Promoting rural development

cctv.com 02-23-2006 07:48

The document from central authorities calling for increased support for the country's agricultural sector. It shows that as China continues to promote industrialization and urbanization, the agricultural sector remains a fundamental concern.

70 percent of China's 1.3 billion people live in rural areas. The income inequality between urban and rural areas is rising. Last year, rural incomes were less than a third of the urban average. The gap in inequality has clearly widened since 1994 when rural residents earned just over a third of their urban counterparts. In 1984, the average rural income was about half that of the average urban income.

The document released Tuesday speaks of policy shifts that will emphasize an industry-supported agricultural sector rather than an agriculturally supported industrial sector. It aims to boost agriculture by increasing resource allocation.

The document says that infrastructure investment should shift from cities to rural areas. All rural towns in China will have access to asphalt roads by 2010. And all villages in eastern and central areas and certain villages in the more sparsely populated western areas will also have roads by the end of 2010.

Investment of private and foreign funds will soon be encouraged to focus on rural financial institutions. The document says that the establishment of new financial institutions will be permitted at the county level if they have adequate capital and meet strict operating requirements.

Rural financial institutions, made up largely of 30,000 rural credit cooperatives, reported a decrease of 14.8 billion U.S. dollars in outstanding non-performing loans at the end of 2005. And at the end of 2005, rural banking assets had surged 57.9 percent from three years ago, while total debts had risen to 64.2 percent. Government statistics show an 80.5 percent surge in outstanding loans for agricultural development between 2005 and 2002.

The same document says that both central and local government subsidies for medical care in rural areas will increase "by big margins." Different levels of government will increase investment in township-level hospitals and improve medical aid to farmers. Better control will be exercised over epidemic and endemic diseases threatening both humans and livestock.

The policy document also says that China will exempt primary and junior high school students in its rural west from tuition fees and other education expenses this year, pledging to implement similar policies in other areas starting 2007. Premier Wen Jiabao announced last December that policies are in place for students in rural areas to be exempt, within two years, from tuition fees for the first nine years of compulsory education.

Editor:Wang Ping  Source:CCTV.com