Farmers will become a "major driving force" in the growth of China's Internet population, which is already the world's biggest with its number exceeding 420 million, according to a blue paper recently released by a publishing house.

From 2007 to 2009, the number of Internet users in rural areas grew 71.6 percent per annum, double the urban rate, which stood at 34.6 percent, read a blue paper released by China's Social Sciences Academic Press.

About 100 million people in rural areas had access to Internet as of 2009, and there was plenty of room for increases given Internet coverage in rural areas was considerably less than in urban areas, according to the blue paper, which analyzed and forecasted the development of China's information industry this year.

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