The Chinese government is determined to modernize the agricultural industry
and will invest more money in the country's vast rural
areas.
Addressing the annual central rural work conference which
closed in Beijing Saturday, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said that
the agricultural industry and the rural areas had continued to develop in 2006
despite a series of natural disasters and increasingly fierce trade
competition.
Sources at the meeting said that agricultural reform should
be pursued, policies in favor of farmers strengthened and public services in
rural areas improved.
"However, there are still a whole raft of very
complex and challenging issues concerning farmers, rural areas and the
agricultural industry as a whole," Hui said.
Greater efforts will be made
to improve land productivity, the efficiency with which resources are utilized
and technological capacity in the industry.
To ensure basic medical
services for farmers, the new cooperative medical care system will be expanded
to cover 80 percent of China's rural areas next year, according to the
meeting.
At present, 40 percent of rural areas, or 200 million farmers,
are covered by the cooperative medical care system to which farmers, local
government and central government all contribute.
148 million elementary
and primary students in rural areas will be exempted from tuition fees starting
from 2007 and a new compulsory educational financing system will be
established.
In 2006, 50 million elementary and primary students in
western China's rural areas were exempted from all educational charges except
textbook fees.
The government will also press ahead with a national
social security system in both urban and rural areas.
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