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At a press briefing, Jin Renqing said that support for agriculture, rural areas and farmers will still be the number one priority next year.

Public funds will irrigate rural education, medical care, employment and social security, said the minister.

According to Jin, a mechanism to guarantee funding for compulsory rural education - which combines allocations from central and local governments - will be implemented in West, Central and East China next year. Tuition and miscellaneous fees will be waived for all 148 million elementary and middle school students in rural areas.

Jin said that rural cooperative medical care pilot projects will reach 80 percent of counties in 2007 with local governmental subsidies rising from the current 10 yuan (US$1.28) per capita to 20 yuan.

According to statistics, 406 million farmers had joined the pilot medical care system project by the end of September.

Subsistence allowances for the rural poor will be increased, said Jin.

A total of 9.85 million poor farmers currently receive subsistence allowances from the government.

According to the minister, agriculture support policies will be pursued next year to increase agricultural production and boost farmers' incomes.

Access to funds will be improved for farmers, he said.

Central budget funds for the rural sector grew by 15.6 percent annually in the period 2003-2006 and totaled 1.11 trillion yuan, according to MOF statistics.

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