Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Saturday called on local governments to give more support to farmers and help them start businesses and find employment.

Hui made the appeal when attending an award ceremony for rural entrepreneurship.

The best way to fix a widening urban-rural gap and a sluggish rural economy was to create more jobs for farmers and help them establish their own businesses, Hui said.

He noted that such measures were key to improving farmers' livelihoods, building a new countryside and maintaining social stability.@ Farmers were encouraged to start their own businesses and local government should work out more favorable policies including finance support, preferential taxation and easier access to business licenses, Hui said.

The vice premier also called on governments at all levels to treat migrant workers fairly as they tried to succeed in China's metropolises.