Poverty Reduction Miracles

China’s battle against poverty has reached the final stretch.

In November 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) set the goal of completing the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. Lifting all impoverished people out of poverty is a key task for the country. “We will make sure that no one is left behind on our way to prosperity,” stressed Chinese President Xi Jinping, signaling that China’s fight against poverty would not end until the battle is over. 

The poor population in rural areas dropped from 98.99 million in 2012 to 16.6 million in 2018, lifting 82.39 million out of poverty and cutting the poverty incidence rate from 10.2 to 1.7 percent. China has created a miracle in poverty alleviation. What is the secret behind the country’s success in poverty reduction? Fengdu has some answers.

Top Design + Grassroots Practice

Bidding farewell to their families, many officials from cities were posted in Fengdu to engage in poverty reduction work. They can be seen in poor villages in mountains, working and eating with locals. In order to help people escape poverty, they brainstorm strategies as they visit and talk to villagers.

Once a poor villager calls, the officials immediately go to help. “Even if it’s a problem we cannot solve at the moment, we still go to the spot,” says one of the officials. “Villagers are reassured just by seeing us.”

Poverty eradication has been driving grassroots officials’ career devotion and making their lives more meaningful. Meanwhile, the promotion system of the Chinese government gives incentives to officials who could be promoted due to outstanding performances in poverty alleviation. The responsibility system, regulation system, policy system, working mechanism and social mobilization system have all been set up in accordance with the top design of the Chinese government.

Poverty reduction requires skills and methods in addition to enthusiasm. Since the Chinese government launched the targeted poverty alleviation strategy, many officials have been trained in poverty alleviation techniques—7.79 million person times in 2018. And 94.2 percent of trainees are grassroots officials from county-level or below.

Flexible and Practical Wisdom

During his June 2015 visit to Guizhou Province, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the targeted approach to alleviating poverty, which he believes will determine the success of the country’s poverty alleviation drive. Targeted poverty alleviation has always been the focus of China’s work in this field. In each individual town and village, poverty-combating officials at all levels must consider the actual local conditions and prescribe remedies accordingly. 

Based on the unique geographical, demographic and productive conditions of different townships and villages in Fengdu County and their respective causes for poverty, local officials floated myriad targeted ideas to fight poverty, eventually achieving fruitful results.

Qingtian Village, for example, is home mainly to left-behind seniors and children because most working-age residents left to cities for better jobs. So, local officials encouraged the transfer of contracted land-use right to tea enterprises, which pay for the land use while hiring local villagers to work in tea gardens to increase their income.

Yang Mei, vice director of the village committee of Daxi, brought home-grown arrow-root powder, mulberry wine and local produce such as loquats, honey pomeloes and chestnuts to online retailing platforms, introducing the development mode of “online selling + enterprises + farming cooperatives,” which has benefited 385 households in the village.

Baishui Community in Zhanpu Town has planted more than 660 hectares of Sichuan peppers on a slope near the Yangtze River. Baishui Sichuan Pepper has become an established brand, and pepper cultivation is now developing into a pillar industry for local poverty reduction. Wuping Town introduced virus-free potatoes from Tengzhou City of Shandong Province. As the potatoes ripened on more than 90 hectares of land this year, local planters harvested 5.6 million yuan (US$810,000).

Additionally, the Fengdu beef industry has helped 6,100 poverty-stricken families. And the county is intensely promoting tourism, which has turned the villagers into shareholders earning dividends.