China says they have 40 million farmers in poverty

China may have reduced poverty in half in recent years, but with it's large population there is still work to be done. We we're reminded of that today when China announced that they still have 40 million farmers living below the poverty line. China has the third largest economy in the world.

From this UPI story, we read more of China's statement on the issue.

Fan Xiaojian, head of China's national poverty and development office, told the Web portal ifeng.com the global financial crisis has hit the poor hard in China.

"China has invested 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) to reduce poverty this year, an increase of 3 billion yuan ($439 million) from last year, and the largest investment in poverty-relief in the last ten years," he said, China Daily reported.

Fan, however, said the income of the most poverty-stricken counties in the country rose 9.6 percent in the first three quarters of this year.