The Chinese government on Wednesday said it would invest more
funds in the countryside this year as part of its efforts to boost
agricultural development and narrow the widening urban-rural
gap.
The decision was made when the country is confronted with
difficulties in balancing the supply and demand of farm products,
maintaining stable growth of grain production and farmers' incomes,
and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, said the first
document of this year jointly issued by the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, or
China's cabinet.
Governments above the county level must make sure that growth of
their investment in agriculture would outpace that of their regular
revenues every year, said the document, also called No. 1 central
document.
They should shift their emphasis to infrastructure construction
and social programs development in the countryside, the document
said.
Both government expenditure and fixed asset investment in the
countryside must "expand at a markedly faster pace" this year, it
added. And local governments must set aside part of their city
construction budgets for rural areas.
China would also speed up legislation to ensure that investment
in the countryside would be better managed and bring about greater
benefits.
To improve the country's agricultural productivity, more
investment was needed to build irrigation projects, reinforce
dilapidated reservoirs, protect arable land, promote agricultural
mechanization and curb desertification.
The investment would also be used to provide free textbooks to
rural students under the nine-year compulsory education system and
expand the rural cooperative medical care system, under which the
government helps fund farmers' medical expenses.
The minimum living allowance for needy families would be raised
in rural areas, an endowment insurance system would be established
there, public transportation would be improved and more farmers
would be encouraged to use clean fuels, such as marsh gas, solar
and wind power.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2008)
