Government and Policy

China pledges new efforts to boost rural development

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-31 16:11

BEIJING: China will put more investment, subsidies, fiscal and policy supports into vast rural areas this year with aims to better coordinate urban and rural development, the central government said on Sunday.

The government will continue to enhance financial support to agriculture and farmers, improve agricultural subsidy systems and maintain a good order in farm produce market, said the first document of the year issued jointly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The central government said budget priority should be given to infrastructure construction in rural areas and programs which are aimed at improving rural residents' livelihood.

More subsidies will be channeled to increase the output of crops, potato, highland barley and peanut, as well as the purchase of agricultural machinery, said the document.

The government would implement more policies for purchasing and stockpiling major agricultural products, including corn, soybean and oilseeds, to stabilize prices of major farm produce.

More efforts will be made to strengthen financial services including micro-credit loans and insurance service in rural areas, according to the document.

It promised that basic banking services would be available in all villages and towns in the next three years.

It called for more efforts to develop village banks, loan-lending companies, and mutual funds in a bid to guide more capital flows into the rural financial market.

The central government also asked for further expansion of rural consumption market as part of the country's accelerating measures to boost consumption.

Despite remarkable achievements in improving agricultural production and the livelihood of rural residents in the past six years, China now faces growing difficulties in increasing farmers' income and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, said the document, the seventh of its kind since 2004 to address rural problems.