Companies urged to help boost agriculture

China will encourage industrial and commercial enterprises to be active in the agricultural sector to accelerate its development, senior officials said on Friday.

Such enterprises will be supported in helping farmers in several areas, such as the supply of agricultural machinery and processing and marketing of agricultural products, said Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Leading Group on Rural Work.

Investments in facility agriculture and large-scale animal husbandry are also being encouraged as enterprises always have strong finances and technological superiority to ordinary farmers, he said.

Chen was speaking at a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on Friday, a day after the CPC Central Committee and the State Council - China's cabinet - jointly issued the first document of the year. This stressed the significance of developing modern agriculture and enhancing the vitality of rural areas.

But Chen said the seizure of farmland from rural residents for other uses should be avoided.

An access and supervisory system for industrial and commercial enterprises, which rent farmers' land for agricultural production, is being drafted, he said.

Agriculture experts and industry analysts believe the document signals the right direction for further development of the country's agriculture.

Zheng Fengtian, a professor at Renmin University of China's School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, said one outstanding point in this year's document is that it encourages companies to invest in rural areas while making them focus on promoting agricultural production, lest farmland be put to other uses.

"As China's urbanization deepens and the workforce rushes for jobs in cities, investing back into rural areas is an inevitable choice," Zheng said. "If the policy can be properly enforced, it could bring another opportunity for development of China's rural areas."

Chen said more than 260 million farmers have switched to non-agricultural jobs in cities, which may hamper the country's grain harvest.

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