Bayer joins govt to fight rural poverty

A poverty-relief project that will use foreign capital to revitalize China's rural areas was launched on June 8 in Beijing.

The Bayer-China Rural Development Project aims to improve quality of life by ensuring income security and protecting the environment of Wanzhou district, the target area and one of the largest districts in China's southwestern Chongqing municipality.

"Some 1,200 families and more than 5,000 people will be directly benefiting from this project in the four administrative villages in the area," said Johannes M. Dietsch, president of the Bayer Greater China Group.

"The project is expected to have eight Community Development Funds, with sufficient coverage of sustainable agricultural knowledge, and village citizens are expected to make their own decisions about the use of contributions, and local income is expected to be increased significantly," he said.

Johannes also said much of the money will go toward education projects, including improvements to classroom infrastructure, updated curricula and training for teachers.

The multi-million-yuan project is jointly run by the State Council's Foreign Capital Project Management Center, the Bayer Group and Humana, an international non-governmental organization .

"Involving enterprises in the cause of poverty relief is crucial to poverty alleviation in China's rural areas," said Zheng Wenkai, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, during the conference.

Zheng said the Chinese government has been focusing on poverty-relief projects since the 80s.

Enterprises from all sectors have been contributing to the sustainable development project by providing employment opportunities and public infrastructure, he said.

"We have also been pushing for legislation dedicated to poverty alleviation and for further improvements to policy on items like tax reductions and encourage more enterprises to join the cause," Zheng said.

Bringing better living conditions to rural areas requires the joint efforts of enterprises and society, said Liu Shengan, director of the center's international corporation department.