March 6, 2009
China's grain purchase prices to increase by 13 percent
The Chinese government is to raise the average minimum procurement price for all grain products by 13 percent from last year, as policy makers try to lessen the impact of the global economic downturn on rural farmers.
That would generate more than RMB116 billion of cash income for the country's 700 million farmers, the equivalent of RMB500 for each of the rural households, according to a China Daily report Thursday (Mar 5).
The country's grain output reached a record high of 528.5 million tonnes last year but the recent drought in many provinces has lowered expectations this year.
With the financial meltdown causing almost 20 million rural migrant workers to be jobless, farmers' incomes would suffer "a sizable loss" if they are not provided access to other income sources, Song Hongyuan, a senior researcher at the Ministry of Agriculture, told the paper.
Rural cash income had increased more than 6 percent annually in the last five years, with much of the increment coming from migrant workers' remittances, which had been threatened due to extensive job cuts in cities, Song said.
Premier Wen Jiabao also pledged Thursday (Mar 5) to add another RMB120 billion to boost the country's agriculture while addressing nearly 3,000 lawmakers at the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress.
US$1=RMB6.840 (Mar 6)
