By Duncan Gordon

Targeted Poverty Alleviation Through Foreign Eyes

By Duncan Gordon

On a cold December day, a group of diplomats and foreign experts from 22 different countries stood on a hill in rural Hebei Province, surrounded by sheep and dressed head to toe in white protective overalls. It was part of the China in Foreigners’ Eyes trip organized by China’s State Council Information Office and hosted by China International Publishing Group. This trip focused on targeted poverty alleviation in Hebei and the group was visiting Hebei Runtao Husbandry Sci&Tec Company, where the safety of their sheep is paramount.

Hebei Runtao Husbandry is the number one breeding base of its kind in northern China and the company plays an active role in targeted poverty alleviation in the local area. The vice president of the farm, Huo Xiaoli, explained that its poverty eradication program focuses on a four-way relationship between the government, the corporation, the cooperative and individual households. Specifically, the government provides each poor household with 6,000 yuan (US$864) as a financial subsidy in the form of a share of the business. The company then takes the responsibility of breeding, disease prevention and treatment without any extra cost incurred by the targeted households. The households are kept regularly informed of the corporate business operation. In addition, the company buys corn silage from neighboring villages to supplement local incomes, and 40 of Hebei Runtao’s employees come from poor households who now earn an annual per capita income of at least 36,000 yuan (US$5,182).

Unprecedented Achievements, But Still Work to Do

Prior to departing for Xingtai, southern Hebei, from Beijing, the delegation was given a thorough introduction into China’s rural poverty reduction programs by Dr. Tan Weiping, the Deputy Director General of the China International Poverty Reduction Center.

China has made truly unprecedented advances in human development and poverty eradication since the process of reform and opening up began in 1979. The country has liThed 700 million people out of poverty, contributing an overwhelming amount to global development. However, there are still roughly 55.7 million Chinese citizens living in impoverished conditions, which is a situation the government is striving to remedy. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China aims to help 10 million people out of poverty each year and eradicate extreme poverty by the end of 2020.

The foreign diplomats and experts travelled to Hebei to discover how the province fits into China’s development.

Upon arrival, the visitors met government representatives from Xingtai and learned about the general poverty situation in the area, including measures that are being taken to combat poverty in a targeted way.

The Mayor of Xingtai, Dong Xiaoyu, informed the audience that Hebei has a total of 62 poverty-stricken counties, making it a key battleground in the fight against poverty. His city, Xingtai, is home to 10 of those poverty-stricken counties, making it Hebei’s top priority with regards to targeted poverty alleviation. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), Hebei reduced its poverty stricken population by an average of 1 million every year. The province still has 5.4 percent of its population of 74 million living in poverty, which,in line with national policy, it hopes to eradicate by 2020.

Stable Income

The morning after their encounter with the local sheep, the foreign visitors got up-close and personal with another species of animal. They visited Hebei Luling Manor Food Company, and stood on a thin tarmac road that slices through fields of walnut trees. This time, huddled together against the morning chill, the diplomats and experts came face-to-face with a noisy gaggle of geese.

“The geese are eco-grass-cutters,”explained Gao Shengfu of Hebei Luling Manor Food Company. The noisy birds live amongst the walnut trees, providing an inexpensive and green way of removing unwanted weeds from the fields. Green technology plays an important role in Hebei’s targeted poverty alleviation ef f orts.

“They are excited because they think they are getting fed”, Gao explained, as the geese came swarming from the surrounding fields to their feeding place. However, the cold was causing a lot of the guests to shiver and it was time to move on and find out more about the company and its role in Hebei’s targeted poverty alleviation program.

Back in relative warmth indoors, the guests had the chance to taste the delicious walnuts and other company products. Gao told them that as well as providing villagers with jobs, they also offer training sessions in walnut tree management so that local people can grow walnuts in their own villages, which the company will then purchase at a price above market value.

One worker who got a job at Luling said that she used to work at a government food processing enterprise but was laid off, and that she now has a job at Luling that provides her with a stable income to support herself and her family.

Sustainable Development

Santo Darmosumarto, Cultural Counselor at the Embassy of Indonesia in Beijing, said that from what he has seen in Hebei he understands that the government is serious about poverty alleviation. He believes that a genuine goal for China would be to become the world’s most successful country in terms of poverty alleviation.

Darmosumarto was intrigued by geographical disparities in development and what is being done to improve the situation.

“It is unimaginable that a province which borders Beijing and Tianjin, and has a coastline, is so poor,”Darmosumarto said. “So to try to take advantage of that, they are developing agriculture and tourism as targeted poverty alleviation methods which can cater to markets both in Hebei and in Beijing and Tianjin. Hebei is using its proximity to Beijing in order to develop programs that will generate incomes for villages. With access to huge nearby markets, these policies should be sustainable.”

There are challenges to be overcome in the coming years, but the government policies and creativity of local people are there to turn the area into a poverty alleviation success story. If the formula succeeds, other poverty-stricken parts of the country can follow suit and eradicate poverty as soon as possible.

Transforming Lives

China’s poverty alleviation ef f orts have improved the lives of hundreds of millions.Government projects have accomplished the following...

Lifting rural citizens out of povertyRural population in poverty (millions)

Improving infrastructure

Areas inhabited by ethnic minority groups with a small population

Establishing special funds

Amount injected into China’s special und for poverty alleviation, 2010-2016