Tibet to reduce poverty by 45%

LHASA - Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region is expected to reduce its population living in poverty by 45 percent in a three-year period by the end of this year, a regional official said on Wednesday.

The number of people living below the national poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($375) in per capita income per year in Tibet's rural and pastoral areas should be reduced to 457,000 at the end of 2013, which is 55 percent of that in 2010, said Qoi'nyi Yarphel, Communist Party chief of the office of Tibet poverty alleviation and development.

So far, the central and regional governments have allocated 3.905 billion yuan in poverty alleviation funds to the plateau region, with this figure covering aid in education, financing and technology for Tibetans, he said.

Tibet had the highest poverty rate in China in 2010, with 34.42 percent of its rural and pastoral population living below the country's poverty line.

Much of Tibet's success in boosting livelihoods has come from improving agriculture. For example, Latok, a farmer living in a suburb of the regional capital Lhasa, had a bumper harvest this year due to help from the regional poverty alleviation authorities.

"The yield of highland barley per mu (0.0667 hectares) was as much as 200 kg before, but it has grown to 300 kg this year as I planted new barley seeds introduced by the authorities," said Latok.

The Tibet regional poverty alleviation and development office has earmarked 10 million yuan this year to promote "Zangqing 2000, " a new type of barley, on 36,200 mu of farmland.