During group discussions at the current annual session of China's top legislature, NPC, Fan Guangju, from Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said that without the movement of rural surplus labor, it is hard for peasants to increase their income and for the rural economy to develop.

Fan's view was shared by other deputies during a group discussion on the Outline of the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2001-2005) delivered by Premier Zhu Rongji at the current NPC annual session, which makes the increase of peasants' income one of the major targets.

Fan said that policies should be worked out to encourage the movement of surplus rural labor from agricultural to non- agricultural activities, from the countryside to cities and towns, and even from their native land to other places in the country.

Fan said there are 1.53 million people engaging in agricultural activities in Qiqihar and about 600,000 need to be transferred to other occupations. Now over 60 percent of Qiqihar's surplus labor have been transferred to other areas of endeavor.

Efforts should be made to create more jobs by industrializing the agricultural operation, developing rural enterprises and private businesses, developing small cities and towns, and expanding tourism, transport and other services, he noted.

(Xinhua 03/13/2001)