Yizhou district of Hechi has seen steady economic growth in 2017, according to a press conference held by the Yizhou people's government on Feb 11.

In an overview of Yizhou's development throughout the past year, the meeting made plans for the next phase and put forward targets and goals.

The district achieved a regional GDP of 12.7 billion yuan ($2.02 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent. Fiscal revenue grew to 716 million yuan and per capita disposable income rose 10 percent to 18,626 yuan.

Increased efforts have been made to help the poor, with a total of 8,574 people from 15 villages being lifted out of poverty, surpassing the ambitious targets set by Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region by 15.4 percent.

The plantable area and output of sugar cane jumped to a three-year high. A record 1.1 million tons of sugar cane was estimated to have been used, about 150,000 tons more than last crushing season, which starts around November and ends in April.

Yizhou's mulberry acreage and fresh cocoon output have now topped national charts for a consecutive 12 years.

Roughly 346,700 mu (23,113 hectares) of mulberry and 63,600 tons of fresh cocoon brought in 2.7 billion yuan to silkworm breeders last year.

In order to facilitate business and investment, reforms have been made to streamline the administrative approval process, with 300 restrictions being cut since 2014.

There has been an uptick in large-scale projects, with 148 of them being valued at five billion yuan or more, and another eleven having recently been initiated which are expected to bring in 8.9 billion yuan in investments.

Tourism numbers have seen a steady increase as well. Yizhou received 4.16 million visitors in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 22.01 percent, with total tourist spending amounting to 6.2 billion yuan.

Residents are living a better life owing to government efforts in education, social security, employment and housing. Nearly 145 million yuan has been devoted to the improvement of educational facilities and 200 million yuan for the establishment of hospitals and maternal and child care service centers.