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To increase the income for farmers, a key issue closely related to
China's efforts to expand the domestic market to maintain rapid
economic growth, could get a smooth go-ahead once the breakthrough
is made in the industrialization of agricultural production, a
lawmaker said in Beijing Thursday.
Boosting the industrialization of agricultural production can help
farmers enter the market in a better-organized way and improve the
comprehensive efficiency of agriculture, said Wang Zehong, a deputy
to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), the Chinese
legislature.
Wang, who is in Beijing attending the on-going annual NPC session,
called on the government to get ready and be fully prepared for
concepts and work mechanism that fit the industrialization of
farming.
Xiao Zhuoji, a renowned economist and a member of China's top
advisory body amid its own annual session in par with that of the
national legislature, proposed that the government give more
financial resources in support of agricultural production and to
help increase farmers' income substantially.
Noting that the state fiscal income jumped 121 percent in the
1996-2000 period, Xiao said China's financial spending in
agriculture was only up 75 percent, adding "this is
irrational".
Although the Chinese government has taken a series of measures
targeted at raising the farmers' income over the last few years,
the income gap between urbanites and rural residents still keeps
widening.
In
2002, the rural residents' per-capita net income amounted to 2,476
yuan (US$300), less than one-third that of urban dwellers.
"When the costs for chemical fertilizer and seeds are deducted, the
farmers' per-capita disposable cash income fell to only 120 yuan
(US$14.5) per month," said Qiu Xiaohua, deputy director of the
State Statistics Bureau.
However, lawmakers and advisors are confident in and expecting a
relatively faster increase in the farmers' income as the central
authorities have been formulating more preferential policies for
the development in agriculture and rural areas this year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2003)
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