The survey, the first of its kind, will be very crucial in understanding poverty in China's rural areas, said Wang Zhenyao, director of the disaster control and relief division with the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"China regards the granting of the minimum standard of living subsistence allowance to farmers as essential and cited it as a priority for the country's social welfare system," said Wang, who is attending a national meeting on civil affairs in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei Province on Wednesday.

He has instructed civil affairs workers to go door-to-door in the rural areas to gather detailed information on needy rural households for the eventual preparation of a database.

The survey should be carried out meticulously and accurately, and vulnerable groups such as the elderly without off springs, farmers with no source of income and rural residents who have become impoverished due to natural disasters or major illness will draw particular attention, Wang emphasized.

According to Wang, only 4.06 million rural people currently enjoy the subsistence allowance, while a large number of newly-impoverished rural residents are in needy.

The survey will be completed in late April, said Wang, and his team will make proposals for improving the subsistence allowance mechanism following a systematic study of the economic disparities among the country's rural regions.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2003)