Special Report: Rural Development

Chinese farmers witnessed the highest annual income increase in eight years last year, according Agricultural Minister Du Qinglin.

The per capita annual net income of farmers topped 3,255 yuan (401.9 U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent, Du said at a Standing Committee meeting of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) held in Beijing on Saturday.

Analyzing the structure of farmers' income, Du said income generated by migrant workers constituted a major part of the increase. Other factors for the increased income included more income from crop cultivation and off-farm employment.

Meanwhile, Du said, migrant workers across the country were helped to recover wages valued at 4.05 billion yuan (500 million U.S. dollars) delayed by their employers in 2005.

However, China still faces great challenges such as growing surplus farmers. Government statistics show that China has 150 million surplus farmers, and the figure will grow by 6 million in each of the next few years.

The Ministry of Agriculture will increase input in training young farmers who wish to work in cities. Last year, 2.8 million farmers received such training and 2.4 million of them found jobs in cities.