Poverty Alleviation
Shaanxi's target of poverty alleiation in the new era has been achieved as planned, with 2.88 million rural poor population and all 56 poverty-stricken counties shaking off poverty. 249,300 poor households have moved into new houses, and the per capita disposable income of the rural residents in poverty-stricken areas is expected to increase from 7,692 yuan to 12,491 yuan, with the proportion of rural residents' income increasing from 88.5% to 93.8% of all the rural income in Shaanxi. Absolute poverty and regional overall poverty have been solved historically.
In 2020, 23 proposals were implemented in Shaanxi Province to identify reasons for the poverty that lingered in the remaining 183,400 poor people in an accurate and one-to-one manner. Through employment in different industries, by providing basic needs and other assistance measures and policies to the poor population, and according to relevant procedures and standards, the remaining poor people in all 56 impoverished counties in Shaanxi were lifted out of poverty.
Shaanxi reached a win-win scenario in going green and getting rich. In 2020, 15 billion yuan was invested in poverty-stricken areas in Shaanxi Province. Altogether "Eight Measures" were carried out, including employing poor laborers to participate in ecospace governance, selecting and recruiting ecological forest rangers, returning farmland to forest and grassland, providing ecological compensation for public welfare forests, developing ecological economy to bring prosperity to the people, holding trainings on practical technologies, increasing public welfare jobs for ecological service, and providing assistance by asking officials to live in villages and contact specific households in difficulties. All these measures have benefited 731,100 poor households, or a total of 2,386,100 people, with their per capita annual income increased 1,200 yuan.
The quantity, quality and efficiency of “Four Precious Forest Products”: walnut, pepper, winter jujube, and musk were increased. Eco-tourism, forest experience, and leisure healthcare have become new fashions. We are on a win-win journey where the ecospace is getting greener and people in the forest region are getting richer.
Small Agaric: A Promising Industry
On April 20, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping went to Jinmi Village of Zhashui County, Shaanxi Province, to inspect poverty alleviation. He praised the Zhashui agaric: “Small agaric, a promising industry”.
Over the past years, Zhashui County has adhered to the principle of “enterprises promoting industry and the industrial zones, and zones benefiting poverty alleviation”. According to the site conditions and resource advantages, Zhashui relies on planting agaric to increase income, so that “small agaric” has developed into a big business..
“Multitudinous mountains, scarce water and tiny farmland”are the true geographic conditions of Zhashui County. With inadequate farmland and poor industries, the number of poor villages even reached 79 in Zhashui County, and the poverty headcount ratio reached 44.04%. Suffered from poverty, people in Zhashui County decided to find a way out from agaric.
In order to build a prosperous agaric industry, Zhashui County contacted Li Yu, an academician and expert in the field of edible fungi in China. After investigation, Li selected four types of agaric for promotion. Meanwhile, Zhashui County also introduced the method of cultivating agaric in bags that are suspended vertically. In this way, villagers make the best use of planting space.
Three years later, with the support of science and technology, Zhashui agaric has gradually become a promising industry. The whole industrial chain of seed research and development, land cultivation, technical management, sorting and packaging, storage and logistics, and intensive processing has been set up. Now, 6944 households in Zhashui County have taken part in the whole agaric industrial chain, with an average per household annual income growth over 5,000 yuan.
“Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. The Zhashui agaric industry makes people not only protect the environment, make the mountains greener and the water cleaner, but also provide the people with a better life.