China's Minister of Agriculture warned on Friday the nation's farmers will be struggling this year to match their income growth rate from last year.

Farmers made an average income of 1,238 yuan (US$154.75) from agricultural production in the first six months of this year, up 4.5 percent from the same period last year.

Minister Du Qinglin Friday told a national agricultural conference that it would be difficult to continue the growth.

Figures from the ministry show the per capita income for rural migrant workers was 723 yuan (US$90.37) in the first half, a rise of 14.5 percent over the same period last year.

Du said the slowing growth was due to falling grain and livestock prices, and many farmers earned less this year from livestock sales.

Meanwhile, rising prices of diesel, fertilizers, pesticides and other materials increased production costs, Du said.

The growth rate of income from rural migrant workers had also dropped, and was expected to make a smaller contribution to farmers' incomes this year.

Du said the government would maintain financial support for farmers, and other favorable policies on developing quality and increasing their share of the processed products market.

The per capita net income of rural residents was 3,255 yuan (US$406.87) in 2005, a real growth of 6.2 percent, but 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous year.

Du said that China has more than 1,200 agricultural research institutes with more than 120,000 researchers, and 155,000 agricultural technology application agencies with more than one million staff.

Du said the large team had played an important role in the past 50 years in boosting China's agricultural development with modern technologies.  But he also noted that it needed to resolve problems if it was to meet the demands of modern agricultural production.

Du said the problems included redundant organizations, lack of important and relevant research, and inefficiency in the application of new agricultural technology.

Science and technology contributed to just 48 percent of the growth in the agricultural sector, far behind the level of the United States, where technological advancements accounted for 81 percent of growth and 85 percent of agricultural technologies were actually applied to production.

Du said the government would prioritize agricultural science and technology in the next 15 years, and by 2020, it should contribute to 63 percent of the growth in the agricultural sector.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2006)