Chinese farmers struggle in face of price freezes

CHANGSHA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- While most Chinese consumers, particularly in urban areas, are relieved at the government's decision to freeze prices on key household commodities, some of the country's farmers are arguing their interests might be ignored.

The government on Wednesday moved to restrict price hikes of daily goods, such as grain, edible oil, meat, milk, eggs and liquefied petroleum gas, in an effort to bring rising inflation under control.

Xu Shaohua, a rice farmer from the Dongting Lake area, a key grain production base in central China's Hunan Province, hopes that additional measures should be taken to satisfy people who live in the countryside.

"Prices of pesticides and chemical fertilizers have continued to soar, but the price of rice has not undergone big hikes in recent years," Xu complained.

"Rice in 2007 only fetched 80 yuan or so per 50 kg on the market, I don't have much left after labor costs are deducted," he said.