BEIJING -- China will boost spending in rural areas and let more farmers migrate to urban areas in a bid to close the widening income gap between villages and cities, government officials said Monday.
China's leaders are worried about lagging rural areas, where thousands of protests a year over living conditions and perceived government indifference threaten their grip on social stability.
An exact figure has yet to be announced but Chen Xiwen, director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, a government advisory body, said the increase in spending on agriculture and rural areas would be proportionally much higher than the central government's overall budget increase this year.
This will mark the sixth consecutive year that China has boosted its budget for rural areas, Chen said. Last year, the government spent 764.1 billion yuan ($111.8 billion ) - up 120 billion yuan from the previous year.
"One thing is for sure: the increase in fiscal spending in rural areas will be much higher than the overall increase in China's fiscal input this year," Chen told a news conference. The exact amount is to be announced at the annual meeting of China's legislature in March, he said.
Chen said new investment, loans, training programs and subsidies would be part of a package of measures designed to help farming villages, where incomes have grown but failed to keep pace with urban income growth. The government's statistics bureau reported last week that China's urban residents made 3.33 times more than their rural counterparts in 2009, up from 3.31 in 2008.
The government will also allow more farmers to migrate to cities and receive the housing, insurance, social security, education and other benefits that urban residents enjoy, said Tang Renjian, deputy director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group.
About 60 percent of China's 150 million rural migrant workers are 30 years old or younger, Tang said. Most are better educated than their parents but have limited knowledge of farming and little interest in it.
"They want to become part of the city and embrace a civilized life in the city, but at the same time cities are not ready to accept this new generation," said Tang. "Helping them become urban residents will be a top priority."
