He doesn't have to worry about who will buy his crop, and neither do his neighbors in Zhaoyuan, a county in Heilongjiang Province: A private company doing food-processing business has contracted with farmers here to buy their harvest at a preferential price

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As a result, Li will earn more than 6,000 (US$725.8) yuan this year, soaring over his 500-yuan (US$60.5) annual income a few years ago.

In the past three years, the company, named Jitai, invested 100 million yuan (US$12 million) on a crop-processing mill in Zhaoyuan and several local water-conservancy projects. Farmers also got frequent assistance, such as seeds, fertilizer and training in new farming techniques, from the company.

As a member of a non-governmental organization for poverty-relief, Jitai's business in Zhaoyuan is aimed to improve local farmers’ living standard.

The average annual income of the county's 50,000 farmers has increased 1,200 yuan per capita since the company came. Most of them are out of poverty.

The organization, called the China Society for Promoting the Guangcai Program (CSPGC), now has more than 100,000 members, all of which are private enterprises in China.

"Those of us who became rich early on have a responsibility to help the poor," said Pan Huibin, Jitai's board chairman.

The organization had invested 14.1 billion yuan (US$17.06 million) in developing businesses and trade as well as training people in poor areas. Its efforts have helped 2.32 million people out of absolute poverty.

Out of the 100,000 members, more than 3,000 have contributed at least 500,000 yuan (US$60483) each, said Hu Deping, CSPGC vice president.

China now has 1.7 million private enterprises and 25 million self-employed people. Many of them take part in non-governmental organizations and anti-poverty programs to help the poor, especially women and children.

The country's poverty-stricken population has dropped from 250 million in the 1970s to the present 30 million, down almost 10 million annually on average.

(Xinhua News Agency 09/29/2001)