In terms of reducing farmers' financial burden, the Chinese Government has already achieved some results by gradually abolishing agricultural tax since 2004. A total scrapping of this tax will be carried out across the country this year.
Such a tax cut alone is not enough, as only a fraction of income has been saved for the average farmer by this decision. But it signals a significant change in the focus of the country's tax and fiscal policies. The country has decisively shifted from the decades-old practice of accelerating urban growth at the cost of rural development.
It is time to let industry feed agriculture, and let urban areas support rural ones. A drastic adjustment in the focus of fiscal input should herald other changes.
Only when government-funded infrastructure is put into place will investors follow to seek business opportunities in rural areas. Only when rural health and education are upgraded with ample public spending can farmers get ready to raise their productivity.
The double-digit growth of the country's tax revenues, which topped 3 trillion yuan (US$370 billion) last year, has made fiscally possible a substantial increase of government expenditure on the rural sector.
Moreover, the nationwide consensus on the urgency of building a better-off rural sector also helps tilt the fiscal policy in favour of farmers.
When lawmakers gather in Beijing to review and approve the central government's new budget in a few days, a larger share of public spending for the rural sector will be a sure bet. That should be welcomed.
However, one thing lawmakers need to carefully examine is whether a long-term mechanism to ensure strong fiscal support for sustainable rural development has been brought into form.
The other thing they should pay no less attention to is whether adequate measures have been taken to address low-efficiency in use of public funds by local governments.