(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-27 10:24

China's rural economy has entered a new stage after renewed efforts to accelerate the development of rural areas, a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report said.

As the Communist Party of China moves to build a new countryside, a mechanism aimed at long-term social and economic development in rural areas has been put in place, said the report, published on the bureau's website.

The bureau said that since the Party convened the 16th National Congress in 2002, the country has strengthened the role of agriculture in the national economy by raising farming capacity.

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China's grain output has grown for three consecutive years from 2004 to 2006, the first time since 1985. Grain output increased by a total of 66.75 million tons during that period. In 2006, unit grain output reached 314 kg, a historical high.

Output of major economic crops also increased. In 2006, for example, cotton output increased by 37.2 percent compared with 2002.

Farmers have become a major beneficiary of the fast-growing rural economy, the report said.

In 2006, farmers' per capita net income was 3,587 yuan (US$477.6), 1,111 yuan more than in 2002, an increase of 44 percent. Year-on-year growth in the per capita net income of rural residents rose from 4.8 percent in 2002 to 7.4 percent in 2006, the report said.

As the rural economy develops, farmers' income will evolve, the report said.

Their income will increasingly come from salary, or income from non-farming work, instead of farming.

Income from non-farming work accounted for 38.3 percent of their overall income in 2006, 4.4 percentage points more than in 2002, the report said.

The rising income level has provided an impetus for farmers to spend more to improve living standards, the report said.

Their per capita living expenses increased to 2,829 yuan in 2006 from 1,834 yuan in 2002, up 54.2 percent.

The rural Engel coefficient, or proportion of expenditure on food to total consumption, an international measurement of people's living standards, was 43 percent in 2006, 3.2 percentage points lower than 2002. It indicated improved structure of rural consumption, the report said.

The entertainment, health and transportation expenditures of rural residents increased rapidly.

Electrical appliances and IT products are becoming more popular in rural areas, the report said, which point to farmers' strengthened purchasing power.

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