Guangzhou will exempt farmers from agriculture tax from this year, five years ahead of a schedule set by the state, the Southern Metropolitan News report said Wednesday.

The exemption will benefit more than 2 million farmers, involving a total of more than 50 million yuan (US$6 million) in agriculture tax.

The exemption is a further step forward after the city reduced agriculture taxation for rural areas in 2002 to help farmers.

Agriculture tax income contributed little to the city's annual revenue, with the figure accounting for only 0.21 percent of revenue last year, the paper said.

Poverty-stricken rural areas will get financial aid from the city in the form of infrastructure.

Last year, the city's total agricultural output value reached 18.07 billion yuan, a growth of 0.7 percent compared with the previous year.
 
(Shenzhen Daily November 25, 2004)