Guizhou targets poor areas in poverty relief campaign

Guizhou, a mountainous province in Southwest China once considered one of the country's poorest areas, is striving to change public perceptions and improve public well-being, especially in rural areas.

To intensify a new round of poverty relief and development, Guizhou needs to implement a refined management system to help the poor, according to Chen Min'er, the provincial governor during the 2nd session of 12th Guizhou Provincial People's Congress on Thursday.

The more accurate the target is identified, the greater the poverty alleviation, he said.

Chen stressed the importance of building an accurate information platform for poverty alleviation and pointed out that Guizhou should put emphasis on destitute areas and ensure farmers could indeed enjoy the resources.

Based on the new national standard for poverty alleviation, 2,300 yuan ($3,700) for rural per capita net income, Guizhou has 11.49 million impoverished rural people, accounting for 33.4 percent of the total rural population, according to the statistics from Guizhou Poverty Alleviation Office.

Faced with the serious situation, the government promises in the following year to undertake ten projects concentrating on people's livelihood and the primary job is to relieve eight more counties and 95 more villages out of poverty.

Related departments will work to accelerate modern agricultural development, including building infrastructure, strengthening the rural collective economy as well as improving the agricultural product quality and food safety system, Chen said.

Poverty is always a critical issue for Guizhou's development, particularly in areas that heavily feature with Karst, a stony, rocky landscape.

In Qiandongnan prefecture, a district inhabited by ethnic groups, there are 1.672 million living in poverty.

Luo Liangquan, director of the standing committee of the Qiandongnan Prefecture People's Congress suggested that the prefecture will try to help 500,000 out of poverty by 2020 and the annual target is 65,000.

"Building an accurate information platform not only makes people clearly know the number of the impoverished, but also avoids a potential waste of resources", Xia Qingfeng, mayor of Tongren city said.