Qingyuan County accomplishes poverty alleviation mission

In recent years, Zhejiang Province has strived to increase the lowest annual household per capita income to above 4,600 yuan. The government has used a number of targeted measures such as innovation, e-commerce, tourism, relocation, education, finance and so on. The report has chosen some of the successful cases and published them here.

Case One: Qingyuan County accomplishes poverty alleviation mission

Industrial measures for poverty alleviation

“Baishanzu Township has a good ecological environment. The ecotype pigs and chickens I raise are very popular in the market. I also get subsidies from the county, and I’ve made a very considerable income this year,” said Wu Chuan, a villager from Qiaomo Village, Baishanzu Township, Qingyuan County. Wu used to be unemployed and survived by farming his land at home, which was only enough for him to get by. The county learnt about his employment intention and living conditions, and designed a tailor-made plan to help him combat poverty by raising ecotype livestock and poultry.

According to a survey in early 2015, there were 6,916 farmer households and 15,107 people in Qingyuan living below the 4,600 yuan annual household per capita income poverty line. Of those, 3,076 households and 7,554 people had some work capacity and clearly did not meet the requirement to receive low-income allowance. In order to lift this group of people out of poverty, Qingyuan County introduced categorized and personalized supporting policies to make sure they receive services helpful for them to develop in a relevant industry, and suggested a per household subsidy ranging from 800 to 2000 yuan.

”There’re 11 type of industry support policies, and farmers can choose freely from programs such as traditional plantation, farm tourism, family processing and so on. The local authority will decide on the subsidy according to their application,” said Lian Zhengjuan, a local official from Qingyuan County. In 2015 Qingyuan prepared 6.67 million yuan to subsidize poverty alleviation programs for poor families making less than 4,600 yuan per capita annually, supporting characteristic industries growing mushrooms, bamboos, fruits and vegetables, teas and so on.

For example, mushroom farmers with a certain production size and mechanical equipment received equipment subsidies. Livestock and poultry farmers received categorized subsidies according to their breeding and swine wastewater treatment methods. In this way low-income farmers were guaranteed to generate increased income with such targeted help measures, and sustain their development.

In Yinjiang Village, Zuoxi Town, Hu Shougui, a low-income farmer, wanted to grow kiwifruits using a deserted greenhouse. After telling his idea to local authorities, Zuoxi Town not only paid for his trip to Taishun County and Jiangshan City to learn the technology, but also found him 80 mu of land to grow the fruit on, with a 1,000 yuan per mu subsidy. “They also applied a harvest card for me to borrow loans at a low rate, with which I also get government subsidies at year end.” Hu said he received a 50,000 yuan loan to buy seedlings, and has already planted all 5,000 plants.

All of Qingyuan County’s towns and villages such as Zuoxi have all received industrial poverty alleviation help. The county believes the measure a fundamental way for its low-income farmers to achieve long-term development. It has designed specific measures and made sure all programs get implemented. The poor farmers of Qingyuan are now able to make their fortune in their hometown.

So far, Qingyuan has issued security funds 13.275 million yuan, poverty alleviation special funds 6.67 million yuan, poverty alleviation microloans 17.65 million yuan. A total of 6,916 farmer households and 15,107 people have been lifted above the poverty line. Qingyuan has now successfully accomplished the mission to raise the annual per capita household income above the 4,600 yuan poverty line.