””””NANJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- China's rural areas have witnessed great
development in the past 20-odd years, according to Lu Liangshu, honorary
president of the Chinese Association of Agro-science Societies.
””””The achievements were mainly in economic structural reforms, improvements
in farmers' living standards and international cooperation, Lu told an
international conference on agriculture ineastern China's Jiangsu Province.
””””The primary, secondary and tertiary industries had the respective ratios of
68.6 percent, 26.1 percent and 5.3 percent ofthe rural economy in 1978, but
these stood at 24.4 percent, 62.9 percent and 12.7 percent respectively in 1997.
””””The average annual net income per capita for farmers had increased from 134 yuan
(16.3 US dollars) to 2,366 yuan (288.5 US dollars) from 1978 to 2001, said Lu,
and it rose by 4.1 percent in 2001 even as the world economy was slowing
down.
””””Living conditions had improved in the countryside. The Engel coefficient, which
indicates the proportion of food expenditure in total consumption, was an
internationally acknowledged index of a nation's living standards. The
coefficient for farmers in China had dropped from 68 percent in 1978 to 47.8
percent in 2001.
””””The countryside now boasted about 50,000 clinics and medical services
covered 89.7 percent of villages.
””””The rate of illiteracy and semi-literacy in the rural population had
dropped from 80 percent in the 1950s to eight percent last year.
””””China's agricultural sector had absorbed over 10 billion US dollars of
foreign investment since 1978.
””””The volume of imports and exports of farm produce reached 27.8 billion US
dollars last year, 1.7 times that of 1988. Foreign direct investment in China's
agriculture in 2001 was 1.76 billion US dollars, eight times that in 1998.
””””China actively participated in the food and agricultural programs of the
United Nations and had increased cooperation with the World Food Program, the
International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank. Enditem
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