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China's government has provided farmers with a total 8.3 billion yuan in subsidies for spring ploughing, with another 570 million yuan (US$73.77 million) to be distributed.

The figure rose by about 3.4 billion yuan or 64 percent from that of last year, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday.

The payout has been delivered nationwide to rural households to subsidize expenditure on farm machinery, improved varieties of grain crops and training on farming and fertilizing techniques.

Since China started to scrap agriculture taxes three years ago, farmers have stepped up land cultivation, which in turn lifted demand and prices for farm machinery and improved strains of grain crops.

"Preliminary investigations show the acreage of grain crops this year won't be less than last year," it said, without specifying details.

In a survey of Anhui and Jiangxi Provinces, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said increasing grain output would be difficult this year considering the disadvantages such as the warm winter, insect pests and extreme weather.

A record 47 million mu (3.13 million hectares), or one quarter, of the country's acreage under winter wheat had suffered overgrowth, a problem caused by a warm winter and often leading to falling yields.

Another 12.6 million mu (840,000 hectares) contracted stripe rust, a serious disease in regions where cool temperatures prevail through the wheat growing season.

A special subsidy targeting farmers who purchase upgraded cotton seeds was established this year, involving 500 million yuan in total.

Northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region received more than 150 million yuan for its 10 million mu of cotton crops, becoming the most subsidized cotton base in China.

China's grain outputs have grown for three straight years since 2003 to 497.46 million tons last year, up 2.8 percent or 13.44 million tons from 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)