China to push integrated development in rural areas

China aims to increase farmers' incomes by pushing integrative development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural regions, according to a policy document released on Wednesday by the central authorities.

Technological innovation should advance the processing of agricultural products, thus, bringing more income to farmers. Specifically, the processing industry should develop its own equipment while outdated processing enterprises should be eliminated.

An unified, open, competitive market for modern agricultural products needs to be established to promote agricultural products. To this end, logistics cost will be reduced while rural e-commerce will be encouraged, the document says.

Officials also called for more promotion of rural destinations, as tourism could offer alternate income streams. The government will offer subsidies to infrastructure projects in key rural destinations while guiding private capital to projects that are beneficial for farmers.

In order to let rural households share the profits of every step of the industrial chain including production, processing, and sales, new mechanisms such as distributing shares of leading firms to farmers should be encouraged, according to the document.

The income level of rural residents has seen steady growth in the past few years. In 2015, the rural per capita disposable income increased 8.9 percent year on year to 11,422 yuan (1,743 U.S. dollars), continuing from a 11.2-percent growth seen in 2014. Endi