Chinese President Hu Jintao (middle) talks with residents over the rural development on September 30, 2008 in Xiaogang village of Fengyang county, the first in the country to initiate the household contract responsibility system in 1978 (Xinhua)

Chinese President Hu Jintao made a tour to east China's Anhui Province on Tuesday to inspect rural reform and development.

Hu, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited Xiaogang village of Fengyang county, the first in the country to initiate the household contract responsibility system in 1978.

The system made rural households contractors of farmland, greatly boosting their production enthusiasm and agricultural production. Xiaogang has since been seen as a pace-setter for the nation's rural reform.

Hu said he was glad to see the new changes that have taken place at the village in the past decades.

The current land contractual relations will be kept stable and unchanged for a long time, and we will allow farmers to transfer the right of land contract and management by various means, in accordance with their will, he said.

He said China will continue to increase spending in the development and reform of the rural areas, and to make more policies favorable to the farmers and agriculture.

Hu also pledged to increase the income of Chinese farmers and steadily improve their standard of living in order to make sure farmers benefit from China's economic development.

The third Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, due to convene between October 9 to 12, will focus on promoting reform and development in rural areas.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hu Jintao also visited two dairy companies in Anhui's Bengbu city.

"Food safety is directly linked to the well-being of the broad masses and the competence of a company," Hu said. "Chinese companies should learn from the lessons of the Sanlu tainted milk powder incident."

Companies should strengthen management and food safety checks, and make sure their products were safe for consumers, he said.

Hu also heard the work reports of Anhui province during his tour,stressing development in urban and rural areas must be coordinated and that efforts must be made to push forward rural development and reform.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2008)