From 2005, residents in Pushi Village began to grow cool-season vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage on mountainside in March and July, respectively, using methods obtained through the farming experiments as a measure to alleviate poverty. Previously, the mountainside was only used for small-scale sheep breeding.

"Before sheep breeding was barely enough to feed my family, but now, because of the income from the off-season vegetable sales, I can afford better food for my 4-year-old son," Ma said.

The village also established a vegetable guild to help the villagers facilitate the sales and marketing of vegetables.

As a result, the annual per-capita income in Pushi increased from 500 yuan in 2005 to over 3,100 yuan in 2010, said Limuzige, local Party chief of Pushi village.

China's national poverty level was set at 1,274 yuan per capita net annual income in 2010, according to a statement posted on the official website of National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Over the past decade, a total of 67.34 million people in China have shaken off poverty, and the poverty incidence has declined from 10.2 percent in 2000 to 2.8 percent in 2010, said the statement.

China has made remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation, as the number of the impoverished declined from 250 million in 1978 to 26.88 million at the end of 2010. China is also the first country to meet the poverty-reduction target stipulated in the UN Millennium Development Goals.