(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-31 19:52

SHENYANG -- The year 2007 was a good year for farmer Li Lin as his 20 tons of rice was sold at a relatively high price amid the rise of prices of many other commodities in the country.

But Li, in Moshifang village in Zhuanghe County in northeast China's Liaoning Province, said rising prices of farming labor and fertilizer ate up a great deal of his grain income.

"The labor cost for planting one mu of rice seedlings has risen from 50 yuan a few years ago to 80 yuan last year," said the 46-year-old farmer. The mu is a Chinese unit of area which equals 6.6 percent of a hectare.

Li said more subsidies were needed to improve farmers' conditions.

China's grain output exceeded 500 million tons in 2007. But the increasingly high agricultural costs also forced grain prices up.

The prices of major agricultural products had been at low levels since the mid-1990s, whereas those of fertilizers and other means of production have risen substantially, said Wang Yiming, a National Development and Reform Commission expert.

Wang said the prices of carbamide, a major fertilizer Chinese farmers use, diesel and plastic sheeting had all risen by 26 percent to 64 percent over the past five years.

A type of compound fertilizer for rice soared from 110 yuan to 190 yuan per bag early this year in the area where Li lives.

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