China's government Sunday warned 2009 could be the | "toughest year" since die turn of the century for development of the countryside, which has fallen behind as reforms favoured die cities, state media reported.

Rural unemployment is high, and the situation has been exacerbated by the global economic crisis as at least six million migrant workers have been laid off from companies in the export sectors and have returned to dieir rural homes.

The stark warning came in the first broad policy document of the year issued jointly by the State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist Party, die Xinhua news agency said.

"The lingering global financial crisis and the slowdown of die world economy have exerted an increasingly negative impact on the Chinese economy," the document said, according to Xinhua.

Coming from two of die nation's most powerful political agencies, including the top of the Communist Party, the document is likely to exert significant pressure on local officials to do something for the rural economy.