Hu Guanghui, a farmer in east China's Jiangxi Province, never expected that his scrap-like abandoned farmland would soar in rental value this spring plowing season to almost four times as much as its previous rent.

It is nothing amazing that nationwide farmers are rushing back to the fields their ancestors have plowed for thousands of years. They are encouraged to do so by new financially preferential policies announced and implemented by the government.

Land, including farmland, is not owned by any individual in China. Farmers are legally authorized to have exclusive rights to cultivate a certain acreage of farmland. That acreage is decided on the number of family members and may vary from region to region because of disparity in population and regional farmland total in different rural areas.

To reverse grain output decline because of falling prices turning farmers away from growing crops. The government mulled reforms and made an unprecedented decision -- giving direct subsidies to millions of farmers as their Western counterparts have received for many years.

Over the past decades, the government poured millions of dollars in subsidies into state-run grain purchase and distribution enterprises, in a bid to let the market-monopolized enterprises buy farmers' grain at fair prices, and therefore ensure farmers' engagement in farming.

But the results proved far from satisfying owing to low efficiency and weak management in these enterprises that led to rising cost and depleted subsidies.

It is time for changes for the government. A grain price hike rare since 1997 began at the end of the last year and hit a record high in March as a result of shrinking grain output during the past years.

For example in 2003, China's grain output dropped to 435 million tons, or the lowest in 12 years compared its record annual output of 512 million tons in 1990s. While in the same year, grain consumption reached 500 million tons.

Price hikes set off a red light. The government began to amend old ways and launched the largest ever reshuffle of its agricultural policies early this year, with a focus on increasing farmers' income and restoring grain production.

Premier Wen Jiabao promised to abolish farming taxes within five years, and what was called "landmark" direct subsidies, totaling 10 billion yuan (1.2 billion US dollars), have been handed over or on the way to farmers, who for the first time received such subsidy in the history.

Tax reduction and exemption lured farmers back to their fields.Even some migrant workers, usually referring to farmers working incities, returned to grow crops, which they believed would be profitable under new policies.

According to the price authorities of Jiangxi, farmers growing grain can make a net profit of 220 yuan (26.5 US dollars) from each mu of farmland (one mu is equivalent to one-fifth hectare), or four times that of last year.

Hu said, although rentals are skyrocketing, he still expanded his plantation to 1,200 mu. "Given a good harvest, I can earn 200,000 yuan (24,000 US dollars) to 300,000 yuan (36,000 US dollars) this year."

The figure is a huge Utopian fortune for most Chinese farmers whose per capita annual income is well below 5,000 yuan (602 US dollars).

In view of a rosy prospect, "abandoned" farmland regained popularity and soaring rentals are nothing surprising but a reflection of farmers' passion in resuming their predecessors' business.

Tender bidding is introduced in some regions for renting farmlands. A piece of previously "valueless" abandoned farmland could double its rental prices at the competition by a few tenderers.

Tax exemption has been put into effect on a trial in the northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin, both key rice producing bases. Taxes were cut from seven percent to four percentin other 11 major grain producing provinces including Hebei and Jiangxi.

For key staple crops, the government raised minimum purchase prices to protect farmers' sales. A recent announcement on rice minimum price for 2004 stipulates 70 yuan (8.4 US dollars) per 100kilograms, or up 40 percent from a year earlier.

According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, the nation's spring sowing acreage has witnessed "resumptive increase," added by 24 million mu, and the nation's 2004 grain output is expected to reach 455 million tons, or 20 million tons more than 2003.

Some grain distribution and processing enterprises have joined farmers to form an "alliance" to ensure their grain supply. Hu signed such a contract with a grain processing company, name Jinjia Grain, to sell his output exclusively to the company.

According to the contract, Hu will get technical and financial support from the company in case he has problems in grain farming.

The engagement of industrial capital and enterprises will help farmers sell grain at reasonable prices and protect them from sharp price fluctuations, according to Yin Xiaojian, an agriculture expert of the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences.

In the long term, the practice will promote profound changes in the way of China's grain production, shifting from the traditionally farmer-decided style to a market-oriented one, Yin added.

Chen Mengshan, director of the farming management bureau of theMinistry of Agriculture, said farmers' resumed passion in farming is conducive to China's food safety.

It has been a vital task for the Chinese government to guarantee adequate food for its more than 1 billion people. Farming is still a weak industry in China and needs more government aid. The country has only seven percent of the earth's farmland but feeds 22 percent of the world's population.

According to an analysis report by the Ministry of Commerce in which it reviews supply and demand of major goods for the first half of 2004, with effects of supportive policies and farmers planting more grain crops, it is unlikely to have a shortage in food supply in the country this year.