Abstract: As the main industry in rural ethnic minority areas,agriculture has an important significance for farmers’ income.From the theories on the agricultural economic development and the income increase of farmers,taking Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture and Enshi Autonomous Prefecture as example,the paper comparatively analyses the impact on the income increase of farmers of the agricultural economic development and agricultural structure in the Wuling Mountain area,and puts forward some measures on promoting agricultural economic development and the income increase of farmers.

Key words: agricultural economy, income increase of farmers, Wuling Mountain area