More than 430 organizations and individuals who helped spread science among rural population will receive awards totaling 100 million yuan (US$13.15 million).

The awards to be given by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and the Ministry of Finance honor rural science educational institutions and pioneers from Beijing to Inner Mongolia.

The total is to double that of 2006.

The government had awarded 50 million yuan for excellent rural science promotion for five successive years, said sources with the CAST.

"The increase will be mainly used to award rural science and technology associations and experts in central and western China where the development of science and technology lags behind coastal provinces," said a CAST source.

The awards, which came direct from the central budget, were used to support pilot projects for rural science promotion, he said.

This year's award recipients included 210 agricultural technological associations, including an onion research institute in north China's Tianjin Municipality, 210 science promotion bases and 10 science promotion teams of ethnic minorities, such as a team in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, who promoted scientific farming and herding among local Mongolians.

According to the CAST, the 100 million yuan would be used for science education materials, equipment, lectures, exhibitions and the introduction and promotion of new agricultural technologies.

China has more than 140,000 rural science and technology associations with almost 900,000 people helping to promote and popularize science in rural areas.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2007)