China launches agency to cement gains against abject poverty
- Creation of National Administration for Rural Revitalisation signals modernisation will be at centre of development in the countryside, observers say
- Focus now on narrowing the rural-urban income divide and raising farmers’ incomes
“We must now consolidate our achievements and make sure that this is firmly connected with our rural revitalisation programme so that the fruits from our anti-poverty efforts can be sustained and remain solid,” Xi said on Thursday.
He said China had lifted roughly 99 million people out of absolute poverty in eight years – the period over which he has been in power.
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The new agency takes over from the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, a group set up 35 years ago.
According to an official statement, the administration will be headed by veteran agricultural official Wang Zhengpu. His two deputies are Hong Tianyun and Xia Gengsheng, both former vice-directors of the leading group office.
Specialists in the field said the agency’s launch signalled that modernisation would be at the centre of the country’s rural development strategy.
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Speaking at a national rural affairs conference late last year, Xi gave cadres five years to ensure that abject poverty remained history and vulnerable groups would not fall back into the poverty trap.
On Sunday the central government published a blueprint for the countryside, stressing the importance of revitalising the rural economy by promoting modernisation of agriculture and rural areas.
As part of those plans, Beijing has set a grain production target of 650 million tonnes for this year and decreed that rural incomes must grow faster than those in urban China.
Weng Ming, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said bridging the income gap would be the new priority.
“We prioritised eradicating rural poverty in the past but China will shift the focus to raising the income of farmers and narrowing the income gap between rural and urban China in the coming years,” Weng said.
China looks to boost middle class as it wraps up Xi Jinping’s anti-poverty drive
While China has officially ended abject poverty, officials have cautioned that the country faces a serious wealth gap issue. Premier Li Keqiang said about a year ago that more than 600 million people in China still earned only about 1,000 yuan (US$155) a month.
Sociologist Xing Chengju said boosting rural incomes would be one of Beijing’s top priorities in the coming years.
“The rural population accounts for most of the 600 million people [mentioned by the premier],” Xing said. “The revitalisation programme is meant to increase the income of these people.”
