近年来,延安市农民人均纯收入一直低于全国平均水平,城乡居民收入差距也不断扩大。为改变这一局面,延安市政府实施了生态移民工程,进行了农业产业结构调整。这些措施在一定程度上改善了农民的生活水平,但是,制约农民收入增长的根本性障碍仍然存在。只有促进高附加值农业的可持续发展、鼓励农村剩余劳动力的外出就业和使农村非农产业实现较快发展,才能建立起农民收入的可持续增长机制。

The sustainable growth of the peasants' income is the most significant topic in the research of agriculture, countryside and peasants. It is believed that agriculture is an industry that needs support from non-agricultural industries. However, Philip C. C. Huang and Peng Yusheng (2007) point out that China's agriculture witness great historical change which is that large-scale of agricultural population engaged in non-agricultural industries; the growth of natural population slows down; and the structure of agricultural production is in the process of transformation. Therefore, in the future 10 to 25 years, agriculture itself would provide full employment and well-off life for the peasants. In the recent years, the gap between the per capita net income of peasants and per capita annual income in cities and towns in Yan'an becomes wide. Also, the per capita net income of peasants is below the national average over a long period of time. In order to change this situation, the government has implemented a series of policies to promote agricultural development and increase peasants' income including the sloping land conversion program, the relocation program of ecological emigration, developing apple and vegetable industries. Furthermore, the authors put forward suggestions to establish the mechanisms of sustainable growth of the peasants' income. Firstly, local governments should develop agriculture products with high added value. In the case of the ecological environment protection and industrial development, water resources and arable land for agricultural production will be less and less in Yan'an which makes that development of agriculture products with high added value is inevitable. Secondly, local governments should encourage peasants to be employed in developed areas. That is an urgent requirement both to increase the peasant's income and to establish the mechanisms of sustainable growth of the peasants' income. Thirdly, local governments should promote the development of rural industries and services. The development of rural processing industry of agricultural products and market of rural cultural products is necessary to guarantee the sustainable growth of the peasants' income.