Income growth of farmers exceeded that of urban residents in Guangdong last year, taking the income gap to the narrowest since 2004, provincial bureau of statistics indicated on Tuesday.

Despite the financial crisis, the per capita net income of farmers in Guangdong reached more than 6,440 yuan (US$942.89) last year, an increase of 775.7 yuan, or 13.8 percent year-on-year; while that of urban residents came to 19,733 yuan, up by 11.5 percent in 2008.

Farmers are enjoying a bigger growth rate of income than urban residents in two successive years for the first time.

Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua said the government took a series of measures to boost farmers' incomes in recent years.

It encouraged them to develop agricultural products for exports and establish more agricultural processing firms. The raised prices of many agricultural products last year also helped boost farmers' incomes, he added.

Chen Wenhong, a farmer in Guangzhou's Baiyun district, agreed that the central and provincial governments introduced favorable policies in recent years.

"We are confident that our incomes would grow even faster this year," Chen said.

Guangdong farmers now have more money to spend. The farmer's per capita expenditure on food reached 2,390 yuan last year, up 14.4 percent year-on-year while clothes-related expenses came to 177.7 yuan, up 9.4 percent.

A farmer on average spent 259 yuan on healthcare last year, up 29.5 percent year-on-year and housing expenses increased 26.4 percent to stand at 964.5 yuan.

(China Daily March 11, 2009)