In order to support the developments of agriculture and rural economy, improve the services of rural credit cooperatives (hereinafter referred to as "RCCs"), increase lending to farmers and agricultural productions as well as simplify the approval procedures, the People's Bank of China (PBC) recently promulgated the "Guidelines on the Management of Small Loans to Farmers by Rural Credit Cooperatives" (hereinafter referred to as " the Guidelines"), which requires the PBC's branches and the RCCs to take effective measures to improve the management of lending to farmers contributing to the achievement of the goals of rural economic performance.The "small loans to farmers" refers to the loans without collateral and guarantees, which are issued by RCCs to farmers within the specified credit lines and maturity on the basis of the farmers' credibility. The specific credit lines are decided by the local RCCs and the county or urban credit cooperative unions according to the actual conditions of the local rural economies, the farmer's income from productions and the liquidity of the RCCs. The PBC allows the lending rate of small loans to farmers to be more favorable than the lending rate and the floating band released by the PBC.The PBC requires that all the RCCs, which still have not started extending small loans to farmers, start the business next year. If farmers are unable to provide effective collateral and guarantees for the loans exceeding the credit line, the RCCs may accept collective-guaranty by three to five farmers. If the large loans demand for other productions and operations, particularly for large-scale productions and business with uncertain market outlook, the RCCs should in line with the related regulations of the " General Rules on Lending" insist on the procedures of separating loans examinations from its approval, of checking loans one by one, to ensure the credit safety. The RCCs are required to establish credit files for the farmers living within reach of the RCCs' services, set credit rating for farmers according to their credibility, the capacities of productions and business and the record of loan repayment, determine the corresponding credit line and issue borrowing cards. With cards, the farmers can directly borrow when they need loan within their credit line from RCCs, without further evaluation and approval of the RCCs. The Guidelines also specifies the qualifications of farmers for small loans, the application of the small loans and the steps to evaluate the credit rating for farmers.