Mindful of the growing disparity between rural and urban incomes and the need to raise agricultural production to rein in inflation, in late January the government announced a ten-point plan to assist farming households through an allocation of Rmb98.6bn (US$15bn). Of this, Rmb83.5bn will be for buying farm machinery, while the balance will consist of transfer payments to support the production of staple crops through irrigation, planting and treatment of plant disease. Farmers will also be paid more: the State Council has approved an increase in minimum state purchase prices for rice-the most expensive type, japonica, had its price increased by 21.9% year on year, while other kinds of rice saw increments close to 10%.

Surprisingly, given the emphasis on food prices, water resource issues replaced agriculture as the focus of the first policy document published by the State Council in 2011; the first such document of the year is sometimes seen as highlighting the government's main priority for the coming period. The two issues are linked, as the recent drought has shown, but the prioritisation of water emphasises the importance of the resource in terms of sustaining China's urbanisation and industrial growth. The government announced plans to invest Rmb4trn over the next decade to protect and improve access to water.

Investment in resources and commodities has also continued at a rapid pace. China Resources Power Holdings has announced that it will invest in railways in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi to reduce coal delivery times and facilitate the expansion of its coal output from 11.4m tonnes in 2010 to a forecast 50m tonnes in 2015. Road-based coal transportation has been blamed for massive traffic jams in Inner Mongolia.