Farmers' income achieved 10 consecutive years of fast growth since China's reform and opening up, according to National Bureau of Statistics.
The per-capita net income of rural residents reached 8,896 yuan in 2013, up by 9.3% in real terms over the previous year. The figure is 1.6 percentage points higher than the GDP growth rate and 2.3 points higher than that of per capita disposable income of urban residents.
It is believed that there are four underlying engines of farmers' income growth: first, an increasing number of farmers enter urban areas as migrant workers and their wages surge a lot; second, agricultural production makes steady headways encouraged by incentives and subsidies in place; third, pro-farmer policies are further strengthened with increased investment in endeavors related to agriculture, farmers and rural areas; and fourth, rural reform advances in an all-round way and promotes farmers' income significantly.
The income of rural residents in China is generally sourced from agricultural production, wages, transfer payment and property income.