Today's People's Daily carries an editorial titled "strategic tasks at the new stage of agricultural development".

The editorial addresses a number of problems in rural areas and strategies for rural economic development and calls for strategically readjusting the structure of agriculture and the rural economy.

The just-concluded Central Conference on Rural Work pointed out that strategic restructuring of agriculture and the rural economy is needed to develop agriculture as the country enters the new century.

This is an important decision on work in the rural sector made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council after much deliberation and investigation.

After 20 years of reform and development, agriculture and rural economic development have achieved miraculous results. However, agriculture faces new problems such as growing grain stockpiles, lowering grain prices and the slow increase in the incomes of Chinese farmers.

To radically solve these problems, strategic restructuring in agriculture and rural economic structure is paramount, the editorial notes.

The editorial warns that restructuring is fraught with difficulties and will require both time and hard work..