Rural-urban gap continues to widen in China

The income gap between the rural and urban population continues to widen in China during the past few years despite the government's efforts to bridge the divide.

The income ratio between urban and rural residents was 3.28:1 in 2006, as against 3.23:1 in 2003, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai told the country's top legislature in his report on building of a new countryside.

Per capita net income for China's 900 million rural population is expected to reach 4,000 Yuan ($546) this year, a 7 per cent rise year-on-year in real terms, the report said.

Rural incomes have grown more than 6 per cent annually for four consecutive years. The income gap was only one of the problems in the rural belt, the report said, adding, they still continue to lag behind urban areas in development.

"We have bigger pressure to ensure the supply of major agricultural products such as grain," the minister was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

"China's urbanisation has speeded up and more rural residents have migrated to urban districts," he said, noting that agricultural producers had become farm produce consumers adding to pressure on supply.

Citing inadequate application of science and technology as another problem, Sun said only 30 per cent of the technological advancement had been used in agricultural production, 40 per cent lower than in developed nations.

Rural areas were also affected by poor infrastructure and remained vulnerable to disasters. The Chinese government had spent 431.8 billion Yuan ($59.15 billion) on agriculture, rural areas and farmers this year.

It would continue to focus on speeding up development of modern agriculture and ensure that the per capita of farmers increased by more than 6 per cent in 2008, he said.