Beijing, China
April 11, 2011
On 21 Mar., the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a document titled the Guidelines on Implementation of Subsidies for Purchase of Agricultural Machinery 2011, which set out the general requirements, the implementation scope, beneficiaries, categories of agricultural machines and tools covered by the subsidy scheme, criteria for the subsidies, selection of dealers, application procedures and relevant requirements.
The Guidelines points out that implementation of subsidies for purchase of agricultural machinery is an important policy both to support and benefit farmers and promote agricultural development and it is necessary to effectively bring into play its role in guidance and macro-control. All the local governments should identify the beneficiaries openly and fairly so as to encourage farmers to purchase and use agricultural machinery; properly determine the scope of targeted machines and tools and specific amount of subsidies, give special attention to major agricultural areas, major weak links and specialized farmer cooperatives, and energetically support purchase of advanced, applicable, well-developed, safe and environment-friendly machines and tools with high-quality after-sales services; and strive to enhance the strength of the major actors in the agricultural mechanization process, accelerate extension of mechanical operations to key crop production steps, actively expand mechanical operations in animal production, fisheries, protected agriculture, forestry and fruit production, and primary processing of agricultural products, and facilitate restructuring of and technical advancement in the agricultural machinery industry for the purpose of maximizing the effects of the subsidy policy.
The Guidelines states that the subsidy scheme covers 180 items of 46 subcategories of 12 categories of agricultural machinery in 2011, including power machines and those for planting and fertilization, animal farming and aquaculture, drainage and irrigation and primary processing of agricultural products and the local governments can add no more than 30 items to the list. It requires that the amount of subsidies will not exceed 30 percent of the average price of the machines and tools marketed in the province and will continue to be determined according to the uniform criteria, i.e. same amount of subsidies for machines and tools at the same level and of the same category within the province and no differential treatment for the products of the same category from the enterprises within or outside the province. When the number of applicants exceeds that of beneficiaries set in the plan, the beneficiaries should be identified through the ways that are acceptable to farmers, such as open drawing of lots. The list of dealers will be proposed by the producers and released by the provincial authorities of agricultural mechanization. Farmers are allowed to select dealers in any county of the province and the subsidy agreement will be replaced by the notification to confirm the title of beneficiary or the application form in order to protect farmers’ right to choose from the products on their own. The local governments are encouraged to conduct trials on lower-level financial settlement and meeting the demand of all applicants who plan to buy some kinds of agricultural machines and tools urgently needed in agricultural production under the precondition of ensuring security of the funds, bringing tangible benefits to farmers and creating a fair competition environment for enterprises. The practice of direct selling and delivery is advocated for producers of agricultural machinery to simplify procedures and raise efficiency.
It was learnt that funds of 17.5 billion yuan had been allocated by the central government to subsidize purchase of agricultural machinery in 2011, increasing by 2 billion yuan over last year, and these subsidies would continued to be distributed to all counties/farms engaged in crop and animal production.
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