ZHENGZHOU — Central China's Henan province has made significant progress in economic development and poverty alleviation over the past decade, according to a press briefing held in the provincial capital Zhengzhou on Aug 28.

Over the past decade, Henan has firmly shouldered the important task of ensuring food security, prioritized high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, and accelerated the green and low-carbon transformation of economic and social development, said Lou Yangsheng, Party chief of Henan.

The per capita disposable income of residents in the province increased from 12,772 yuan (about $1,865) in 2012 to 26,811 yuan in 2021, and 7.19 million impoverished residents in Henan were lifted out of poverty.

In addition, Henan has developed a total of 75.8 million mu (about 5 million hectares) of high-standard farmland, and the province's annual grain output exceeded 65 billion kilograms over the past five years.

The province has also achieved a historic leap in becoming an important hub in China's opening-up drive. In 2021, Henan's foreign trade in goods reached 820.81 billion yuan, 2.5 times of that in 2012.