LHASA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Forty-year-old Zhaxi
Toinzhub never realized that by growing vegetables in plastic houses he would
have one of the fastest growing purses in rural western China.
A peasant living in Bainang County of Xigaze in
Tibet, Zhaxi Toinzhub and four other family members used to grow highland barley
and make less than 2,000 yuan a year, but now, the whole family earns an annual
salary of about 18,000 yuan simply by growing vegetables in plastic houses.
"I have three plastic houses, growing green peppers,
potatoes, and cucumbers. Each plastic house will make us about 3,000 yuan a
season, and we have two seasons a year," he said.
Of course, it is a gross exaggeration to call Tibetan
herdsmen China's "new-rich", but a recent government report said the income
growth of the rural population in Tibet is faster than anywhere else in China's
vast western regions, which includes 11 provinces and municipalities.
Statistics show that the per capita income of Tibetan
herders and farmers reached 2,350 yuan in 2006, up 13.1 percent on the previous
year, maintaining a double-digit growth rate for four consecutive years.
"The income growth rate of the rural population in
Tibet is among the leading growth rates in China, if not the fastest," said
Zheng Changde, a professor with Southwest University of Nationalities who has
been involved in compiling a comprehensive report on the social economic
development of rural western China.
There are about 2.3 million herdsmen and farmers in
Tibet, making up more than 80 percent of the total population. Zheng's report
said their per capita income is higher than that of the rural population in
Shaanxi, Gansu, Yunnan, and Guizhou in western China.
Figures from the agriculture and husbandry department
of Tibet show that from 2004 to 2006, 804 million yuan was invested in the
development of different sorts of agricultural or husbandry programs. By joining
the programs, each herder or farmer's annual income has increased by 600 to 800
yuan.
Besides, the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway and
the development of the service industry are also believed to have greatly
contributed to the rapid income rise.
However, Zheng Changde admitted that the faster
growth rate should be partly attributed to a relatively low starting point.
In the 11th Five-year Plan (2006-2010), China's
central government will invest more than 100 billion yuan in 180 projects in
Tibet. The projects, covering infrastructure construction, education, social
security and environmental conservation, are designed to continue to promote
economic and social development.
Zhang Yijiong, deputy Party secretary of Tibet
Autonomous Region, has promised the region will follow a modern agricultural
development path with highland characteristics, and will maintain a rural per
capital income growth rate of more than 13 percent this year, and the net income
of rural population will reach 2,660yuan. (1 U.S. dollar is equivalent to 7.5
yuan)
