BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stresses the importance of protecting farmers' rights and promoting agricultural modernization in an article to be published in Qiushi, or "Seeking Truth," on January 16.

In a country with a large population, agricultural modernization is equally important as urbanization and industrialization. The country should continue to adopt strict regulations regarding the protection of arable land and water resources, the article says.

Qiushi is an official journal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

China should adhere to and improve the basic rural operating system, promote agro-related scientific and technological advances, continue support to agricultural production, and encourage literate and skillful adult farmers to stay in the countryside in order to boost the development of rural areas, according to the article.

Wen says rural construction should maintain its own features instead of bringing urban designs to the countryside and forcing farmers to live in high-rise buildings.

He also stresses that rural residents enjoy the legal rights of land contracts, land use and collective income distribution, no matter where they stay, in cities or the countryside.

"No one is empowered to take away such rights," Wen says, adding that the nation must protect farmers' land property rights in rural land expropriation reforms.