The Chinese government and the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) have agreed on a project to provide innovative
technologies and expertise to poverty-ridden rural areas in
China.
With US$3 million from the Ministry of Science and Technology
(MOST) and US$1 million from UNDP, the four-year project,
"Alleviating Rural Poverty through Innovative Technologies
Transfer", will involve the setting up of technical task forces.
The primary objective of the task forces is to introduce to farmers
technologies, innovative organizational methods, and tailor-made
technological services to increase their income.
MOST Vice Minister Liu Yanhua said: "UNDP is the first
international organization that is helping China to develop and
enhance technical task forces to extend technologies to rural
areas."
Nanping City in southeast China's Fujian Province piloted a scheme in 2002 to
send technical experts to help rural people raise their incomes
through the use of technology. Since then, 598 counties in 24
provinces nationwide have followed suit.
Khalid Malik, UNDP's resident representative in China, said: "We
hope that the project will help generate new job opportunities in
local communities and encourage agriculture technology experts from
government agencies, academies, research institutes, and other
organizations to participate more effectively in lifting farmers
out of poverty."
(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2006)