Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the promotion of stable agricultural and rural economic development and said issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers should continue to be the top priority of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Hu, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Friday. Attendees at the meeting studied the means to promote agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics.

Maintaining stable agricultural and rural economic development was more important under current circumstance, Hu said.

Agricultural production was the basic support to stimulate economic growth; rural areas had the potential to boost domestic demand; and to improve farmers' living standards was a major task and also a difficult job, he said.

He called for more efforts on three major tasks of agricultural work.

First, greater importance should be laid on ensuring the country's grain security and supplies of major agricultural products.

The country should stick to the most strict system to protect and save farming land as well as stabilize the grain sowing area, Hu said.

He said the government should increase subsidies for agricultural production and continue to raise the minimum state purchasing prices for grain.

In the latest move to protect farmers' interests and boost grain output, the National Development and Reform Commission said Saturday it would raise the minimum state purchasing prices for rice in major rice-producing areas by as much as 16.9 percent this year.

Hu also stressed the quality supervision and monitoring of agricultural products to ensure food safety.

Second, more importance should be attached to promote rural infrastructure construction as well as improve social welfare and living standard of farmers, he said.

He urged increasing capital input in infrastructure construction and rural social welfare and said greater efforts should be made to improve rural education, medical services and poverty alleviation.

Third, an array of measures should be taken to promote the growth of farmers' income and expand the rural market, Hu said.

He urged more efforts to discover new measures and channels to boost farmers' income and improve the commodity circulation network in rural areas.

The program of subsidized home appliance, autos and motorcycles should be promoted, he said.

He also urged quality authorities to make best efforts to protect farmers' interests and avoid fake and shabby products flowing in to rural markets.

Speaking of rural workers employment, Hu said governments should encourage enterprises to be more responsible and employ more rural workers.

The governments could also provide more job opportunities for rural workers by letting them work on the infrastructure projects amid the country's efforts to boost domestic demand, he said.

More support should be given to migrant workers who returned because of employment difficulty in cities and encourage them to start their own businesses, Hu said.

He also suggested Party leaders and governments at all levels should apply the scientific outlook on development to their work to deal with the emerging problems and challenges facing agricultural and rural economic development, and contribute more to promoting rural reform, development and stability.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2009)