BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- China will further encourage industrial development and entrepreneurship in rural areas in a bid to alleviate poverty, officials said Friday.

Poverty-stricken areas will be supported to develop featured industries by tapping ecological advantages and local resources, Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, told a press conference.

"We will continue to focus on connecting production and sales, and turn the ecological resources of impoverished areas into brand and economic advantages," said Han.

Onsite capacity-building training for impoverished populations will be organized to cope with problems encountered in industrial development and rural startups, said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

"Over the past decades, absolute poverty has been basically eliminated in rural China," said Han.

By the end of 2018, the number of people living in poverty in rural areas decreased to 16.6 million from 770 million during the early stage of the reform and opening-up.

Rural residents' per capita disposable income rose to 14,617 yuan (about 2,048 U.S. dollars) by the end of 2018, 40 times the number in 1949, official data showed.