Guangdong farmers earned a record 4,053 yuan (US$483) per person last year, a 3.6 percent year-on-year increase, the provincial government announced Wednesday (Feb. 3).

The province's total agricultural production value of the year was 177.53 billion yuan, 1.8 percent than that of 2002, a work meeting on agriculture was told.

Taxes and other fees imposed on farmers has been reduced from 97 yuan to 27 yuan, almost a 70 percent decrease and the biggest in the country.

The rise of farmers' incomes mainly resulted from wages and other money paid for work done off the farm. These earnings saw a 17 percent gain.

In Guangzhou, the per capita income of farmers was 6,130 yuan, while 60 percent were working for enterprises in villages and towns. In the underdeveloped Qingyuan, a farmer earned 3,172 yuan on the average, 3.9 percent more than the previous year.

Editor: Donald