The central finance department will continue increasing its
support to the country's rural areas, sources from a meeting of the
political bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee
said.
The Xinhua News Agency on Saturday cited a political bureau
meeting as saying that the country should further muster up
strength to solve the problem of its poor agricultural
infrastructure and the sluggish development of rural areas by
"increasing input in agricultural sectors and rural areas".
The report, which comes just days before the Party's 17th
National Congress on October 15, the most important political
gathering in China which will set guidance for future development,
suggests Party leaders are concerned about the urgency needed to
improve farmers' lives, analysts said.
An anonymous official from the Ministry of Finance said that the
central government has made financial support for rural areas a
major priority .
The country has rolled out a series of preferential policies to
boost the development of its vast countryside, home to its more
than 700 million rural people, including agricultural taxation
reform to alleviate farmers' burden and direct subsidies to ensure
gains from growing crops.
The State has also exempted farmers from some taxes such as
those in the slaughtering and animal husban-dry industry.
Statistics from the ministry shows that the central coffers plan
to invest 391.7 billion yuan (US$52 billion) in the development of
its rural areas this year, an annual increase of 15.3 percent.
To further encourage farmers to grow crops, billions of yuan
have been allotted for agricultural subsidies for grain prices,
seeds, and cultivation facilities.
About 125 billion yuan of tax has been waived since the removal
of a series of agricultural taxes in recent years, the official
said.
The results of these preferential policies were obvious, the
official said, with statistics showing a fourth consecutive bumper
grain harvest this summer.
(China Daily October 8, 2007)