Chinese farmers will save another 22 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) this year as a result of the government's farmer-favoring policies, a senior official said Thursday.
  
Since the beginning of this year, the government has stopped collecting the agricultural tax in all provinces except three, where agricultural tax ratios have been lowered to 2 percent, said Ma Kai, minister in charge of the State Development and Reform Commission.
  
This year the government has provided direct allowances of 13.2 billion yuan (US$1.63 billion) to grain growers and spent 31.6 billion yuan (US$3.9 billion) in forestry, irrigation projects, weather service and poverty relief, Ma said in his report to the national legislature.
  
To further reduce the farmers' burdens, the government will help stabilize the market prices of chemical fertilizers and the purchasing price of grain this year, according to him.  

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2005)