Beijing - China's ruling Communist Party on Sunday adopted a plan to reform rural land use and boost the prosperity of farmers, amid concerns over the growing gap between rural and urban incomes. Party leader and state President Hu Jintao presented the plan for approval by some 200 members of the party's Central Committee, who also agreed a target of boosting rural consumption by a "big margin" and eliminating absolute poverty by 2020, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The draft report on the plan, which was approved after a four-day session of the committee, said that "changes and problems" had occurred in rural areas since the party launched economic reforms 30 years ago.
"Based on the changing reality, advancing rural reform would be a key step for the country," the agency quoted the draft as saying.
The plan is designed to allow farmers to sell or lease land rights, "measures that have become necessary as many farmers move to the cities as migrant workers", the official China Daily said.
"Experts hope the reform will lead to larger, more efficient farms that can meet the demands of the evolving economy," the newspaper said.
Sunday's announcement followed Hu's visit last month to the village of Xiaogang in the eastern province of Anhui, where pilot reforms to grant rural families long-term contracts for land use began in 1978.
This system "liberated rural households from the highly concentrated land ownership system, but it fails to meet residents' income and productivity aspirations," Dang Guoying of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told China Daily.
"Despite fast economic development over the past three decades, a yawning wealth gap has opened up between urban and rural residents, hindering the country's bid to build social harmony," the newspaper said.
The new plan also includes measures for better support and protection of agriculture, and faster agricultural modernization, the reports said.
It comes after several recent warnings from Chinese leaders that the growing wealth gap between 800 million rural residents and 500 million urban residents could undermine social stability and threaten the party's 60-year grip on power.
