The Beijing authority is taking more steps to help local farmers recover from the impact of the recent SARS outbreak.

The municipal government announced yesterday it will give out a total of 8 million yuan (US$966,180) in special subsidies to local farmers, who have suffered diminished incomes due to SARS.

Zhang Xiaolan, a leading official at the rural work committee of the Beijing Party committee, said that although government agricultural statistics covering the first half of this year are not yet available, there might be losses for farmers engaged in planting.

Wang Yongfu, a middle-aged farmer planting peaches in eastern Beijing's Pinggu County, admitted he is in need of special governmental support.

"Selling 1 or even 1.5 kilograms of peaches for 1 yuan (US$0.12) claims no profit at all," said Wang. He did not hide his anxiety about selling all his peaches which are overstocked due to transport being restricted during the SARS outbreak.

Normally, the price can be at least 3 yuan (US$0.36) per kilogram and reach 10 yuan (US$1.2) in some downtown stores in Beijing.

Wang said he needs special financial support to cover the input for this year's autumn peaches, which accounts for the greatest portion of peach farmers' incomes.

However, Wang might not get the subsidy he wants, because the limited amount of money will only go to those evaluated by local officials as "the most needy," according to Zhang.

Therefore, the essential way to get the greatest number of local farmers out of the hardship is to create more channels to raise incomes, said Zhang.

The committee once jointly worked with the municipal commercial authority in bringing downtown retailers face to face with farmers, trying to help the latter sell more agricultural products, but the effort failed for unexplained reasons.

Now the committee has turned its eyes to suburban tourism, initiating a new co-operation with the local tourism authority.

"Tourists coming to enjoy the beautiful scenery or to participate in a number of colourful activities, especially harvesting fruit, have become important contributors to Beijing's rural economy," said Yu Changjiang, director of the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau.

It was revealed yesterday that a special project was launched to develop folk tourism in Beijing's rural areas.

Various county tourism authorities will sign contracts with interested farmer households to help them develop qualified accommodation facilities in order to be listed as the city's designated "folk tourism hosts."

"At those hosts' places, tourists can get an all-round taste of local farmers' daily life, but we must ensure that this accommodation is both clean and safe," said Yu.

(HK Edition 07/01/2003 page2)