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.