More resources to rural areas

In a bid to narrow the development gap between the urban and rural areas, the document said the central government would roll out more favorable policies to encourage inputs from various social forces to the rural regions.

Enterprises which establish rural welfare foundations would enjoy tax breaks, with no more than 12 percent of their annual profits being deducted before calculation of enterprise income tax.

Large and medium-sized cities and various sectors should give an impetus to the rural areas' development, providing one-to-one support and participating in industrial development and infrastructure construction in rural areas, according to the document.

It also urged related departments to study favorable policies to guide more educational resources and scientific research institutions to tap into the country's vast rural regions.

To ease the chronic financing shortage in the rural areas, the government required financial institutions, including the Agricultural Bank of China, Rural Credit Cooperative, and Postal Savings Bank of China, to further increase agriculture-related credit loans. Agricultural Development Bank of China was ordered to expand the supporting fields in agriculture, and give more long-term credit support to the infrastructure construction in rural regions.

Promoting innovations

The government vowed to promote modernization of agriculture by improving technological innovation to serve the purpose of maintaining stable grain production.

Focus should be put on cultivation of improved varieties and support be given to programs related to the trans-genic variety cultivation and agricultural mechanization, in a bid to boost the upgrading of the traditional agriculture.

More efforts should be made to raise the per-unit yield and quality of grain while stabilizing the current planting areas, said the document.

The government also vowed to increase input in irrigation, land reclamation and soil improvement, to build more high-yield farmland.

Subsidies to the major grain-producing counties were expected to be raised in a bid to promote production, according to the document.

It also called for efforts to boost production of oil crops, cotton, and sugar crops, to optimize the structure of agriculture products.