OPINION> Commentary
Raise farmers' income
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-03 07:57

The first document the Chinese government issued this year to address rural problems explicitly highlights a sense of crisis. Yet, hardships ahead should speed, and not slow, efforts to increase farmers' income.

This document represents a swift policy response to the increasingly negative impact the ongoing global financial crisis and economic recession have exerted on the Chinese economy.

More important, the document, the sixth of its kind since 2004, continues to expand rural support that has proven vital to consolidating the sound development momentum in agriculture and rural areas.

Both to survive the current crisis and to pursue balanced long-term development, the country must try its best to substantially raise farmers' income.

Just as the document points out, "the biggest potential for boosting domestic demand lies in rural areas; the foundation for securing steady and relatively fast economic growth is based upon agriculture; the toughest work of securing and improving people's livelihoods stays with farmers". And all these boil down to an even higher income level for farmers.

Thanks to the previous five such documents, Chinese farmers had seen their annual income grow by more than 6 percent for five consecutive years. Though that sort of income growth was still not enough to narrow the wealth gap between rural and urban residents, it has created right conditions for farmers to rapidly improve their living standards.

The year 2009, possibly the toughest year since the turn of the century, will make it more difficult than ever to ensure steady income growth for farmers.

On the one hand, falling commodity prices may erode farmers' revenues from agricultural production. On the other, shrinking overseas demand will force the export sector to cut jobs for migrant workers, drying up a key income source for farmers. It was reported that about 20 million of China's migrant workers had returned home before the Chinese New Year after losing their jobs as the global financial crisis started taking its toll on the economy.

Taking full account of such difficulties, the Chinese government has promised to not only increase minimum purchase prices for cereals but also adopt various measures to cushion rural employment.

With more government efforts to boost agricultural production, improve rural infrastructure and perfect social security net for farmers, it is quite likely that the vast rural market will at last grow into a powerful growth engine for the Chinese economy.

(China Daily 02/03/2009 page4)