First, we will maintain, improve and strengthen policies to support
agriculture. The process of reducing or exempting the agricultural tax will be
accelerated. This tax will be substantially reduced or exempted on a broad scale
throughout the country, and it will be exempted in 592 key counties included in
the national plan for poverty alleviation through development. The livestock tax
will be exempted throughout the country. Revenue decreases in local budgets
brought about by reduced or exempted taxes on agriculture and livestock will be
offset principally by transfer payments from the central government. Additional
expenditures of 14 billion yuan from the central budget will be needed for this
purpose this year, raising the total expenditures to 66.4 billion yuan. The
agricultural tax will be exempted throughout the country next year, which means
that what had been targeted for five years will be achieved in three. We will
continue to directly subsidize grain producers, increase subsidies to farmers to
purchase improved crop strains and agricultural machinery and tools, and
continue to follow a policy of minimum purchase prices for key grain varieties.
Comprehensive measures will be adopted to halt the steep price increases for the
means of agricultural production. The central government will allocate an
additional 15 billion yuan to increase transfer payments to major
grain-producing counties and to counties with financial difficulties. This
policy is of great importance for developing primary-level governments and all
undertakings in rural areas in these regions.
Second, we will continue to make structural adjustments in agriculture and
the rural economy. We will further develop grain production by stabilizing and
increasing the acreage sown to grain, strengthening development of grain
production bases and strictly protecting arable land, especially primary
farmland. We will improve the geographical distribution of agriculture, promote
its specialized production and industrial management, and develop distinctive
agricultural undertakings. Development of farm product processing industries
will be accelerated. We will energetically develop forestry, animal husbandry
and aquaculture. Township and village enterprises and intra-county economies
will be expanded.
Third, we will intensify development of irrigation and water conservancy
projects and the rural infrastructure. Funding from state investment in capital
construction and the sale of treasury bonds will be focused on developing
irrigation and water conservancy projects, improving the eco-system, upgrading
low- and medium-yield farmland, developing six categories of small rural
projects [water-efficient irrigation, potable water supplies, road building,
methane production facilities, hydroelectric plants, and pasture enclosure,
tr.], expanding dry and water-efficient farming, and constructing roads linking
townships to county seats. Greater priority will be given to major
grain-producing areas in distributing funds for overall agricultural
development. We will encourage and guide farmers to volunteer to work on small
infrastructure projects that will benefit them directly.
Fourth, we will accelerate innovation in agricultural science and technology
and spread of the use of agricultural technology. We will greatly increase
investment in agricultural science and technology, raise innovativeness in them,
and further improve the system for expanding the use of agricultural technology.
Subsidies will be increased for expanding the use of important agricultural
technologies. We will encourage and support scientists and technicians to go to
the countryside to provide technical consultation and services.
Fifth, we will transfer surplus rural labor to nonagricultural jobs in a
variety of ways. Rural secondary and tertiary industries will be developed to
steadily promote urbanization and expand employment opportunities for rural
workers. We will improve the environment for rural workers looking for jobs or
starting their own businesses in cities, provide more vocational training for
them, and formulate more policies concerning them. We will guide the movement of
rural labor to ensure that it flows in a rational and orderly way.
3. Accelerating economic restructuring and change in the pattern of economic
growth.
Optimizing and upgrading the industrial structure. We will stay on the new
road of industrialization. We will spur industrial restructuring by relying on
scientific and technological advances and focusing on becoming better able to
make independent innovations. We will accelerate development of new and high
technologies that can greatly stimulate economic growth as well as broadly
applicable, key and accessory technologies that can propel the upgrading of
traditional industries. We will promptly formulate innovation targets and
measures for achieving them in key technologies in a number of important fields
and make breakthroughs as quickly as possible. We will improve the systems and
policies that encourage innovation. We will continue to introduce advanced
technologies, assimilate them, and make innovations in them, while concentrating
on enhancing our own development capacity. We will energetically develop new and
high technology industries and integrate information technology into the
national economy and society. We will accelerate the transformation and
upgrading of traditional industries through new and high technologies and
advanced applied technologies. We will revitalize the equipment-manufacturing
industry, focusing on major projects. Guided by plans for specific projects, we
will continue strengthening basic industries like the energy industry and
important raw materials industries as well as infrastructure development in
water conservancy, transport and communications. We will vigorously develop
tertiary industries such as modern distribution services, tourism and community
services. We need to accelerate the development of capital- and
technology-intensive industries and continue to develop labor-intensive
industries.
Promoting the reorganization and technological upgrading of enterprises. We
will take existing enterprises as our base, making good use of reserve capacity
and preventing indiscriminate construction of new facilities. We will give more
support in the areas of taxation, financing and land use to key enterprises
undergoing technological upgrading. Efforts will be concentrated on integrating
technological upgrading of enterprises with their reform. We will support and
encourage the investment of non-government capital in the reorganization and
technological upgrading of enterprises.
