China to map out policies to guard rural development against financial crisis

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Chinese media) -- Measures to improve

China's agriculture and the income for rural people are expected to come out of

an annual rural work conference which began here Saturday.

Presided over by the State Council, or the Cabinet,

the conference will map out policies on the country's rural development for the

next few years.

Earlier this month, the National Development and

Reform Commission (NDRC), predicted the nation's grain output will increase for

five straight years and reach 525 million tonnes in 2008.

At the same time, per capita income for Chinese

farmers would increase more than 6 percent year-on-year. The amount was near

4,000 yuan (585 U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters, according to the

NDRC.

This being stated, experts see more challenges coming

in the next year for China in terms of stable agricultural development and rural

income increases as the international financial crisis deepened.

Market contraction both at home and abroad has driven

down prices of agricultural products such as bean, corn and cotton. This raises

concerns of decreased agricultural production and farmers' future income.

Shrinking international demand for Chinese products

also forced domestic companies to cut or stop production, driving migrant

workers back to their hometowns earlier than usual this year.

So far, statistics from the Ministry of Human

Resources and Social Security showed 10 million or 10 percent of China's total

130 million migrant workers returned home jobless.

The country issued a series of measures to support

rural development in the past two months. Farmers are being given subsidies to

purchase home appliances, free training for laid off migrant workers is being

offered and loans were supplied to help farmers start businesses.

All these policies would be reinforced at the

conference, according to analysts.