The central government will allocate 100 million yuan (US$12 million) each year over the next few years to help drive scientific development in counties and county-level areas.

State Councillor Chen Zhili yesterday made the remarks, calling on nationwide scientific departments to make all-out efforts to improve the financial situations of farmers by upgrading the farm produce processing industry.

"Regional governments must emphasize technological progress to propel economic development in counties or county-level areas," Chen said at a national conference for county-level scientific development which opened yesterday in Beijing.

More than 90 percent of the country's total area and over 80 percent of the population fall within China's 2,861 counties and county-level areas. Incomes of farmers in these areas are much lower than those in better developed regions, due to relatively poor technological levels, she said.

Enhancing scientific development in county-level areas is an effective way of fattening farmers' wallets, she said.

In the poor and remote Tianyang County of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, mango and vegetable farming is the main source of income for farmers.

Previously, it was difficult for farmers to sell fruit and vegetables due to backward planting technologies and a lack of market information, according to Wei Chunliang, an official of Tianyang county.

Over the past two years the county has set up a technological information center, providing around-the-clock market information for the country's 50 large and medium-sized cities.

By logging onto the Internet, local farmer Wei Jianfeng has introduced six new fruit and vegetable varieties in his 8-hectare plot. The output value of Wei's fruit and vegetables reached 1 million yuan (US$120,000) last year. And the 3,500 mu (233 hectares) of tomatoes grown in the county last year were all sold as a result of the advances.

Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua said a big technological divide exists between county-level areas and better developed cities.

Xu said his ministry will help bridge the gap by increasing funds and spreading updated technologies in backward areas.

The Ministry of Construction yesterday pledged to take measures to improve the quality of labor in the construction field, particularly among migrant rural workers.

Technical training for rural workers in construction is a priority for the construction management authority since they have become the mainstay of the industry, said the ministry's Vice-Minister Liu Zhifeng.

Liu made the remarks at a conference of construction professionals which opened yesterday in Beijing.

(China Daily October 29, 2004)