As shown in the latest statistics, the first half of the year saw an increase of retail consumption value of the consumer goods in urban areas come to RMB 1681.58 billion-yuan, a rise of 14.7 percent while that at the county and below the county level came to RMB 843.34 billion-yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent. The urban consumption registered two times that of the rural areas and the increase rate is also 5.6 percentage points higher than in the rural market. That is to say, the rural consumption is slower than in cities, showing a serious insufficiency of consumption ability of inhabitants in rural areas, to which we must pay great attention.

China is a large agricultural country with a huge population of 800 million living in the countryside, presenting a great market potential in the rural areas. In recent years some departments concerned have put out a series of measures to tap energetically for markets in rural areas but why it's impossible for the rural markets to get enough vigor and vitality?

This is for one thing due to the income factor. For the moment the tendency for bigger income chasm between the urban and rural areas remains no change. In the first half of the year the average cash income of farmers came to RMB 1,345 yuan, a rise of 10.9 percent. Though it's a year-on-year rise of 8.4 percentage points, showing the best growth since 1997 yet it is still faraway from the income of the townspeople. In the first half of the year the average disposable income of the townsfolk came to 4,815 yuan, a 3.58 times that of a farmer. However, in 1985, the disposable income of the townsfolk was only 1.86 times of the farmer's, 2.2 times in 1990 and 3.1 times in 2002 and that in 2003 was 3.23 times. Due to a sustainable widening of the income between the urban and rural areas, the consumption ability in rural market is obviously weaker and the ratio in the total income of the rural inhabitants is as a whole on the decrease though the income of the farmers saw a year-on-year increase.

And for another, the consumption environment needs very much an improvement in rural areas. The most serious problem lies in the obviously inferior quality of the products in rural market with many faked goods and false capital of farmers. Besides, the structure of products is unreasonable and the structure of commodities in cities and the countryside is quite identical and so farmers are difficult to get what they like Moreover, there is no healthy distribution network and no smooth goods flow in quite some rural areas. The shortage of supporting facilities and sufficient service ability has also put a check on the raise of consumption level of farmers in rural areas.

To raise the consumption level of farmers requires double-handed measures to increase the income of farmers on the one hand and on the other to improve the consumption environment in rural areas. For one thing we have to try our best to help increase the income of farmers so as to raise from the root-cause up the income of inhabitants in the countryside, and for another, great efforts must be made to develop and regulate the rural consumption market in order to wipe out the barriers restricting the enhancement of the consumption level of the rural areas.

For increasing the income of farmers it is necessary to take measures to change the situation in which there are too many links in the circulation of agricultural produces, causing high goods flow cost and chaos of market order. It's necessary to set up a system favorable and effective, smooth and safe for the flow of farm-produces, earnestly solving the difficult problem in selling the farm-produces. It is also necessary to develop small towns and cities in an active, smooth and steady way, leading farmers to shift gradually onto the road of running rural enterprises and to stay in small towns and cities, thereby increasing the non-agricultural income. Schemes must be used to enhance the efficiency of agricultural production, reduce the burdens of farmers, put an end to all sorts of random charges and fines, clear away all barriers that keep farmers away from entering the market and raise the organized way for farmers to approach into the market.

To improve the consumption environment needs to strengthen the network construction for goods flow in the countryside and open wide the channels for consumer goods to enter the rural markets. Enterprises are guided to adjust and optimize the goods structure in accordance with specific market situation in various areas and develop certain types of goods apt for rural markets, thereby invigorating the consumption potential in rural areas. Meanwhile, the investment for improving the basic conditions of water, electricity and roads in rural areas must be strengthened so as to create a better condition for products of household electric appliance and telecommunications to march into the rural markets, thereby widening the consumption forms and contents of the inhabitants in rural areas.

By People's Daily Online