The abrogation of agricultural tax will put the adjustment of public policies to the test, says an article in Beijing Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

December 29, 2005 should be a day forever remembered in China's agricultural history. On that day, the country's top legislature passed a resolution on the annulment of agricultural tax  a significant move to lighten the burden on the shoulders of the country's more than 700 million farmers.

The abolition of the tax means the nation's agriculture-dominated era is over and the industrial economy has already ascended to become a dominant force. At the same time, the move signals the central government's efforts to increase farmers' income and create a force driving the sustained development of the economy and providing a guarantee for the building of a harmonious society.

Given that infrastructure in the vast rural areas is underdeveloped, the quality of rural labour forces is relatively low and township governments offer only low efficiency, creating more benefits for the large group of low-income farmers presents the government with a big challenge.

The task will put the government's wisdom and determination on trial.

In the post-agricultural tax era, farming, agriculture and rural areas will shift to being a public policy matter rather than an economic one.

The current chasm between rural and urban areas should be attributed more to inequitable public policies.

Despite much lower income, farmers have long had to put up with the same costly medical and education fees as their urban counterparts.

For decades, agriculture has been providing industry with economic and labour support while its foundations for further development have been getting weaker.

Only by making a series of public policy adjustments can deep-rooted problems leading to the poverty of farmers be resolved.