An official of the World Bank inspection delegation said that the poverty relief program in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, with financing from the World Bank (WB), has been successful.
Alan Piazza, an American economist and also head of a five-member inspection team for the WB-backed poverty relief program in southwest China, said farmers who are covered by the program in Guizhou Province have reported benefiting from the program.
The WB inspection mission arrived in Guiyang, provincial capital of Guizhou, Sunday night. While meeting with Mo Shiren, deputy governor of Guizhou, the American economist urged greater efforts be made this year to ensure the complete success of the program in Guizhou.
The WB financed poverty relief program of southwest China was started in 1995. The total investment on the program in Guizhou alone exceeds 1 billion yuan (US$121 milllion), of which, US$62 million are of WB loans.
Under that program in Guizhou Province, 324 poverty relief items have been designed, ranging from education, public health, export of labor, construction of infrastructure, land reclamation for the development of industries and service trade in rural areas. The program covers 190,000 farmers from 13 poverty-stricken counties in Guizhou.
Up to now, 80 percent of the planned items have been accomplished. In areas where the program has been carried out, there is a fast development of agriculture, marked improvement of infrastructure, educational and public health conditions, and a quick increase in income for poor households, said Mo.
For instance, the per capita annual net income of concerned rural households has gone up from 700 yuan (US$84) in 1995 to over 1,000 yuan (US$120) so far.
(People’s Daily 03/20/2001)
