My people in the province have lands, can sustain themselves fairly well, yet still categorized as poor by the indices proposed by organizations. They don't have much money in the bank, but their lands are worth millions and refuse to sell that because that's what they only know. They can adapt to any changes in the economy, and that's the 'poor' people I aspire to be.
When you increase in the societal ladder in terms of finances, you also increase your expenses which makes it harder for you to fill your 'needs'. These simple people from above do what they do best and are living happy lives because they have food to eat and land to farm on. They don't ask for anything else except good harvest. I guess, if you're self-sustainable, you don't need that much money and can still become 'poor' to the eyes of other people.
If you look at the current statistics, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, this is very much influenced by weak government supervision. Currently agricultural products are bought at low prices while costs such as fertilizer and pesticides are sold at high prices, this is one of the factors of weak supervision plus poor irrigation. Another influence is the existence of business credit loans with high interest which really ensnares the people who weak economy. The government must make strict regulations on all forms of loans so that people can be free from loans with high interest rates.