Regulation and Policy 

Agricultural Sector To Open Wider

Beijing China reports it is further opening its colossal rural market and will create favorable conditions for foreign exchange and cooperation in the agricultural sector.

“Although the country has made substantial progress in agriculture during the past 50 years, its has yet to divert more overseas capital, develop adequate agricultural experience to enhance the sector’s further growth,” Wan Baorui, vice-minister of agriculture, told a news conference in Beijing on December 9. 

The vice-minister announced that a grand international agricultural exposition along those lines is expected to be held in Beijing on September 23-28 next year, to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. 

As an agricultural country with a rural population of about 860 million, China has given top priority to developing agriculture. 

This year, China added a special fund of 35 billion yuan (4.21 billion U.S. dollars ) which was used in State large-scale commodity grain production base and water conservancy construction, trying to expand domestic demand and to counter detrimental influences of the Asian financial crisis and the consequences of last summer’s devastating floods, Wan said. 

The country’s annual grain output has held steady at about 490 million tons, with a per capita average of 400 kilograms, noted Wan.

The rapid expansion of township enterprises has helped job creation for rural surplus labourers, adding to farmers’ coffers, the vice-minister said.