As a response to the concern on the newly added 8 million population struggling in poverty, Liu Jian, head of State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, explain why things were the way they were and how things can be made different in the future in an interview with People's Daily.

The growing poverty-hit population, Liu thought, showed how challenging the task of poverty alleviation and development was as a long-term ordeal of great complexity. This was especially true since the new millennium arrived because of four reasons.

First, 76 percent of rural households without adequate food or shelter dwelled in mountain areas where the environment of life and development was very difficult. 46 percent of them fed on arable land no more than one mu per capita. Education was the second barrier. For example, in 2003, 22.4 percent of rural labors in counties listed as extreme poverty were illiterate. The scattered settlements of the poor also added to the difficulty. And those who just had enough food and clothing were economically very vulnerable to any disasters, which created some 2 million poverty population in Henan, Anhui, Shaanxi and Heilongjiang provinces in 2003.

The international community recognized and spoke highly of China's efforts on poverty alleviation and development, Liu mentioned. Given the deteriorating poverty and widening gap between the poor and the rich in the world, China's experience on continuous poverty alleviation was especially valuable, he said.

This can be evidenced by two facts, Liu noted. The first was the improvement of the conditions in poor areas and better life of people struggling for survival. The second was China's innovation on its endeavor of poverty alleviation and development which proved to be very successful and effective.

Liu also reviewed the way that China has gone along in the past 20 years on poverty alleviation and development based on systematic innovation. The System of Family Contracting launched at the beginning of the era of opening-up and reform basically freed the country's rural areas from poverty. In the following 20 year, the country developed many ground-breaking methodologies for its poverty alleviation campaign. The efficiency and transparency were both improved when the project was pushed forward village by village.

Liu told the reporter new measures to be taken by his office. Poverty alleviation planning based on villages will bring better living and production condition for poor areas. Poor rural residents will get access to professional training and advantages of the surge of labor transfer. Development of leading enterprises contributing to alleviate poverty will be encouraged, which in turn will adjust the industrial structure of the poor areas and increase poor farmers' income.

In the mean time, they also have the plan to promote agricultural technologies, ensure the food safety, strengthen the fund management, guarantee the fulfillment of various tasks, and develop closer cooperation with related department.

(People's Daily October 21, 2004)