The income gap between urban and rural areas in China kept growing last year and there is a long way to go to narrow it down, a senior agricultural official said Monday.
"The income gap between urban and rural areas has indeed kept widening," vice agriculture minister Wei Chao'an told reporters at a briefing on the sidelines of the ongoing national parliamentary session.
Per capita net income of China's farmers actually increased by 9.5 percent year on year in 2007 to 4,140 yuan (583 dollars), the fastest growth since 1985, he said.But the growth rate was still much slower than that in the cities, with the average urban dweller earning 3.33 times as much as rural residents last year, up from 3.11 times in 2002, Wei said.
In 2006, the ratio was 3.28, previous official data showed.
"It will take our long-term efforts to narrow it down," Wei said.
Factors causing the slower rise in farmers' income include increasing agricultural production costs and unstable salaries for migrant workers, according to a statement distributed by the ministry at the briefing.
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