Poverty Alleviation Benefits All

Workers busy on the production line of the Shangdan Circular Industrial and Economic Park. Luo Hong

Measures to Overcome Poverty

Yu Fumin began growing greenhouse vegetables in 2000. “In earlier times, a one mu (15 mu = one hectare) field could earn about RMB 5,000 annually. But rapid urbanization made selling home-grown vegetables difficult as it wiped out sales channels. Prices fell so low that it was only worth growing enough vegetables to feed the household,” Yu said.

Yu has a family of five. He and his wife are both in poor health. Yu suffers from chronic bronchitis and a foot problem and is incapable of working in the fields. The couple must also care for his 82-year-old mother. After graduating from Xi’an University of Technology Yu’s elder son worked at a CNC machine tool factory, but since the firm went bankrupt he has been out of work. Yu’s daughter is a student of Northwest University. Although Yu Fumin does casual work that earns him an annual income of about RMB 10,000, this is far from enough to support a family of five.

Last year, with the help of village cadres, Yu Fumin planted walnut trees, and the saplings are now almost a meter tall. “These trees will bear fruit in two years. They are the hope of the whole family,” Yu Fumin’s wife said.

The work team assigned to the village is now in regular contact with employment training centers to help Yu’s son find a new job. “Yu Fumin’s family is one of the 44 households we identified as needing help to shake off poverty. We are now working out specific methods to help them, on the principle of teaching them how to fish, so feeding them for a lifetime, rather than giving them a fish and feeding them for a day,” village Party secretary Yu Xuefeng said.

The village’s poverty alleviation target is achieved through specific programs that aim to help the poor through practical measures, step-by-step. The village clerk Fang Xiushen is responsible for drafting aid applications for poor families. “Some farmers are illiterate and don’t know how to apply for aid programs. We offer them guidance according to their needs,” Fang said.

“Walnut trees, which Yu Fumin is growing, are one of the eight characteristic agricultural products that the municipal government is advocating and supporting. Shangluo’s walnuts will soon be available throughout the nation through e-commerce platforms. This will increase impoverished people’s earnings and give them a sustainable income,” he added.

During the 2016 sessions of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference last March, then Governor of Shaanxi Province Lou Qinjian proposed helping the poor via the Internet technology. The Shangluo government has since accelerated the building of a logistics and distribution system. It has also pushed forward construction of an online platform from which to sell agricultural products in poor rural areas. Farmers may thus reap the benefits of convenient Internet access.