Zhu's call came during his four-day inspection tour to Sichuan Province, which ended on Tuesday.

Sichuan, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, started a pilot project in 1998 to protect natural forest and return farmland to vegetation. The project has resulted in the recovery of vegetation and curbed the trend of soil erosion, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zhu pointed out that ecological protection should be further emphasized and the government's preferential policy in this regard be strictly implemented.

He said technical support should be provided to farmers in afforestation and efforts are needed to help farmers solve the current problems and become rich in the long run after the return of their farmland to vegetation.

Presently, the domestic supply of both agricultural and industrial products outweighs the general demand in China, and this creates an unprecedented condition which enables the people to improve the ecological environment, said the premier.

He suggested that in places with abundant rainfall, like the southern part of the country, efforts should be made to speed up returning farmland to vegetation.

After inspecting the minority nationality areas in Sichuan, Zhu pointed out that to improve the living standards of the ethnic minority people is the main objective of the western development strategy.

He said efforts should be made to return more farmland to vegetation, which is an effective measure to increase the farmers' income.

Construction of infrastructure facilities, especially railways, highways, rural electricity grids and telecommunication networks, is necessary and should be speeded up.

The premier said that businesses with regional characteristics, such as tourism and related service industries, should be greatly encouraged and poverty-relief and educational assistance reinforced to accelerate development in these localities.

(Eastday.com 06/14/2001)