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Notable Achievements
Over the past two decades, China has
achieved noticeable results in its development-oriented
poverty relief program. The rural poor population was
reduced from 250 million in 1978 to 28.2 million in 2002.
The annual per-capita net income of farmers in key counties
covered by the poverty-relief program reached 1,305 yuan in
2002, more than five times that in 1986. The problem of
feeding and clothing the poor people living in some
adjoining areas has been solved.
Although the poverty rate in China's rural areas
has dropped to 3 percent and the number of people with low
incomes accounts for only 6.2 percent of the total rural
population, the real number of poor people is still quite
large. The government will continue to intensify the poverty
relief work, adhere to the sustainable development strategy,
alleviate poverty through development, and make energetic
efforts to readjust agricultural structure, develop
agriculture with local characteristics and guide farmers to
enter the market. Plan has been set to resettle 7 million
poor farmers step by step in the coming 10-odd years.
Emphasis will be laid on the following five aspects: First,
input will be increased. A considerable amount of the
treasury bonds earmarked to west development will be used to
resettle poor farmers for the purpose of ecological
conservation. Second, the principle of resettlement on the
farmers' own accord will be adhered to. Third, in the
construction of resettlement towns, all necessary facilities
should be completed. Fourth, resettled farmers should have
stable income. Fifth, various policies should be consistent
to help resettled farmers settle down and become
affluent.
Easing the Trammels to
Borrowing
Providing loans
for poor farmers is a main component of the government's
poverty-relief program. The amount of poverty-relief loans
increased from 2.3 billion yuan to 18.5 billion yuan between
1986-2002. During this period, the government offered 125
billion yuan of loans for poverty relief, accounting for 60
percent of the total poverty-relief fund provided by the
Central Government. To ease the farmers' difficulties in
borrowing loans, the government has adopted three major
measures. First, enlarging the role of rural credit
cooperatives. Second, simplifying the procedures for
borrowing at banks and credit cooperatives. Third, urging
poverty-relief institutions and local governments provide
guarantee for loans borrowed by farming households who
participate in industrial or cooperative operations
organized by them. This year, the People's Bank of China,
the Agricultural Bank and the Poverty-Relief Office of the
State Council will work out measures to increase
small-amount loans for farmers, and pilot projects will soon
be launched.
Combining
Ecological Development and Poverty-Relief
Ecological development is both a top
priority and a fundamental issue in the west development
program. Combination of ecological development and the
effort to alleviate farmers from poverty and lead them to
prosperity can consolidate the results in ecological
conservation and environmental protection and fire the
farmers' enthusiasm for participating in the west
development program.
Four major
projects have been launched to push forward ecological
development in the western region, including the natural
forest conservation project, the project to return farmland
to forests, the sand-control project, and the project of
grassland cultivation through prohibition of grazing. The
government has invested more than 500 billion yuan in these
projects, by providing local farmers with grain, cash and
subsidies for seedlings. The growing of trees, grass,
medicinal herbs and orchids has not only improved the local
ecological environment, but also increased the income of
farmers considerably.
Continuous Effort Called to
Increase Farmers' Income
In 2002, the per-capita net
income of China's rural residents averaged 2,476 yuan, up
4.8 percent over the previous year. In 2001, the ratio of
the net income of rural residents in eastern and western
regions was 1:0.51, and it remained roughly the same in
2002. The government has adopted many measures to balance
the uneven development of eastern and western rural
economies. The government's west develo-pment strategy is
implemented, mainly, by increasing input in agriculture and
the rural economy in the western region, and issuing special
treasury bonds to support the western region and
infrastructure projects related to the production and
livelihood of farmers. Meanwhile, efforts have been made to
advance the rural fee-to-tax reform to reduce the burden on
rural residents. In experimental areas, the burden on rural
residents has been lessened, on an average, by 30 percent.
Nevertheless, the gap between the per-capita net income of
farmers in eastern and western areas remains large. The
government has attached great importance to the problem of
the low income of farmers in the western region and will
continue to adopt effectiye measures to solve this
problem.
Glory
Project Attracts Investment in the West
Actively responding to the government's
poverty-relief program, the All-China Federation of Industry
and Commerce launched the Glory Project nine years ago to
encourage entrepreneurs to start up businesses in the
western region and help the local residents get rid of
poverty. Over the past nine years, more than 11,000
entrepreneurs have made investment in the western region. By
February this year, they had invested 31.4 billion yuan in
7,377 projects, donated 4.7 billion yuan to local
governments, trained 1.5 million people and provided jobs
for 1.3 million of them, and helped 3.5 million people get
rid of poverty. The international community and the United
Nations have affirmed the achievements in this
enterprise-related poverty-relief program, noting that it is
a poverty-relief pattern with Chinese characteristics and
recommending it to other countries. More favorable policies
are expected to be introduced during the progress of the
west development program, which will encourage more
entrepreneurs to invest in the western region.
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