Vice Premier Hui
Liangyu said Thursday that China's grain production and
farmers' incomes had both witnessed a favorable turn.
"Production of summer grain crops and early rice has reversed
the negative trend witnessed in the past few years," Hui said at a
meeting of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's
Congress.
He told legislators about the measures the State Council had
taken to promote rural development and improve the livelihood of
farmers.
Lawmakers also heard a report Thursday on the implementation of
this year's national plan for economic and social development,
delivered by Ma Kai, minister of the?National Development and
Reform Commission.
Ma said China had realized a gross domestic product of 5.9
trillion yuan (US$711 billion) in the first half of this year, an
increase of 9.7 percent.
Supporting Hui, Ma said China had a good summer grain harvest
this year with a production volume of 101.05 billion kilograms, an
increase of 4.8 percent.
Rural residents' per capita cash income had increased by 10.9
percent in the first half of this year, Hui said, adding that the
country's farmers had not witnessed double-digit growth in their
incomes for many years.
The vice-premier said restructuring in agriculture and the rural
economy had also made new progress, improper use of arable land had
virtually been stopped, and health, education and science and
technology had developed quickly in rural areas.
Hui attributed the concrete changes to a series of measures
taken by the State Council to increase food production and farmers'
incomes.
He said the central government had offered subsidies to farmers
who grow crops and buy improved varieties of seeds and farm
machinery. Farmers can get a minimum price for their grain in major
production areas of a certain crops to protect them from market
fluctuations. The government had also stabilized the price of the
means of agricultural production.
Hui said farmers in northeast China's Heilongjiang
and Jilin
provinces had been exempted from paying agricultural tax on a trial
basis. Agricultural tax had been reduced by 3 percent in 11 major
grain production areas including north China's Hebei
Province.
The central government has also stepped up spending on rural
poverty reduction, the comprehensive development of agriculture and
the improvement of the animal epidemic prevention system.
Hui said the government had tightened the management of arable
land and strengthened the protection of rural migrant workers in
cities.
The vice premier pledged the government would continue to
promote food production and stabilize the price of the means of
production and consumer goods in rural areas.
He said the government would continue to promote its action plan
on organic food, enhance the quality inspection of agricultural
products and tighten the management and supervision of the use of
fertilizer.
He also vowed to increase infrastructure construction in rural
areas, provide farmers with more urban employment opportunities,
support the battle against rural poverty, enhance land protection
and promote rural financial reform.
(China Daily August 27, 2004)