Guangxi Yangxiang's high-rise pig farm buildings are seen at Yaji Mountain Forest Park in Guangxi province, China March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Suen

BEIJING (Reuters) - The World Bank will issue a $400 million loan to China’s southwestern Guangxi region to help poverty reduction efforts, the bank said.

The funds will support efforts to boost incomes by setting up farmers’ co-operatives, and connecting small-scale farmers with markets.

It will also finance infrastructure, and is expected to benefit about 1.74 million people, the bank said on Friday.

Guangxi has more than 3 million rural poor and a poverty rate of more than 7 percent, partly due to limited natural resources and low levels of infrastructure compared with other regions in China, it said in a statement on its website.

The loan is the bank’s first to be linked to results, it said, by introducing improved planning, budgeting and monitoring systems.

Total financing from 2018 to 2021 period is expected to be $5.53 billion, of which 93 percent will be financed by the government and 7 percent by the World Bank.