the provincial government investment fund funded by the provincial finance will set up a provincial rural revitalization investment fund to drive the municipal and county governments With the joint participation of social capital, the first phase target scale is 10 billion yuan. As of the first half of this year, the Provincial Rural Revitalization Investment Fund has set up 16 sub funds, with a total subscribed scale of 8.364 billion yuan and a total paid in scale of 2.267 billion yuan. There are 47 cumulative investment projects, with a total investment amount of 1.716 billion yuan, an increase of more than 50% over the number of investment projects and investment amount by the end of 2020, powerfully driving social capital to support the development of rural industries in our province.

The distinctive policy orientation has been confirmed in the investment layout of several provincial rural revitalization sub funds: since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Yangzhou, Hongxin Supermarket invested by the Youquan Supply and Marketing Cooperation Industrial Development Fund has actively guaranteed the supply of materials for local people's livelihood; Gufeng Fund assisted Jindi Seed Industry in introducing strategic investment from listed central enterprises to achieve the "integration of breeding and promotion"; Yuquan Bangyu Fund supported the upgrading and reconstruction of Suqian Zhengjie Pig Farm, planting 600 mu of fodder mulberry and 1400 mu of vegetables in supporting planting facilities, and promoting the ecological cycle planting and breeding model in an all-round way.

Beijing Jiahua Huijin, a subsidiary of China Venture Capital Co., Ltd., is the manager of Yuquan Bangyu Fund. Fan Shangbai, the deputy general manager of China Venture Capital Finance Department, introduced the Zhengjie project as an example, saying that the fund plans to invest 300 million yuan and drive the project party to synchronously increase capital for the construction of breeding farms. At present, the two parties are negotiating an investment agreement.

In July this year, Jiangsu Youquan Huanghai Suihe Industrial Investment Fund, a sub fund of the provincial rural revitalization investment fund with a scale of 1.21 billion yuan, was jointly established by the provincial government investment fund, ABC Investment and Yancheng. "This is the largest rural revitalization sub fund in Jiangsu Province at present. The fund has reserved 10 key projects covering beautiful rural construction, clean energy, livestock breeding and other fields, and is currently carrying out due diligence on two projects," said Wen Qi, senior investment manager of ABC Investment.

Play a good "first hand" to ensure that the financial contribution is "not poor"

Investing in rural industries is a systematic project, and the timetable of the Notice is to actively promote financial funds at all levels or government investment funds to jointly establish or share funds with each other in a market-oriented way, to form a joint force of financial contributions, and to ensure that the rural revitalization investment funds will be fully covered in all districts and cities by the end of the year.

Play a good "first hand" and take the initiative. Some places are ahead of others. Cheng Qian, head of the Finance and Fund Management Division of Suzhou Finance Bureau, said that Suzhou set up agriculture related funds in 2012. After integration, the total scale of Suzhou Rural Revitalization Investment Fund has reached 1 billion yuan, and 24 sub funds have been set up with an investment scale of 10.96 billion yuan, covering many districts and counties in the city.

In Linhu, a major agricultural town in Suzhou, Suzhou Taihu Modern Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. has received 400 million yuan of equity investment from Linhu Rural Revitalization Investment Fund, a sub fund of Suzhou Rural Revitalization Investment Fund. Now it is the harvest season. "The town has completed the construction of 10694 mu of high standard farmland, benefiting 6088 households." The chairman of the People's Congress of Linhu Town, Wuzhong District told reporters that more than 100 agricultural products of Taihu Lake Agriculture have passed the box horse case, and the processing and sorting center of agricultural products under construction can complete the packaging, refrigeration, and distribution of 30000 to 50000 vegetables every day. This year, Taihu Lake Agriculture is expected to be awarded the "Taihu Box Horse Village", Ali Digital Agriculture Demonstration Zone will be built in Linhu.

It is worth noting that the Notice has opened a "window" for the source of funds of the Fund: increase the "allocation to investment" of special funds in the field of rural revitalization, and local governments can make overall arrangements for part of the funds from the special funds related to supporting rural revitalization issued by provinces. This inspired Xu Wenting, the general manager of the Fund Management Department of Changzhou Municipal Government Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., who said that Changzhou would integrate the central and provincial agricultural special funds on the basis of the municipal financial funds, and increase the fund size at an appropriate time on the premise of meeting the fund use regulations, so as to give full play to the leverage role of financial funds to promote rural revitalization.

Solve the investment problem, and the dividend of "system supply" is to be released

From the project side, agricultural projects have long cycle, large investment, low return, few exit channels, and low enthusiasm for social capital participation; From the perspective of fundraising, most of the investors of the rural revitalization investment fund are state-owned enterprises and collective enterprises, and the fund size is relatively limited. After the issuance of the Notice, these problems encountered in the capital "going to the countryside" are expected to be solved.

In this regard, Zhang Longyao, vice president of the School of Finance of Nanjing Agricultural University, suggested that, on the one hand, in the process of social capital investment in rural revitalization, relevant departments should focus on solving the problems faced by capital "going to the countryside", such as poor selection of projects, poor access to land, and poor employment of talents, so as to form a breakthrough in policy. On the other hand, we should give full play to the leading role of investment projects on farmers, guide projects with more social capital, long investment chain, high participation of farmers, and wide range of benefits, create more employment opportunities for farmers, and leave more income in the countryside.

Zou Fanggang, director of the Planning and Finance Department of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that our province will print and distribute the list of major agricultural and rural projects in 2021 in accordance with the Guidelines for Social Capital Investment in Agriculture and Rural Areas (2021) issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the National Bureau of Rural Revitalization, strengthen project promotion, and attract social capital with strength and investment intention to set up a sub fund. At the same time, cities and counties were organized to actively report the financing needs of modern agricultural parks, leading enterprises, major agricultural and rural projects, etc., strengthen the information sharing and business innovation of industries, industries and projects, and make investment reserves for large and high-quality projects.

"In order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of social capital, the Provincial Government Investment Fund Management Office is taking the lead in formulating systems such as performance evaluation and income transfer of the Provincial Rural Revitalization Investment Fund." Xiong Jie said, adhering to the policy orientation of the government investment fund and the long-term value investment philosophy, in order to form continuous support for the stable development of agricultural projects, The duration of the provincial rural revitalization sub fund is extended to 10 years. At the same time, encourage all regions to explore the synergy between policy support and fund investment, relax the geographical restrictions on fund investment, promote the orderly flow of capital in our province, and attract all forces to jointly help the development of rural industries.

□ Zhu Binbin, full media reporter of Xinhua News

Share to let more people see