Preparations are being made for China's second national
agriculture census scheduled to get underway on January 1, 2007.
The census, reckoned to the biggest ever undertaken in the world,
is expected to employ approximately seven million workers.
"All relevant departments have been faithfully doing their
duties and given great support to the census," a spokesperson for
the State Council office in charge of the exercise told Xinhua
Wednesday.
For example, he said, the Ministry of Finance and the National
Development and Reform Commission had been very supportive in the
allocation of funds and procurement of equipment. The State Council
has also issued a decree on the census which took effect in
August.
The training of millions of non-professional investigators is
already underway.
Contents of the census will include details of households and
businesses engaged in agriculture, the environmental situation in
the countryside, the use of agricultural land, fixed asset
investment in agriculture, employment in rural areas and the
quality of life for farmers.
It's estimated that some 30,000 townships, 600,000 villages and
more than 200 million rural households will be covered in the
census. China's first national agriculture census was conducted in
1996. Since then great development and changes have taken place in
the countryside, a census spokesperson said.
Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, head of the cabinet office in
charge of the initiative, said the census would lay the foundation
for China's bid to deal with agriculture issues and build the
socialist new countryside.
(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)