BEIJING - China's central bank said Thursday that it will strive to reinforce the payment system in rural areas to provide farmers with convenient modern payment services.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement released on its website that improving payment services in rural areas is a basic project that will boost consumption in rural areas, raise farmers' livelihoods and enhance social equity.

The PBOC has taken measures to encourage banking institutions to provide services to rural areas, help the country's payment system to move toward the central and western regions, and satisfy the basic financial needs of people in rural areas.

The central bank has initiated programs that can bring farmers benefits through bank cards, including a program to give farmers convenient drawing services with bank cards, the statement said.

Since that program started July 2011, Chinese farmers had made 2.5 million transactions with their cards and a total of 770 million yuan ($122.24 million) was involved by the end of last year.