China's annual central conference on rural work, which will map out policies for next year's agricultural and rural development, began Friday in Beijing.

The meeting is expected to make detailed plans and arrangements for raising agricultural productivity, improving policies to support agriculture and benefit farmers, innovations in agricultural management, as well as enhancing green production, analysts said.

Issues involving agriculture, farmers and rural areas were again emphasized as the top priority of the work of the Communist Party of China during the central economic work conference, which was held last weekend to set the tone for China's economic policies next year.

Those issues should never be neglected in spite of bumper grain harvests for several consecutive years, according to a statement issued after the central economic work conference.

China's grain output rose 3.2 percent year on year to hit 589.57 million tonnes in 2012, marking the ninth consecutive year of growth, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The per-capita net income of rural residents increased from 2,622 yuan (417 US dollars) in 2003 to 6,977 yuan in 2011, representing a compound annual growth of 8.6 percent.