BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhuanet) -- With the commitment made by the Chinese government to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, the country's agricultural society featured by the farmers' payment of agricultural tax based on the number of their families and cropland acreage, would phase out before long.

    Premier Wen Jiabao last Friday announced the rescindment of agricultural tax in five years, which has filled farmers with joy and acclamation from the people from all walks of life across China.

    In his government work report to the on-going legislature session, Wen said, except for tobacco, the tax on special agricultural products will be rescinded in 2004, and the overall agricultural tax rate will be reduced by over 1 percentage point each year, and agricultural tax will be rescinded in five year.

    By one percent reduction in agriculture tax, farmers' burden would be reduced as much as 11.8 billion yuan this year, according to the premier.

    "People say it's a backbreaking job to grow grain crops, but after a year's toil and sweating, grain farmers can hardly get any money," said Bai Guiru, a woman peasant farmer from Jituo village of Laoting county, in north China's Hebei province, "These words of the premier's means so much to us."

    The Chinese government's decision is based on prolonged, serious study and deliberation by the central leadership.

    President Hu Jintao braced heavy snowfall to visit farmers and headsmen's homes shortly after he assumed his presidency at the beginning of 2003 and the six "No. 1 Circular" relating to agriculture was issued early this year after an elapse of 18 years,and other senior officials also trekked to rural areas to go amongthe masses of farmers to look into ways of coping with long-standing problems hampering the development of China's rural areas.

    Two central government conferences on issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers were convened in the past year. This year's No. 1 Circular of central leadership was also centered on the same issue.

    Even sober-minded experts and scholars spoke highly of the government's resolve to help farmers ease their financial burden.

    "For the past 2,000-plus years, Chinese authorities had given top priority to agriculture, but what they did was aimed to increase farmers' productivity instead of protecting their interests," said Zeng Yesong, an agriculture expert with the PartySchool of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

    "Beyond any doubt, the rescindment of agricultural tax will be a direct subsidy for farmers and constitute a new approach of the government to boost agriculture," the expert told Xinhua.

    This new policy is of great significance to China's grain safety as it will encourage farmers to produce more food grain, said Liu Liren, a NPC deputy and director of the Agricultural and Forestry Bureau in east China's Jiangsu province.

    With his in-depth understanding of the related policy, Li Yuanchao, secretary of the CPC Jiangsu provincial committee, said that the government is carrying out the principle of "Put People First and Center on the People," to offer farmers a golden opportunity.

    China is one of a few countries in the world that levy agricultural tax.

    Premier Wen's announcement has also aroused interest among diplomatic envoys of other countries in China. Azerbaijani Ambassador to China Yashar Aliyev acknowledged that China's reform began with agriculture sector and tax holiday scheme would once again chart the orientation for the country's economic and social development in the years ahead.

    According to media reports, agricultural tax rescindment has already been enforced by the municipal governments of Beijing and Shanghai metropolis, and east China's Zhejiang province. Enditem