NPC Gets to Grips with Farmer Issues

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 04, 2003

NPC Gets to Grips with Farmer Issues

Uplifting the farmers' livelihood is expected to remain a central topic for national legislators and political advisers as they gather this week in Beijing, officials and analysts said Monday.

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Uplifting the farmers' livelihood is expected to remain a central topic for national legislators and political advisers as they gather this week in Beijing, officials and analysts said Monday.

Since last November's 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the objective of building a "well-off society in an all-round way,'' farmers' incomes and rural issues have been a top priority.

The modern usage of the term "well-off'' society -- in Chinese Xiaokang -- was pioneered by China's architect of reform, Deng Xiaoping, in 1979 to describe the realization of a Chinese-style modernization.

It was later translated into 16 indices including per capita income, protein intake, life span, Engel Coefficient and telecommunications, according to Dr Lu Shuzheng, an expert in Beijing.

It is hoped that China will achieve a xiaokang society by 2020, one of goals is to ensure that the nation's per capita gross domestic product will reach US$3,000. In other words, the average economic level throughout the country at that time will reach Tuesday's standard in Beijing, economists said.

While many urban residents have prospered in the economic boom brought about by the reform and opening up of the past two decades, farmers are still struggling to earn a decent income.

Growth of farmers' incomes has remained static for years, and the income gap between rural and urban residents has been widening, Li said.

"A large number of deputies are from rural areas, I think they and others will ensure a lot of attention is given to farmers, the countryside and agriculture,'' Li said.

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