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Jiangsu govt pledges brighter future for farmers

By Qian Yanfeng and Song Wenwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-10 07:48

Authorities in Jiangsu province have vowed to raise subsidies for farmers and increase their incomes.

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Farmers' annual incomes are expected to reach 12,000 yuan ($1,800) by 2012 and 14,000 by 2017, up from 7,000 yuan today, Huang Lixin, deputy governor of Jiangsu, said.

Also, subsidies for quality agricultural products, agricultural machinery and other production materials are to be increased this year to help farmers counter falling prices, she said.

The province has also promised to eliminate absolute poverty for families with annual per capita incomes of less than 2,500 yuan over the next three to five years, she said.

Farmers' per capita incomes grew 12 percent last year, the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth, thanks to the promotion of technology-intensive high-efficiency agriculture, Huang said.

Such agriculture now takes up 30 percent of the region's total land area and has significantly raised agricultural productivity, she said.

Jiangsu, which is home to about 4,300 agricultural firms, has a mature agricultural processing industry that is quickly extending into high value-added areas as sales and circulation, which has created more jobs and increased incomes, she said.

"The government will continue to provide financial and policy support this year to help absorb the surplus labor in the rural areas and diversify farmers' income sources," Huang said.

Other measures will include developing agricultural parks and rural cooperatives where farmers can enjoy large-scale production benefits and achieve higher investment returns, she said.

However, difficulties remain in absorbing the millions of jobless migrant workers who have returned to the province in the wake of the global financial crisis, Huang said.

Of the 1.1 million migrant workers who returned for Spring Festival, about 200,000 are unemployed.

About 90,000 have found work in the province after receiving vocational training with government subsidies. Huang said.

"We plan to provide free training for 100,000 migrant workers who want to start their own businesses here, and vocational training for a further 300,000."

Bao Zongshun, director of the rural development institute at the Jiangsu academy of social sciences, said the recent urbanization will help provide jobs for the returned migrant workers.

"In Jiangsu province, about 60 to 70 percent of the rural population is employed in secondary and tertiary industries," he said.

"Therefore, there is great potential for those returned migrant workers to seek jobs in the service industry, for instance."