Greener pastures ahead for farmers
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-02-09 07:39

Give more and take less.

China's highest authorities once again committed themselves Sunday to reviving the rural economy and fattening the pockets of farmers.

The detailed measures were included in a document released by the central government to speed up growth in farmers' incomes.

The income growth of China's 900 million farmers has stagnated for seven years and has lagged behind that of urban residents. The disposable per-capita income of urban residents grew by 9.3 per cent in 2003, five percentage points higher than that of rural residents, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In the document, the authorities urged stronger support for grain production in major grain-producing areas to help raise the income of grain farmers.

Resources will be concentrated in the construction of special grain production bases beginning this year to meet target grain output of 455 million tons in 2004.

Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin recently said a chronic decline in grain yields and a shrinkage in the crop-sowing area over the past few years have sounded alarm bells among the country's agricultural decision-makers.

The country is expected to harvest 430.6 million tons of grain in 2003, down 5.8 per cent from 2002, according to the ministry's projections. The production level is still within China's food security benchmark.

Ma Xiaohe, researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission, said the government had given top priority to protecting grain production capacity.

To do so, it needed to quarantine enough arable crop land from industrial development, increase investment in projects to improve farmland productivity, and boost farmers' enthusiasm for grain production.

China's arable crop land has shrunk by 667,000 hectares each year on average over the past seven years, partly due to local governments requisitioning croplands to cash in on a nationwide real estate and development boom.

The authorities have promised to subsidize agriculture in line with World Trade Organization rules. According to the document, the financial burden on farmers will be reduced and the government will put about 30 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) in treasury bonds into training for farmers and infrastructure construction this year.

Farmers believe the document is an essential part of the government's measures to invigorate rural areas, where more than 60 per cent of China's 1.3 billion people live.

Ju Hua, a 60-year-old farmer in the mountainous Tongjiang County of Sichuan Province, said his village is starving for investment for further development. His five-member family has already earned enough to clothe itself and eat based on nearly 1 hectare of contracted land.

"But we are short of money to invest in cash crops and other sectors," said Ju. "The document is quite good but enforcement is another thing."

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