by Yang Xiaohong, Zhou Jianhong

HEFEI, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Li Yunlai, a farmer in Xinhe Village of east China's Anhui Province, got up early Sunday morning to take a ride to the fair five kilometers away.

It's the last fair in the town before the Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New Year which falls on February 9. Li wants to got all things needed for the festival bought at the fair.

With 1,000 yuan (8.27 yuan against US dollar) more money got from growing grain this year, Li felt much more generous at the fair. Besides cigarettes and liquors for catering to relatives during the festival, he also bought a set of winter jackets for his grand daughter.

Most of farmers across China share the same feeling with Li when this year's festival drew near. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2004, the per capita annual income for Chinese farmers was 2,936 yuan, up 6.8 percent over previous year, a record growth rate since 1997.

Economists attributed the income increase to a series of supportive policies on agriculture adopted by the government in 2004, including direct subsidy for grain production, tax exemptionand reduction, subsidy for buying fine seeds and farm tools.

Statistics show that with these policies, farmers have gained adirect benefit of 45.1 billion yuan.

The policies have spurred farmers' enthusiasm to grow grains. The bumper harvest and a reasonable high price of grain have both contributed to the farmers income. The grain output in 2004 reached 469.5 billion kilograms, up 9 percent over the previous year, according to statistics.

Besides those living on growing crops, farmers who work in cities as migrant workers have also witnessed a better working situation and better pay. Statistics show that income from workingoutside home villages has accounted for 43 percent of household total for Chinese farmers.

But for a long period of time, default of payment for these farmers-transferred workers has become a tough problem in China's big cities. In 2003, only 6 percent of China's 150 million farmers-turned workers could get salaries on time, according to incompletestatistics.

China's top leaders, including Premier Wen Jiabao, have on various occasions urged relevant departments to address the issue of defaulted payment for migrant workers since the end of 2003. Bythe end of 2004, 33.1 billion yuan of defaulted salaries have beenpaid, accounting for 98.4 percent of the total defaulted.

Huang Zhihe, Li's son-in-law, is one of the beneficiaries. Huang got 6,000 yuan of a whole year's salary just before the Spring Festival and back home for the festival.

"This year's festival is a little different from previous ones for me," said Huang. "In the past, sometimes I felt shameful coming back with hands empty." Huang, 23, have been working in east China's Zhejiang and Shanghai for three years.

With more money, some farmers have decided to brought their families to big cities for sightseeing. After ten years in Shanghai, Ni Benfa, a farmer of neighboring Anhui Province, for the first time took his wife and children to the China's biggest city for the festival to "feel the beauty of a bustling city."

"Farmers are the largest consumer in China," said He Xuefeng, an expert on China's rural and agricultural problems. "The income increase would promote consumption and the overall economic development in the country."