FPAF from the government has met the needs of the poor through regional targeting and project targeting. However the outcomes and impacts of the FPAF projects besides targeting the poor are also the important criteria to evaluate the use of the FPAF. This research systematically analyzes the outcomes and impacts of implemented FPAF projects at both macro and micro levels.

7.1 Impacts at Macro Level

The analysis focuses on the FPAF impact on poverty incidence，farmers’ net income and other poverty indicators.

For over 10 years，with the exception of 1992，China’s poor population has been on the decrease year after year，and over the same period，the FPAF amount experienced remarkable fluctuation. It is a preliminary judgement that there was no close relationship has between the FPAF and the change in poor population. FPAF increased by 75.67% in 1997 over that in 1996，however there was no remarkable decrease in the poor population. FPAF decreased by 6.45% in 1999 over the previous year and the poor population in poor counties decreased by 4 million. And again in 2000，the FPAF increased by 9.09% over that in 1999 while the poor population only decreased by 1 million.

The Fiscal Poverty Alleviation Funds（FPAF）in poor areas demonstrated a sharp increase from 1998 to 2003，meanwhile rural per capita net income also showed a rising trend. But the increase in income was much slower，both compared to the increase in FPAF amount，and compared to the increase in farmers’ income nationwide. What’s more，in 2000 and 2001，the average rural per capita income in poor areas even declined. There are a number of different reasons behind such a slow increase or even decrease of the net income of farmers in poor areas. However at least it also shows that the FPAF coul