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)