This National Seven-year Priority Poverty Reduction Program (1994-2000) is a guiding plan of national poverty alleviation and development work. It has been formulated to further accelerate the development of poor areas, promote common prosperity. It is a cross-sectoral document. The document proposes the measures for ecological construction, including: continue the key ecological restoration projects in the fields of returning farmland to forest, returning grazing land to grassland, soil and water conservation, natural forest protection, protection forest system construction, and desertification control; establish ecological compensation mechanism with focus on poverty-stricken areas and strengthening ecological compensation in key ecological function areas; strengthen biodiversity conservation, grassland protection and construction, renewable energy development and application in poor rural areas, etc. The document recognizes that poverty alleviation is still long term historic task. A target group was identified, which falls into four levels, namely, the poverty reduction recipients, the contiguous destitute areas, key counties and poverty-stricken villages. The poverty reduction recipients are rural poor below the poverty line, but have the ability to work. The document proposes to establish and improve new technology service system in line with the actual situation of poor areas, accelerate the construction of scientific and technological poverty alleviation demonstration villages and households and promote good practices and good crop seed varieties. In addition, the document requires promoting rural employment by supporting and providing training to the youth, disables and new labours in poor rural families. The document has further included farmer cooperatives as an institutional innovation to boost incomes and the self-development capacity of poorer farmers and farming communities. This will require the introduction of new measures and funding mechanisms. As for organization guarantee, the document requires to further improving evaluation incentive mechanisms for officials as well as departments and key counties, and organizational departments at all levels should actively coordinate work in this regard. It proposes to accelerate law making processes in order to provide a legal basis for poverty reduction.
Chine · 1994-04-19