Regulation and Policy 

Premier on Agriculture, Rural Economy (1) (April 1, 1999)

In 1999, the Chinese government will stabilize its basic rural policies, increase investment in agriculture and increase farmers' income. 

Premier Zhu Rongji made the pledge in a government work report he delivered at the 9th National People's Congress, which begins its annual session in Beijing on March 5. 

The government will consolidate and improve the two-tier system of unified and independent management based on household contracts, he said. 

He listed five concrete measures, namely, adjusting and optimizing agricultural structure; reinforcing capital construction in agriculture with focus on water conservancy; actively promoting the restructuring of the grain distribution system to activate the circulation of farm products; adjusting the restructuring of township and village-based enterprises and speeding up the construction of small towns; and alleviating burden on farmers and maintaining stability in rural areas. 

Regarding the adjusting and optimizing of the agricultural structure, Zhu said, because of good harvests for several consecutive years, the supply of many types of farm produce has exceeded demand, causing their prices to fall and slowing down growth in incomes for farmers. 

This is a new problem occurring against a backdrop of increased agricultural production and improvements in people's living standards, he said, pointing out that China's agricultural development has entered a new stage following two decades of rural reform. 

"In order to meet the needs of this new stage, we must shift the focus of our rural work to restructuring and optimization efforts and to the improvement of product quality and economic performance. 

"While maintaining the overall level of grain production this year, we should encourage farmers to produce more high-quality and more marketable grain varieties," he said. 

The government should rationalize the distribution of cotton farms by stabilizing cotton-growing areas in Xinjiang and reducing those in Hebei, Shandong and Henan provinces and the Yangtze River valley.  China should also adjust the pattern of production in the livestock industry, fishery industry and other sectors of greater agriculture and improve product quality to keep up with changes on the market, he said. 

"We should vigorously work to develop agriculture through science and education, strengthen the development and use of biotechnology, information technology and other high and new technologies, accelerate breed improvement and spread the use of advanced, applicable techniques which can increase production and income," he said.