China moving from poverty alleviation to rural revitalisation

Chinese officials acknowledge the risks of rural folk sliding back into poverty, and say they are developing a mechanism that will hopefully allow them to intervene early - AFP

BEIJING (The StraitsTimes/ANN): Food security and self-reliance will be top priority as China moves from its poverty alleviation campaign to a new strategy to revitalise the countryside and narrow the yawning urban-rural gap.

It will ramp up infrastructure-building, while bringing new innovation in farming technology to peasants and providing funding for start-ups as it plugs the rural areas into the supply chain.