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RP174 V. 8 August, 2003 Public Disclosure Authorized A Report on the Significance for Poverty Relief by the Programme of Middle Reaches of the Beijiang Public Disclosure Authorized River Regulation Works and the Programme of the Xiniu Navigation Complex on the L i a n j i a n g R i v e r Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized FILE Get Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences July 20, 2002 Members of This Report Adviser: Li Minghua President & doctor, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences Project Manager: Jia Yunping Associate professor Members: 2 Li Yan Doctor of geographical economics Li YangMiao Associate professor of society Miao Xinghuang Associate professor of society Yang Changming Doctor of law, professor Zhang Junzhe Accountant Ye Miaoqin Statistician 3 CONTENT 1. Survey summary 2. The necessitous villages in the reaches of the programmes 2.1 Poverty criteria and necessitous areas 2.2 Necessitous villages and necessitous population 2.3 Living situation of the necessitous families 3. Reasons for farmers' poverty in the hinterlands of the progrmmes 3.1 The adverse natural environment direcdy causes the farmers' poverty 3.2 Lacking of cultivated land and great surplus of labour force in the counntyside Declining of township and village economy causes more difficulties to the employment of the 3.3 farmers 3.4 Too many family members and too much burden on the labour force in families 35 Low level of management in family economy 3.6 Little accumulation and firquent return to poverty after getting rid of poverty 3.7 Depression of regional industries; therefore it is impossible to provide more job opportunities for farmers from the countryside 4. Measures to relieve poverty by local governments 4.1 The poverty relief strategies of local govemments 4 42 Poverty relief measures by township governments 4.3 Evaluation of the poverty relief programme by the governments 5. Results of the programme construction for poverty relief The progamme construction will stimulate economic growth in the reaches of the Beijiang River 5.1 and directly promote the progress of poverty relief in the necessitous mountainous areas 52 Rectification of navigation channel is advantageous to making use of the unified traffc system in the necessitous mountainous areas 5.21 Rectification of navigation channel is advantageous to developing means of transport while saving resouwres in the mountainous areas 5.22 Resources in the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong Province available for shipping are comparatively rich 523 Shipping in the mountainous areas can effectively reduce operation costs of the necessitous farmers 5.3 Promnotion of the tourist industry in the mountainous areas by the programme construction 5.31 Results for poverty relief by the tourist industry 5.32 Touist industry in the mountainous areas and job opportunities 5.33 Improvement of the tourism environment in the mountainous areas by the prgramme construction Attachment Tourism resources in the reaches of Beijiang River 5.4 The programme construction will promote the construction of small towns in the mountainous areas and will attract surplus labour force to shift to small towns 5.41 The programme construction will optimize shipping facilities in small towns 5.42 The accumulative effect of logistics in small towns would be reinforced 5.43 More labour force from the countryside will be atMacted and adopted in small towns because of construction of the programme 5.44 A group of new small towns will arise out of construction of the programrnme 5.5 The programrne construction will promote local consumption and reform the local agricultural planting structure 5.6 Revenue of the local governments will be increased after completion of the programme construction 6. Fames' and township cadres' opinions about the programmnes and their significance for development 6.1 Degree of understanding about the programmes and opinions of farners who were involved in the requisition of land 62 Attitudes of cadres from where the programrm construction is located 7. Conclusion Appendix I: Interview Syllabus about the Effect of Supporting the Poor Appendix II: Route of the Survey about the Effect of Supporting the Poor Appendix m Distribution Map of the Poor Counties in the Project Area within 100 Kilometers Appendix IV: Form of Citizens' Condition Survey of the Guangdong Component of IWW4 Project Appendix V: Forms Used in Genaeal Investigation of the Villages to Be Impacted by the Guangdong Component of IWW4 Project 6 1. Survey Summary According to the demands of the Memondum Book on Guangdong Component of Pmposed IWW4 made by World Bank on March 15, 2002, at the invitation of the project host - the Navigation Channel Bureau