An extensive reform drive will soon sweep the country's vast countryside, with rural authorities focusing on helping farmers make the most of their land to increase their income.

Even before the announcement about exemption from the agricultural tax made early this year by Premier Wen Jiabao in his government work report to the annual session of the National People's Congress, 26 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country said they would scrap the tax by the end of this year.

Standing at a significant crossroads, township governments will encounter new challenges once revenue from the tax dries up.

In early 2004, Yan'an and Yulin, two cities in Shaanxi Province, exempted farmers from the agricultural tax.

Later other Shaanxi cities and counties also scrapped the tax, but opinion was split.

Role change

Chen Fazhan, deputy chief of Dawang Township under the Linwei District of Weinan, Shaanxi, felt apprehensive when he first heard about the scrapping of the agricultural tax.

The township, located on the far western edge of the district, with a population of 15,000 in 23 villages, is the poorest township in Linwei.

"In 2004, the average annual per capita income was 859 yuan (US$103.50)," Chen said.

"We had to spend 80 percent of our efforts on imposing agricultural tax, which was the most important job for us then. And, because it was very hard to impose all taxes, we had to work all year round to make sure that taxes were collected in due time and in due amount in some villages."

Scrapping the agricultural tax has freed local government officials from this burden, and they have been able to use their energy to help farmers with economic development.

However, helping farmers increase their income has turned out to be more difficult than collecting taxes.

"It will be a great pressure on us that we will be examined in terms of rural economic development and increases in farmers' income," Chen said.

Early this year, the government of Dawang Township determined three major yearly tasks - labor export, animal husbandry development and fruit forest construction, which all focused on economic development.

"These are all hard work. Farmers have many conservative thoughts, and it is hard to make them realize the good of economic plans." according to Chen.

For instance, it is profitable to plant walnut trees, but farmers prefer to plant short-term yield crops because it takes at least five years for walnut trees to turn a profit. "Farmers cannot earn more money by only planting grain," the deputy chief said.

On the other hand, the new tasks encourage township officials to improve themselves. "Providing capital and information is far from enough. Local officials know little about new technology," said Wang Gaofeng, another deputy chief of the Dawang township government.

Li Changping, an expert on agricultural affairs, said township governments should learn to play a new role of service-provider in this post-taxation period.

Lu Zhiming, deputy governor of southwest China's Guizhou Province, gave a more concrete supporting view.

Transferring township government's work focus to strengthen society management and provide essential services is very important, the deputy governor said.

The township financial management system should be reformed and property ownership responsibilities divided rationally to tackle rural debt. The compulsory education system should also be considered so as to plan for future generations of farmers, said the deputy governor.

A new approach

Zhu Zhaobin, 32, deputy chief of Wanhuashan Township in Yan'an, has been working for the township government for about 10 years since graduating from Yan'an University in 1996.

Wanhuashan Township was the poorest place in Yan'an in northern Shaanxi.

In 2004, Yan'an was marked out as the trial city to be first exempted from the agricultural tax in the province, which the farmers welcomed.

More than 400,000 yuan (US$48,200) was retained by farmers, an average of about 60 yuan (US$7.23) each that did not go to the tax man.

At this stage of governmental role transfer, the greatest challenge local officials face is their technical skill level. Farmers are more open to those officials who know agricultural technology and understand agricultural methods, Zhu said.

He says governments should provide agricultural technology, open markets for goods, offer information and opportunities for mechanization.

His township government pursued four major projects in 2004. They helped farmers in suitable places build greenhouses for vegetables with building materials provided free by the government.

Farmers were encouraged to plant vegetables on hillsides, which brought in 1,500 yuan (US$180.70) more last year than planting grain in the same place.

Some farmers were shown how to build marsh gas pools with one-third of investment from the township government, and rural roads were transformed to help the flow of goods.

Practical action needed

However, local farmers did not share the view of government officials, saying some of the plans were merely a "face project" with no practical value.

"To tell the truth, our burden has already been lightened greatly with government efforts in recent years, and we are more keen on the bids to increase our income. It is good that township government officials help us to get rich, but they should not be flamboyant," a farmer of Wanhuashan Township said.

Zhang Baotong, director of the Shaanxi Economic Research Institute at the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said local officials must stop showy projects and do what farmers say they most need.

In 2002, the central government started trial reform of taxation and fees in the country's rural areas, and the fees paid by farmers for overall township planning and the village reserve were scrapped.

The only township revenue came from agricultural tax, which has been scrapped early this year. So paying some township officials and village cadres has become a big problem.

For instance, there are 57 officials in the Sanzhang Township of Weinan, of whom 17 are paid from township funds.

According to local officials, those cadres only receive 260 yuan (US$31) per month, and the rest of their wages has been in arrears for a long time.

Han Jun, director of the Rural Economy Research Department of the State Council's Development and Research Centre, said the burden on farmers was aggravated by over-staffed township governments. Reducing township organizations and personnel is a great way of consolidating the achievements of rural taxation and fee reform.

However, there are different opinions about the future of the township government. Some experts say though cutting staff numbers and streamlining township organizations is feasible, it is more important to delegate responsibilities.

Another problem is what to do with officials made redundant by government rationalization.

In Heilongjiang Province in the northeast, for instance, 18,000 township officials will be cut when agricultural taxation reform is completed.

(China Daily April 1, 2005)