QUWO, Shanxi Province: Han Qingzhu decided 17 years ago to have only one child to lead a better life, but the lack of dependable workers to help his family get rich has always been a headache for him.

Nowadays he has found a way out.

Han, 39, the receiver of the biggest government loan to help out planned parenthood farmers in Quwo, now has a dairy farm with 50 head of milk cows.

Han is expected to start seeing a return on his investment before the end of this year.

Feeding his cattle in their shed, Han said: "The association has become a close friend who can really help us to get rich."

Han was referring to the "Gold Ear Programme" initiated by the Quwo Family Planning Association, which signed an agreement with the local branch of the Agricultural Bank of China to provide loans to farmers, to help them start promising projects.

"Our association has taken a long-term loan of 2 million yuan (US$242,000) from the bank, and our programme is expected to benefit some 500 farmers over the coming three years," said Liu Hongwei, the local family planning official in charge of the programme.

"We are extending substantial aid to families that follow China's family planning policies, and we have been encouraging farmers to bear fewer kids and to enjoy a wealthier lifestyle," Liu said.

Households like Han's in Quwo are getting more and more accustomed to the new lifestyle - fewer children but more wealth, as the shift to quality-oriented living gradually prevails among the population of child-bearing age in China's rural areas.

"China's family planning workers are no longer threatening 'womb police.' Instead, they are working to enhance farmers' living standards," said An Huanxiao, director of the Shanxi Provincial Commission of Family Planning, during a recent press conference held in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi.

An said China's people-centred family planning policies are functioning smoothly in her province, and her commission has built very close ties with China's family planning watchdog, the State Population and Family Planning Commission, to better control rural population and basically, to improve the quality of life of rural residents.

An also pointed out that national programmes focused on reproductive health in rural areas - reproductive infection control, birth defect control and improvement in methods of contraception - have also seen positive results in the Shanxi countryside.

According to Xu Hanping, a veteran family planning worker in Beidong village, the informed choice programme is warmly welcomed by locals, since the family planning workers not only educate and guide farmers in the use of contraceptives in line with their personal preferences, but also provide complete and unbiased information about reproductive health and child-birth health issues.

"Farmers are now pleased to see family planning workers, and the practice of slamming doors to keep out 'womb police' has gone with the wind," Xu said.

(China Daily 09/02/2003 page3)

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