of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences conducted a survey of on the significance for poverty elief by the Programne of Middle Reaches of the Beijiang River Regulation Works and the Progranne of Xiniu Navigation Complex on the Lianjiang River Rectification of Navigation Channel in the Middle Reaches of Beijiang River and the Xiniu Shipping Pivot Programne of Lianjiang River within the Guangdong Component of Prposed IWW4. Objects of this survey are the directly benefited areas, ie. the upper and middle reaches of the Beijiang River, - in concrete, Shaoguang City, Qingyuan City and its subsidiary counties, towns and villages. The survey methods are by working out schedule and interview outlines. We mainly took group interviews and did some sampling questionnaires on specific necessitous villages. The survey group visited successively city/county offices, administrations of state land, poverty-relief offices, agricultural departments, etc of Shaoguan City, Lechang City, Qujiang County, Ruyuan County, Qingyuan City, Yingde City, Qigxin County, Yangshan County, Liannan County, Lianshan County, etc and collected a large sum of useful materials. Following are situations of this survey: 2. The necessitous villages in the reaches of the projects 2.1 Poverty cfiteria and necessitous areas According to the statistics by the Poverty Relief Office of Guangdong Provincial Government, at present there are 16 necessitous counties in Guangdong Province that are in special need of help for their development In these necessitous counties, the net annual income of quite a part of the population in the countryside is less than 1,500 yuan per capita The families whose net annual net incomne per capita is less than 1,000 yuan are called specially underprivileged families. Those whose annual net income is less than 2,000 yuan still need help to get rid of poverty. The total poverty-stricken population in the province is over 5,000,000. They are rnainly in Shaoguan City, Qingyuan City, Heyuan City and Meizhou City. Quite a lot are in Shaoguan City and Qingyuan City (the north reaches of Beijiang River). Arnng the 16 necessitous counties, 4 are in Qingyuan City, i.e. Liannan, Lianshan, Yangshan, Qingxin; 2 are in Shanguan, i.e. Ruyuan, Xinfeng. The necessitous counties of the two cities amount to 375% of the total necessitous counties in Guangdong Province. In the year 2000 the GDP of Guangdong Povince was 12,885 yuan per capita The GDP of Shaoguan City per capita was about 50.7% of the average of the province, while that of Qingyuan City was 31%. That of the counties in Qingyuan City was even less. For example, the GDP per capita of Liannan County in the upper reaches of Lianjiang River was only 2,732 yuan, while that of Yangshan County was 3,298 yuan. They were respectively 21% and 25% of the average of the province. 22 Necessitous villages and necessitous population According to the statistics of Shaoguan City dated October, 2001, the poverty-stricken families ( net annual 8 income less than 2,000 yuan per capita) in the year 2000 were 118230 with a population of 545,295. Among which the number of necessitous families with net annual income per capita less than 1,500 yuan was 81,611 with a population of 371,922. These families and population amounted respectively to 18% of the total families and 18.6% of the total population in the countryside. There were totaly 43 underpfivileged towns in this city, amounting to 30%Yo of the total towns. There were 396 necessitous vilages, amounting to 31% of the total villages in the whole city. They were mainly in the limestone areas in the reaches of the Beijiang River, the minority nationality regions, remote mountainous areas and migration areas, etc. The numbers of poverty-stricken population and necessitous families of Qingyuan City were about the same as that of Shaoguan City. In 7 towns (Yunlin, Qinkeng, Boluo, Jiulong, Shihuipu, Yanbei and Mingjing. 5 are in the limestone areas) in the close areas of the Lianjiang River in Ymngde, there were already 31 necessitous villages. Among which there were 21,267 necessitous families in the 5 limestone towns with a population of 121,000. In the necessitous vilages and towns, needy families and needy population usuaDly amounted to 30%o of the total. For example, in Ruyuan County, there were 1,720 families in Dongping Town while 599 were needy families. In Daqiao Town, there were totally 4,494 families, but there were 1,484 needy families. In Yunyan Town there were totaDly 2,705 families and needy families were 897. In these 3 towns, the needy families amounted to 35%, 34% and 33% of the total families respectively. We can see that poverty is by no means of occasional cases. It is very common in the limestone areas in the reaches of the Beijiang River. Table 1. Dislbution of PovertyStricken