Qingzhen boosts industry-driven poverty alleviation

Qingzhen, a county-level city in Southwest China's Guizhou province, has increased the supply-side structural reforms of its agriculture sector, to help alleviate poverty in rural areas.

The city has been planting red maple, fruit and vegetables, tea and developing animal husbandry and fishery industries over the past year to expand its rural industry reforms.

Last year, Qingzhen planted 20 square kilometers of shantung maples, over 220 sq km of vegetables, over 14 sq km of tea trees and harvested 52 sq km of high-quality fruit. Around 20.58 million head of poultry and 192,500 pigs were sold. The output of eggs and milk reached 5,684 metric tons and 20,000 tons respectively.

Officials said an industrial development fund of 889 million yuan ($130 million) was invested in these sectors, benefiting 4,980 people from 1,884 poor households. In addition, the five leading vegetable companies in Qingzhen provided jobs for 315 local poor people.

Meanwhile, Qingzhen implemented 30 poverty alleviation-oriented industrial projects with an investment of 22.02 million yuan in 17 poor villages, benefiting 9,247 people from 3,382 poverty stricken households. 

Moreover, there have been 664 cooperatives in the city, including 182 cooperatives that promoted the development of production and employment of poor households. These cooperatives employed 2,351 people and 1,111 temporary workers from poor households.

Che Weiwei contributed to this story.