Produce from poor regions highlighted

A senior poverty relief official said on Friday that wealthier eastern provinces have bought farm products worth 2.7 billion yuan ($381 million) from impoverished areas over the past month as part of a broader effort to help western regions eliminate poverty through promoting rural specialties.

The move came after the novel coronavirus outbreak had disrupted logistic chains, dampening sales of produce and pushing many farmers to the brink of bankruptcy.

To assist the good-willed buying spree, authorities have identified some 36,000 "poverty relief" products in less developed western regions, according to Chen Hongbo of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, China's top poverty reduction body.

Chen, head of the agency's policy and regulation division, told a news conference in Beijing that central authorities have rolled out favorable policies in terms of production, storage, transportation and sales of such products, as well as easy access to financing for relevant parties.

A catalog of the products will be published and updated regularly at zgshfp.com.cn, he said.

This year was the last leg of China's poverty fight that aimed at lifting the remainder of the rural poor out of poverty, as central authorities have pledged to finish the task before the year end despite the aftershock of COVID-19.

Figures offered by the anti-poverty office show about 93 million out of nearly 99 million rural poor escaped absolute poverty between 2012 and 2019, meaning they have reached the national poverty line－defined in 2011 as an annual per capita income of 2,300 yuan－and ensured access to basic public services, including basic healthcare, compulsory education, safe housing and clean drinking water.

To end domestic poverty on schedule, central and local authorities have been helping rural workers find jobs in cities.

However, the epidemic triggered sweeping travel bans, stranding many at ancestral homes during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Wu Hua, who oversees poverty relief projects at the anti-poverty office, said jobs are crucial to rural families as roughly two-thirds of the family income is from working in cities.

He said the office will survey the job preferences of unemployed rural workers, and plans to arrange training sessions based on the results.

Local authorities have ordered State-owned employers to prioritize job needs of rural workers, and would use better finance terms and tax breaks to encourage private businesses to hire them, Wu said.

Authorities will also assist them to reach urban factories through a "point-to-point" transportation program, created to carry migrants back to jobs in the cities through chartered trains or buses to avoid infections during travel, Wu added.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said this week that 5.9 million have reached jobs through the program. About 23 million rural workers arrived at their jobs by April 10, accounting for 86 percent of the tally last year.