The income gap between China's rural and urban residents has continued to widen during the past few years despite rapidly rising rural incomes, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said on Wednesday.
The income ratio between urban and rural residents was 3.28:1 in 2006, against 3.23:1 in 2003, said Sun in his report on the promotion of the building of a new countryside in 2007, delivered to China's top legislature. Sun also said the net income of rural residents in different regions also varied widely.
On the one hand, continuously rising input prices had driven up farm costs and reduced agricultural profits, Sun said. On the other hand, new income sources for peasants were limited, he added.
According to his report, per capita net income for the country's 900 million rural residents is expected to reach 4,000 yuan (546 U.S. dollars) in 2007, up 7 percent year-on-year in real terms. Rural net incomes have grown more than 6 percent annually for four consecutive years.
Source:Xinhua
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