Although farmers' incomes in the province are higher than that in many other areas in our country, "a fairly large number of them can hardly be said to live a decent and comfortable life," said Jiang.

In the past five years, governments at all levels in the province have worked strenuously to improve farmers' lives by providing financial help and advanced agricultural technology and techniques. However, farmers are still complaining.

Door-to-door investigations by agricultural experts and government officials in the rural areas, especially in northern Jiangsu, found their complaints are based on real problems.

"The findings have uncovered some awful conditions that were totally unexpected," said Jiang Likuan, director of the Agriculture Committee of the Jiangsu Ninth People's Congress.

He said about 6 million farmers, 11 percent of the total rural population in the province, have a yearly income of less than 1,000 yuan (US$120), barely enough for survival.

One report reveals that apart from natural causes, such as poor soil and occasional natural disasters, the major reason that farmers are suffering so is the various unfair fees levied on them. The fees took up a large part of their income.

Laws have been made to change the situation, but nothing much has come of them.

This year, the province will take a series of measures to lessen farmers' burdens and help them increase their incomes.

One major move will be the implementation of the State policy to change administrative fees into taxes in rural areas, said Jiang.

In the past, most of the dozens of fees charged in the rural areas were used to pay the salaries of town and village administrators and rural teachers.

"Their numbers will be greatly reduced in the next few years so that the fee-to-tax conversion, which will surely benefit the farmers, can be smoothly carried out," said Jiang.

Other measures include merging township and village administrative offices, speeding up urbanization and the healthier development of rural enterprises.

(China Daily 02/19/2001)