China's record amount of agricultural funding this year will help ensure grain safety and increase farmers' income, but challenges to redress the rural-urban income gap remain, researchers say.

Premier Wen Jiabao said in his government work report to the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) that the central government will spend 562. 5 billion yuan (about 79.2 billion U.S. dollars) on agriculture sector this year, nearly doubling the 2004 figure.

"The number is a rather big increment in recent years, demonstrating the strong commitment of the government to fortifying the foundation of agriculture," said Bing Zhigang, finance director of northeastern Liaoning Province and a delegate to the NPC.

The promised investment, which was 130.7 billion yuan more than last year, was aimed to ensure grain safety and at the same time, boost farmers' income, according the report.

Last year, China exported 8.95 million tons of grains, up 16.4 percent from 2006. Wheat exports increased 36.2 percent to reach 2.34 million tons, and corn export grew by 30.1 percent to reach 4.85 million tons.

Ke Bingsheng, a China Agriculture University professor, said the pledge to boost production of grain, edible oil and meat and grain export control would help stabilize domestic prices and prevent fluctuations of global market prices.