Farmers in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province will find their burden lightened as the provincial government announced a tax-free decision Saturday.

As part of a pilot project of the State Council, or China's cabinet, Heilongjiang and its neighbor Jilin Province will exempt local farmers from all agricultural taxes from this year.

Jilin announced the decision two days earlier.

The policy will benefit over 18 million farmers in Heilongjiang, dubbed "China's largest barn," reducing their economic burden by 2.9 billion yuan (over US$350 million), said Li Wenhua, a provincial official in charge of agriculture.

Besides the preferential taxation policy, Li said, the province will also take a series of subsidy and assistance measures to spark the enthusiasm of farmers and agrotechnicians in the promotion of high-quality crop breeds, development of pollution-free produce and renovation of farming technology.

A tax reduction program will also be introduced this year in 11 other provinces including Hebei, Liaoning, Anhui, Shandong and Henan, all major grain growers of the country.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2004)