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)