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Policies to boost farmers' income
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-02-09 08:59
Sensing the urgency of raising farmers' income, the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China and the State Council have issued a document on
policies for boosting the growth in the income of farmers, accounting for 900
million out of China's 1.3 billion population.
The document, the key points of which were made public Sunday, prescribes a
number of measures to increase farmers' income, stressing raising farmer's
income is a significant issue both economically and politically.
The document urges stronger support for grain production in major
grain-producing areas to help raise the income of grain farmers. Resources will
be concentrated for the construction of a number of state-class high-quality
special grain production bases beginning this year.
In order to reduce the financial burden on farmers, the general level of
agricultural tax rates will be cut by one percentage point this year and tax
levies on special farm produce except tobacco leafs will be annulled.
The document calls for continued efforts to push forward the readjustment of
the structure of agriculture to tap its full potential in yielding profits for
farmers, and to develop secondary and tertiary industries in the countryside to
open up more money-earning opportunities for farmers.
A good environment should be created in cities so that farmers can find jobs
for more income, and the role of the market mechanism should be brought into
full play to improve the market circulation of agricultural products.
According to the document, construction of infrastructure facilities in the
countryside should be strengthened to lay a foundation for farmers to earn more,
and the rural reform should be deepened to provide a guarantee for farmers to
increase income and reduce financial burden.
The document also calls for continued efforts to carry out the task of
poverty reduction and development in the rural areas and help the
poverty-stricken people and victims of natural disasters overcome difficulties
in production and daily life.
The leadership of the Party should be strengthened to ensure that all the
policies to help farmers increase their income are implemented to the letter,
the document says.
Despite steady economic development in the rural areas, numerous problems
still exist in the countryside, it says. The most salient of these problems is
that it is difficult for farmers to increase their income.
The document points out that if farmers' income remains stagnant for long,
their living standards will be affected; moreover, grain production and the
supply of agricultural products will be impaired.
It will also constrain the growth of the rural economy and the national
economy as a whole, and hamper social progress in the countryside and the
realization of the goal of building a relatively affluent society in an
all-round way.
The income growth of China's 900 million farmers has lagged behind that of
urban residents. The disposable per-capita income of urban residents grew by 9.3
percent in 2003, five percentage points higher than that of rural residents,
according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The People's Daily published an editorial Monday highlighting the importance
of helping the country's 900 million farmers raise incomes.
In the editorial, the newspaper speaks highly of the importance of the
document on policies to boost the growth in the incomes of farmers, describing
it as guiding document for the Party and the government in handling issues of
agriculture and rural work.
The average income of Chinese farmers has been growing slowly in recent years
and some farmers reported zero and even negative growth in incomes, causing
widening income gaps between rural and urban residents, according to the
editorial.
Such a situation, if not reversed as soon as possible, would not only affect
the improvement of farmers' standards of living, grain production and supplies
of farm produce, and rural social and economic development, but also restrict
the development of the national economy, it says.
The editorial describes the document as the first of its kind formulated by
CPC in cooperation with the central government on ways to lift farmers' incomes
since New China was created in 1949, highlighting the importance the authorities
attached to the issue.
The document urged stronger support for grain production in major
grain-producing areas to help raise the incomes of grain farmers. Resources
would be concentrated on the construction of state-class high-quality special
grain production bases beginning this year.
In order to reduce the financial burden on farmers, the general level of
agricultural tax rates will be cut by one percentage point this year and tax
levies on special farm produce, except tobacco leaf, would be annulled.
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