Decades-old farm subsidy system to be phased out

Gao Fang, vice-president of the China Cotton Association, said linking subsidies to target prices can protect the interests of farmers while nurturing a market-oriented pricing mechanism. She rebutted the allegation that the change will dent the motivation of farmers.

The Ministry of Agriculture said it expects higher output of winter wheat and early-season rice this year, which will bolster food self-sufficiency and ease worries about food security.

China's annual grain output in 2013 reached 601.9 million tons. China's grain output increased 134 million tons between 2000 and 2012, accounting for nearly one-third of the total increase of the global food harvest.

New polluting projects barred from regions

Coal-fired power plants and other highly polluting energy projects will not be allowed in major economic engine areas of coastal China under the country's plan to redistribute its industrial layout.

The State Council's executive meeting decided on Wednesday to prohibit any new high-pollution and high-consumption power projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei triangle as well as Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta areas－three major economic regions in China.

The meeting required different areas to develop their own advantages on industries and make full use of their geographic positions, while vowing to fasten infrastructure construction and improve finance and taxation services in underdeveloped western China. New policies will be issued to attract labor-intensive industries to move from eastern China to the west.

One of the ongoing industrial redistribution pilots is the planned coordinated development of a Beijing-centered "economic circle", including Tianjin and Hebei province.

An industrial redistribution directory is being drafted to rearrange industries in the three areas, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, covering the triangle with more than 100 million population and a combined GDP of more than 6 trillion yuan ($960 billion).

Farm price targets 'will stabilize domestic market'	Xiamen lowers farm product price through subsidy plan