Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau will allocate 136 million yuan (US$17.8 million) of subsidies to 700,000 grain food producers through bank cards, the Beijing News reports.

Haojiatuan village, in the Shunyi District of Beijing, welcomed a launch ceremony for the allocation of direct grain subsidies Beijing on Saturday. During the ceremony, over a hundred villagers were handed a farmer-benefit Phoenix card with an annual sum of 528 yuan grain subsidy available on it.

Beijing decided upon the direct subsidy scheme to supplement farmers' income and grain output. Bank accounts have been opened for farmers at the Beijing Rural Commercial Bank, with the bank channeling the grain subsidies to the farmers. As an additional bonus, bank card and other procedural fees will be waived for these farmers.

Xin Quanlong, vice-president of the bank, explained that in the future, the streamlined process would see financial bureaus at district and county level specify the amounts needed and the municipal bureau would then transfer the funds directly to farmers' bank accounts. This will help speed up and improve governmental performance and increase transparency for money allocation.

Off the back of this successful scheme, Xin Quanlong revealed, this direct subsidy scheme would be extended to also cover child birth, environmental protection and the forestry sector. The Phoenix cards, issued by the Beijing Rural Commercial Bank, will be used for all categories of these subsidies.

(CRIENGLISH.com June 25, 2007)