Chinese farmers' per-capita cash income stood at 2,528 yuan (US$370.67) in the first half of this year, up 19.8 percent over last year's same period, sources with the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.

Related readings: Chinese urbanites see 14.4 percent rise in per capita disposable income Rising prices eating into farmers' income More Shanghai people unhappy about income: survey China to scrutinize rural fees to cut farmers' costs After deducting price changes, the real growth was 10.3 percent, according to the NBS's sample survey based on statistics from 68,000 households in rural areas nationwide. The growth rate was faster than that for per-capita disposable income of urbanites in the first six months.

The sources said per-capita disposable income went up 14.4 percent, or 6.3 percent in real-term, to 8,065 yuan in urban areas over the six-month period.

The NBS survey also found farmers' income earned by doing non-farming jobs averaged 785 yuan per capita, up 19.3 percent.

Farmers gained 1,080 yuan per capita from selling agricultural products, up 22.1 percent, and garnered 336 yuan per capita from running business, up 10.5 percent.

China's consumer price index, a major gauge of inflation, rose 7.9 percent in the first half. It hit a 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)