With rural industries creating more job opportunities, farmers' incomes in China continued to rise in the first quarter of the year, a senior official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.

The per capita disposable income of Chinese rural residents in the first quarter of 2025 reached 7,003 yuan ($959), an increase of 6.5 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Pan Wenbo, head of the ministry's crop production department, said rural industries are improving in quality and efficiency. From January to March, the added value of agricultural and sideline food processing enterprises increased by 7.2 percent year-on-year.

"New industries and business models in rural areas are flourishing, with food tourism, rural homestays and sightseeing becoming increasingly popular vacation choices for urban and rural residents," Pan said, adding that online retail sales of agricultural products continue to grow rapidly.

In the first quarter of this year, grain and oil production made a good start. Efforts are being made to ensure solid spring field management and ploughing, laying a strong foundation for the summer harvest and overall annual grain output.

The area sown with winter rapeseed has seen a steady increase, and crop growth is better than both last year and the historical average, Pan said.

As of the end of March, there were 40.39 million breeding sows nationwide. In the first quarter, the total output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry reached 25.4 million metric tons, increasing 2 percent year-on-year, while milk production was 8.92 million tons, up 1.7 percent.

China's beef and milk markets faced supply and demand imbalances in 2024, leading to a price downturn and losses for beef and dairy cattle farmers, said Chen Bangxun, head of the ministry's department of development and planning.

"In response, the ministry introduced a series of support measures to alleviate the industry's difficulties," Chen said.

Local governments were urged to coordinate with financial institutions to increase credit and insurance support, easing financial pressures on farmers. Statistics indicate that the balance of beef and dairy cattle farming loans from major banks exceeded 160 billion yuan by the end of 2024, showing a dramatic increase from the previous year, he said.

"To reduce costs, farmers were encouraged to improve herd quality through selective breeding," Chen said, adding that a campaign to conserve grain in animal husbandry was launched to optimize the structure of feed and forages.

Moreover, efforts were made to regulate the purchasing and sales of raw milk. Companies were guided to develop dairy products suitable for Chinese tastes and ethnic dairy products to meet diverse consumer demands. Quality grading standards for domestic beef were also revised to promote higher quality and pricing, Chen added.

As a result, live cattle prices across the country have rebounded since Chinese New Year earlier this year, gradually reducing losses for beef cattle farmers.

However, due to the seasonal decline in milk consumption after the Chinese New Year holiday, raw milk prices remain low, Chen said.

"The ministry will further strengthen supportive measures to enrich the variety of dairy products and help dairy cattle farming overcome its difficulties as soon as possible," Chen said.