Tasks to boost digital development in rural areas

Five central authorities, including the Cyberspace Administration of China, have issued a document laying out 10 key tasks for enhancing digital development in rural areas this year.

The document said the country should use digitization to strengthen the development of rural industries and governance.

It set out several goals to be achieved by the end of this year, including giving 190 million rural residents access to broadband internet and increasing e-commerce sales of agricultural produce to more than 580 billion yuan ($84.33 billion).

The 10 key tasks were broken down into 26 sub-tasks, which include speeding up improvements to network infrastructure, promoting the digital transformation of the grain industry, using digital technology to ensure national food safety and upgrading e-commerce in rural areas.

Ministries to help SMEs recruit more graduates

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Education have decided to launch a campaign to help small- and medium-sized enterprises recruit more college graduates.

In a notice released on Friday, the general offices of the two ministries said the campaign, which lasts 100 days, will be carried out in two phases this year. The first began this month, and the second will take place in October.

Several organizations under the ministries and designated websites will take part in the campaign to host online and real-life recruitment activities.

Local authorities, colleges and universities should invite SMEs to hold on-campus recruitment events and share job postings with graduates, the offices said, requesting that the designated websites set up special channels for the campaign.

Both authorities and websites should strengthen efforts to confirm the authenticity of recruitment information and eliminate false information to protect the rights of college graduates.

The number of graduates is expected to reach 11.58 million this year, a year-on-year increase of 820,000.

Authorities to reduce use of soybean in animal feed

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has issued a plan to cut the use of soybean meal in livestock and poultry feed.

It said in the plan that it aims to lower the portion of soybean meal in the feed by at least half a percentage point every year for the next three years to less than 13 percent in 2025.

The ministry also aims to enhance the nation's ability to develop and use protein feeds.

It plans to complete a survey and assessment of available protein feed resources in three years, and approve one to two new microbial protein products by 2025.

The ministry also plans to increase the production of high-quality forage grass to 98 million metric tons by 2025.