No one in China should live in dire poverty by 2010, members to the National Committee of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said yesterday.

"I am confident that we can meet this target by 2010," Chen Yaobang, a former official in the agriculture and forestry ministries, said.

"By a simple calculation, we can see that if each person gets 300 yuan from the government, then we only need 6 billion yuan to solve the problem of people in dire poverty."

The number of Chinese living in dire poverty, earning below a 638 yuan ($82) a year, dropped by 2.78 million in 2006, according to official figures.

NPC Deputy Chen Yaobang (center), a former official at the agriculture and forestry ministries, talks about the construction of the new socialist countryside at a press conference yesterday in Beijing. [China Daily]

Those considered to be earning low income, below 958 yuan ($123), fell by 5.17 million.

A report submitted by the Ministry of Finance to the Fifth Session of the 10th National People's Congress, said China will earmark 391.7 billion yuan ($50.54 billion) on rural expenditure, an increase of 15.3 percent.

However, there are still many who need help, with 21.48 million people still in dire poverty and 35.5 million in the low-income basket, Zhang Baowen, vice-minister of agriculture, said.

This year, Zhang said, the government had four initiatives to help China's "Three No" farmers.

Those with no job, no land and no social security will be targets of a promise in Premier Wen Jiaba's work report to set up a minimum cost of living allowance for the country's most disadvantaged rural residents.

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