China's township enterprises have been given a growth target of 10 percent for 2009 to create employment and support farmers amid the global economic downtown.

Vice Minister of Agriculture Gao Hongbin told a year-end work meeting that the industrial output of township enterprises had slowed in 2008 because of the stronger yuan, interruptions caused by natural disasters, and rising costs of labor, energy and raw materials.

But the sector still reported a double-digit growth rate in a turbulent year, he said.

The Ministry's Township Enterprises Bureau estimated that the added value of rural enterprises was expected to reach 7.97 trillion yuan (about US$1.17 trillion) in 2008, up 11.62 percent from 2007.

However, the rise was down 2.65 percentage points from the previous year.

Other 2008 final estimates for township enterprises included tax revenues of 855 billion yuan, up about 12.8 percent, and exports of 3.49 trillion yuan, up 11.4 percent.

The ministry expected farmers' per capita revenue from township enterprises to be about 1,650 yuan, about 210 yuan more than in 2007.

"After 30 years of development, township enterprises have blazed a trail for an agricultural economy such as China's to be able to solve the problem of rural development," said Gao.

China has more than 850,000 township enterprises that provide 30 million jobs.

More than 40.12 billion yuan has been ploughed back into the agricultural industry sector since 1978, he said.

These small, mostly labor-intensive enterprises have developed a "very good interplay" with large state-owned enterprises.

This was demonstrated through offering support services such as agricultural processing and resources development, Gao noted.

Although more than 70,000 township enterprises went broke last year amid stiff competition, many new ones entered the market with new projects.

Gao said the ministry was considering policies to encourage rural migrant workers to set up their own businesses, build a credit system in rural areas, strengthen quality control and enhance regional cooperation.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2009)