China has allocated 30 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) from government reconstruction funds to provide subsidies to farmers whose homes were damaged or destroyed in last month's massive earthquake.

Each affected household would get 10,000 yuan to rebuild. Farmers whose homes sustained minor damage would get correspondingly smaller amounts, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

The hardest-hit Sichuan Province would get 25 billion yuan initially, rising to 35 billion yuan.

The remaining funds would go to farmers in Gansu Province (3.8 billion yuan), Shaanxi Province (1 billion yuan), Yunnan Province (100 million yuan) and Chongqing Municipality (100 million yuan).

The subsidies would be handled by the ministries of Finance and Civil Affairs. Both ministries had asked related departments to offer higher subsidies to hard-hit areas and low-income families.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2008)