A peasant family gathers ripe agaric together on Oct. 7. The family, from a low-income village in Miyun District, Beijing, has earned a lot by planting and selling agaric after participating in the agaric poverty alleviation project in the district in 2017. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

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Based on a recent report on targeted poverty reduction, scholars highlighted issues in the current battle against poverty and put forward solutions.

The Annual Report on Targeted Poverty Alleviation in China (2017) was released by the National Center for Publicity and Education on Poverty Alleviation (NCPEPA) under the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development in conjunction with the Social Sciences Academic Press under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Nov. 30 in Beijing.

Themed “Top-Level Design and Specific Practices of Targeted Poverty Alleviation,” the report details how the nation translates related strategies and policies into action and gives an overview of challenges and breakthroughs. It echoes the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, which set the goal of lifting all rural people out of poverty and eliminating poverty in all poor counties and regions by the year 2020.

The transition from extensive to targeted poverty reduction has radically changed the fundamental logic and operational model of Chinese poverty management. Huang Chengwei, head of the NCPEPA, noted that during the formation and improvement of the top-level design, the subject and object of poverty reduction changed in multiple facets, like philosophy, role, model and approach, posing numerous challenges to the concrete practices of regional anti-poverty campaigns.

Huang called for more attention and policy responses to problems, such as failure to identify critical issues, sloppy poverty reduction, inadequate fund management and lack of motivation among some poor people in the implementation process.

“Despite various challenges, the battle against poverty has achieved remarkable results because the top-level design has been executed effectively by local governments at all levels,” said Lu Hanwen, a professor of sociology at Central China Normal University.

In recent years, the number of rural poor has decreases drastically and the proportion of the rural population living under the poverty line continues to fall. The incomes of residents in poverty-stricken rural areas continue to rise rapidly, outpacing the average growth rate in rural areas. The living and consumption standards of the rural poor are constantly improving while access to education, cultural and medical services has been expanded, Lu said. These achievements have also contributed greatly to global poverty reduction, Lu added.

Huang said that the top-level design of the targeted poverty reduction strategy has been completed, and related oversight, policy, investment, social mobilization, supervision and assessment systems are in place, marking a critical stage of the fight against poverty.

Areas of extreme poverty are the priority in current anti-poverty work. Lei Ming, a professor from the Institute on Poverty Research at Peking University, noted that these areas desperately need better transportation, communications and infrastructure, and they are affected by a variety of soft factors, such as the lack of inner motivation among destitute people.  

Lei called for stepping up poverty-reduction efforts in regions stricken by extreme poverty to identify problem areas, tailor policies to their needs and address the root causes, ensuring poverty reduction will reach those who truly need it.

In addition, it is also essential to strengthen cultural and intellectual poverty reduction and emphasize inspiring poor areas and people to shake off poverty and get rich, Lei said.