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The coastal city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province plans to nearly halve the number of local farmers by the year 2010, as part of efforts to improve the living standards of local dwellers.
The reduction in number from 650,000 to 350,000 will enable local farmers to make a per capita net income exceeding 10,000 yuan (US$1,219.5), more than double the 4,722 yuan (US$575.8) they made in 2002.
Zheng Lizhong, secretary of the Xiamen City Committee of the Communist Party of China, said at a recent working conference on rural work that Xiamen will develop its villages by reducing their size and help enrich farmers by reducing their number.
To achieve the goal, measures will be adopted for the further coordination between rural and urban development, advancement of the rural industrialization process, supply of enough working places for local farmers, encouragement of more farmers to work in urban areas, and the improvement of reforms on the residence registration system.
Currently, farmers account for as many as 49.5 percent of the local registered population and there are 75,000 surplus young and able farmers in the city.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2003)
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