In addition to grain price hikes since mid-October, farmers can
expect to benefit from the government's massive capital input into
rural regions, plus agricultural tax cuts this year as promised at
the ongoing session of the National People's Congress.
Now, the State Council has reiterated plans to strengthen
China's grain production capacity by urging local governments to be
conscientious in subsidizing grain producers. They are also to
convey to farmers that grain production will be encouraged in a
"more direct and effective way."
The message from a recent State Council meeting, carried in
major Chinese newspapers Wednesday, did not provide more
details.
But a reliable source said a record 150 billion yuan (US$18
billion) is likely to be spent this year on moves to fire up
farmers to produce more, improving rural infrastructure and
ensuring the country's food security.
The figure represents a jump of 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion)
over last year, according to sources with the Office of Financial
and Economic Leading Group of the China Communist Party Central
Committee.
"That means an average of 166 yuan (US$20) per person among 900
million rural people," Xinhua quoted Office Director Wan Baorui as
saying.
Although the reduced planting area has been often cited as a
major reason for the downturn in grain output over the past few
years, the interest of many farmers in growing grain has also been
flagging owing to low returns, experts said.
China's grain output dropped 5.8 percent from 2002 to reach
430.65 million tons last year. The figure is expected to rise to
455 million tons in 2004, a key year for recovering grain
production and averting a detrimental swing in the supply-demand
balance, Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin said earlier.
"To rekindle farmers' enthusiasm for grain production, we're
making sure that their benefits from supporting fiscal spending and
from sales of farm produce--whose prices rose substantially last
year--will not be dented by irrational rises in the production
costs," said Yang Jian.
Farmers' greatest expenses are in purchasing agricultural
production materials, said Yang, director of the Planning
Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.
In Anhui Province, a major grain producer, grain prices surged
20 percent last year. However, the incremental pace failed to match
that of fertilizers and diesel oil. For example, the price of
carbamide has grown nearly 30 percent over the past few months, say
local agricultural departments.
The National Development and Reform Commission has already sent
supervisory teams to major grain producing provinces, including Heilongjiang
in northeast China and Shandong
in east China, to ensure a rational fertilizer supply is
maintained, a commission official confirmed Wednesday.
(China Daily March 11, 2004)