China should strive to promote agricultural modernization and protect farmers' rights to boost the development of rural areas, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday.

Premier Wen Jiabao(C) was speaking at the opening of the annual central conference on rural work in Beijing Tuesday.[Photo/Xinhua]

Wen was speaking at the opening of the annual central conference on rural work in Beijing Tuesday.

The conference is set to map out policies for next year's agricultural and rural development, specifying policies such as boosting grain production, raising the minimum state purchasing prices of grain, and increasing subsidies to grain growers.

He said that after decades of rapid growth underwritten by farmland taken for relatively little compensation, it was time for China to tilt in favor of the farmers.

"We should recognize that our country's level of economic development has risen far, and we can no longer sacrifice farmers' land property rights for the sake of lowering the costs of industrialization and urbanization," he said. "We must, and also have the conditions to, dramatically increase the share of gains that goes to farmers from enhancing the value of land."

As a country with a large population, agricultural modernization is equally important as urbanization and industrialization to China, Wen told the conference.

"Any slight failure in agriculture will hamper the country's economic development and social stability," he said.

Agricultural work is of particular significance next year, faced with the complicated macro economic condition and the dual pressures of a economic slowdown and rising inflation, Wen said.

He said more efforts should be done to protect farmers' rights in land properties, income distribution, employment, social security and public services.

The construction of new socialist rural areas remains a significant task, and there is still a lot work to be done to bridge the development gap between rural and urban regions and boost overall agricultural production capacity, Wen said.

Rapid urbanization is not likely to result in relatively fast change in rural areas, and rural construction should maintain its own features instead of bringing urban designs to the countryside, he said.

Moreover, farmers enjoy the legal rights of land contracts, land use and collective income distribution as basic protections, no matter if they have moved into the cities or stayed in the countryside, he said.

"No one is empowered to deprive such rights," Wen said.

Local officials should respect farmers' wills and seek their understanding. Decisions should be made "more realistically" and reflect the wishes of the majority as well as those from the minority, according to Wen.