Wen urges stable rise in farmers' incomes
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-17 09:00
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has reiterated the importance of farming, urging
local governments to boost agricultural production and to ensure a stable rise
in farmers' incomes.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
(C) talks with local residents during his visit to a family in Luoyang City,
central China's Henan Province, July 16, 2006. [Xinhua]
"We have seen a summer harvest. Further work should focus on the production
and reaping of autumn crops," Wen said during a two-day inspection tour of
central China's Henan Province on July 15 and 16.
Wen asked local governments to put into effect the minimum-price policy,
which helps protect farmers' incomes by setting minimum prices for grain crops.
He called for action on problems such as insufficient storehouse capacity and
lack of purchase funds for grain crops.
He also required more efforts be devoted to rectifying the market of farm
production materials and stabilizing prices of farm tools.
"We should ensure farmers get real benefits from the government's
preferential policies," Wen said.
China has 900 million farmers and the populous Henan province is one of the
top grain houses of the country. The income gap between farmers and urban
citizens has been expanding drastically, causing instability in some regions.
Visiting local industrial enterprises, Wen listed the prevention of
over-investment in fixed assets and the optimization of investment structures as
two keys to stable and rapid economic growth.
Land administration departments and banks should play a better "gatekeeper"
role in controlling new investment projects, Wen said.
Laws and regulations concerning land management should be
enforced stringently, and banks should be more cautious in granting loans to
avoid the over-expansion of industries with high levels of energy consumption
and heavy pollution, he said.
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