China sets up farmers' cooperatives in most impoverished villages

LANZHOU -- More than 90 percent of poor villages in China have set up farmers' cooperatives, which play an important role in the country's poverty alleviation efforts.

A total of some 682,000 such cooperatives have been established in 832 poverty-stricken counties, which have helped nearly 22 million people shake off poverty, according to a national conference on poverty alleviation via developing industries held Monday in the city of Longnan, Northwest China's Gansu province.

The number of rural poor people under China's current poverty line dropped from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 5.51 million by the end of 2019.

"Industrial poverty alleviation has played a key role in the process," said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, at the conference.

According to the statistics by Liu's office, 92 percent of the country's poor population have participated in industrial poverty alleviation.

Among those who have been lifted out of poverty, 72 percent have received support from industrial poverty alleviation. The office asked to aid the poor affected by the current floods with industrial support to minimize the impact on poverty alleviation.

The Chinese government has set the end of 2020 as its target for eradicating absolute poverty, known as one of the "three tough battles" that the country must win to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.