President Hu Jintao inspected Qionghai and Haikou cities in south China's Hainan province after attending the opening session of the Boao Forum forAsia 2004 Annual Conference. The forum ended on April 25 afternoon.

Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)Central Committee, on Saturday went to Jiaji town of Qionghai city, where he inspected cropland improvement projects and inquired about grain production in the locality. He talked cordially with farmers working in the fields and asked them whether they had learned of the central government's policy to encourage them to increase grain production.

The president urged local government officials to do a good job on farmland protection and carry out the policy of subsidizing farmers and reducing their taxes so as to enhance grain production and raise their income.

In Shishan town of Haikou, Hu entered a fruits-ladden orchid reclaimed from a 200-ha rolling lava land, where he asked fruit growers about market prices of fruits as well as their sales income. He encouraged locals to capitalized on the unique tropical resources and push forward the structure adjustment of agriculture in the province.

Also on Saturday, President Hu inspected the Nangang pier on Guangdong-Hainan rail route, which linked Hainan and Guangdong provinces across the Qiongzhou Strait. He called for better use of the newly built infrastructure along the rail route to step up the development of Hainan.

The president affirmed marked changes that had been made in Hainan province in the reform and modernization drive over recent years and urged ecological protection in Hainan's economic development.

Source: Xinhua