The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee began a key four-day meeting in Beijing yesterday to discuss rural reforms in a bid to spur growth amid a global economic slowdown.

On top of the agenda for the third Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee is promoting reform and development in rural areas.

The meeting is the most important political event of the year, with 204 members of the Party's central committee to chart the nation's economic direction after 30 years of reform and blistering growth.

The meeting's emphasis on rural issues highlights the top leadership's efforts to reduce the widening urban-rural wealth gap and tap the vast rural market.

Despite fast economic development over the past three decades, a yawning wealth gap has opened up between urban and rural residents, hindering the country's bid to build social harmony.

Senior analysts said the meeting is expected to make it easier for farmers to lease or transfer the management rights of their land, measures that have become necessary as many farmers move to the cities as migrant workers.

In 1978, China adopted collective land ownership for the 750 million rural dwellers, according to which villages or townships assume land ownership. Households manage land, usually on a small scale, for 30-year periods through contractual agreements with village or township communities.

The system has liberated rural households from the highly concentrated land ownership system, but it fails to meet residents' income and productivity aspirations, said Dang Guoying, an expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Experts hope the reform will lead to larger, more efficient farms that can meet the demands of the evolving economy.

The Party has solicited opinions from both within and outside on a draft of the CPC Central Committee decision on major issues concerning rural reform and development, which will be presented to the plenum for deliberation.

According to earlier reports, the State will beef up support to, and protection of, agriculture; accelerate agricultural modernization; protect farmers' rights and interests; and promote innovation.

(China Daily October 10, 2008)