The final delivery of food aid from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), worth 7.2 million US dollars, arrived at Chiwan Port in Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, Thursday morning (April 7). After more than 25 years of providing aid, the world's largest humanitarian agency will phase out food aid to China beginning next year.

Receive 25-year-long food aid worth nearly 1 billion US dollars

The batch of 43,450 tons of wheat will be sent to four poor inland provinces, including Gansu and Shanxi provinces, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for poverty alleviation projects.

China has maintained close cooperative relations with the WFP since 1979. The WFP began providing food aid to China in 1979. The organization provided 925 million US dollars worth of food aid. According to China��s official data and remarks, the food program has played a sound role in the areas of improving the agricultural production conditions and ecological environment in the poverty areas of China; effective utilization of farming resources; boosting agricultural output growth; and improving the levels of food self-support so that more than 30 million Chinese meet their immediate food needs.

Decline of poverty population is the main reason for phasing out the food aid

Lester R. Brown, expert on the issues of US agriculture and environment, issued a 141-page long report entitled "Who will feed China? - a report from a small planet". The report said that by the beginning of 21st century, China might likely import large qualities of food from abroad to support its more than 1 billion population. However the fact is: When the final batch of more than 40,000 tons of Canadian wheat arrived at Chiwan Port in Shenzhen China will turn itself to a food-assisting country from a receiver.

"We will phase out the food aid because China now can afford to eliminate extreme poverty itself", said Douglas Broderick, WFP China Representative.

As is learned the decline of poverty population in China is the main reason for phasing out the food aid. The Chinese government has taken many effective policies and measures in poverty alleviation, especially in solving the poverty issue in the western areas of China.

According to statistics from the National Statistics Bureau, in the past 25 years, China has cut the population living under extreme poverty by more than 200 million.

China will actively take part in the poverty-relief projects in the world

With rapid economic development, the Chinese government and non-governmental organizations are becoming active donors in world assistance affairs. Statistics show that in the past four years, China committed 5 million US dollars for WFP's projects in other countries.

"China will continue to actively take part in the poverty-relief, comprehensive rural development and emergency aid projects launched by the WFP in the future and share with the whole world our expertise in poverty-relief and natural disaster aid," said an official with the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

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China will offer donations to the United Nations World Food Program

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang said in answering questions put to him by reporters that China will gradually offer donations, mainly in cash, to the United Nations World Food Program based on its own capacity.

He said, "China is still a developing country and is not rich. China still has 29 million people living under poverty line. But in consideration of 850 million people still living under poverty line in the world, China will gradually offer donations to the United Nations World Food Program within its ability".

China will promote 60 million mu or 4 million hectares of high-yield hybrid rice

China will launch high-yield hybrid rice pilot projects in 12 provinces and municipalities across the country starting this year. China will try to boost 60 million mu of high-yield hybrid rice this year with an estimated output growth of about 6.5 billion kilograms.

The high-yield hybrid rice is a new hybrid by combining a type of ideal mould with a Xian��s round-grained non-glutinous rice. The new hybrid can increase 15 per cent of rice output. The research on the high-yield hybrid rice by China is in the leading levels of the world.

By People's Daily Online