New ministry can revitalize rural areas

IN THE GOVERNMENT restructuring plan that the State Council, China's Cabinet, submitted for the review to the country's top legislature on Tuesday, the Ministry of Agriculture is to be replaced by a new ministry of agriculture and rural affairs. Beijing News comments:

Although agricultural progress and rural development are not exactly one thing, the two are closely related. However, in the past, the government management services separated the two and divided the responsibilities for them among many departments, whose duties often overlapped.

For example, the central government spends about 3 trillion yuan ($475 billion) on agriculture, villages and farmers every year. But the Ministry of Agriculture only has a say over a small proportion of that, with the overwhelming majority of the money spent by the other more powerful ministries.