Rural-urban integration

The government vowed to narrow the widening rural-urban economic gap.

More efforts would go to developing culture, education, health care, and other social welfare in rural areas, inhabited by 900 million people.

The government would raise teachers' salaries, and subsidize rural schools and students from poor families. This year, vocational school students from financially-strained rural households and those in agricultural majors would be exempted from tuitions fees.

The document said local governments could increase financial subsidies to the new rural cooperative health insurance system, and enhance construction investment in the public health care system.

Moreover, central and provincial governments would raise the stipend for rural households to meet the state-designated minimum subsistence standards.

Market monitoring

The government also hoped to strike the balance between farm produce supply and demand this year to prevent low prices from hurting farmers' incomes.

The document said the authorities would closely track local and overseas farm produce markets and use all possible measures when necessary to secure the steady growth of rural households' income.

It urged authorities to "measure the timing and pace" of farm produce imports and exports to avoid flooding the domestic market with imports of farm produce and closer communication among governments, industrial associations and enterprises.

China would also optimize its market access system this year in line with the requirements of the World Trade Organization to allow foreign investment in farm produce and farming materials production.

The government would modify the regulatory mechanism for farming produce exports and imports to provide a smooth channel for governments between different countries, associations, and enterprises to communicate and resolve problems.

Governors would continue to be held responsible for grain production. An evaluation system would be set up to monitor the performance of authorities in the protection of arable land, water resources, and macro-economic control in the production and distribution of grain crops.

Under the document, different areas are encouraged to take the advantage of local soil and weather conditions to increase crop yields. For example, northeast regions and Inner Mongolia would be encouraged to produce soybeans while the Yangtze River valley would focus on high quality rape.

An industrial development plan in terms of oil tree plantations would also be mapped out as soon as possible, it said.