CHENGDU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has called for more public resources for rural areas to boost rural and agricultural development.

    Hui made the remarks during a recent inspection tour to Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

    Relevant departments should accelerate the building of an incentive mechanism for the transfer of production factors to the countryside, and promote the industrialization and agricultural modernization in rural regions, he said.

    The interests and rights of farmers should be safeguarded in the process to balance urban and rural development, Hui said.

    Although rural residents comprise more than 70 percent of China's population, public resources conventionally lean to the better-developed urban areas. That leaves a widening gap between the two, a perennial matter the government has vowed to solve.

    The Central Conference on Rural Work, which was wrapped up on Dec. 28, promised more efforts to better coordinate urban and rural development, and guide more resources to the vast countryside.