The Chinese government's annual central rural work conference, in which it maps out policies for the next year's development of agriculture and rural regions, opened Tuesday in Beijing.

The rural work conference is usually attended by senior officials of the State Council, China's Cabinet, and provincial-level officials.

This year's meeting is expected to deliberate on and specify policies that focus on boosting farm produce supply and the development of modern agriculture for the year 2011.

Experts say the participants are likely to discuss problems in the sector, such as the frequent price fluctuations for farm produce, and setting the foundations for steady increases in grain output and rural incomes.

They believe China needs to intensify its efforts to safeguard grain supply security in 2011, improve rural infrastructure construction, accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development, and speed up construction of public cultural services and social security system covering urban and rural areas.

A secure food supply and increasing crop earnings were essential as the government had made price stabilization a priority, said Shanghai-based Guohai Securities analyst Sun Xia.

Policy-makers agreed earlier this month at the Central Economic Work Conference that the government would increase subsidies for agricultural production, steadily raise minimum grain purchase prices, and raise investment in the major grain producing areas and water conservation facilities.

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) forecast earlier this month the nation's grain output would rise 2.9 percent year on year from 2009 to 546.4 billion kg this year, the seventh consecutive year of increase.

The per capita net income of farmers was also expected to grow faster than the average level for the past four years, according to the MOA.

The central government has invested 828.3 billion yuan (123.63 billion U.S. dollars) to boost grain production and combat natural disasters, such as severe drought, low temperatures and floods, which have all affected the nation's agricultural production this year.