Du'an sees great success in poverty alleviation efforts

Du'an Yao autonomous county in Hechi has seen great success in its poverty alleviation efforts in the past four years, with the incidence of poverty declining to 3.36 percent from 26.54 percent.

There were more than 132,200 people in the county that were lifted out of poverty in the past four years, and the number of impoverished people was reduced to 17,500.

Du'an is a county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region that is stricken by extreme poverty. Most of the county is made up of mountainous areas, and the per capita cultivated land area is less than 0.7 mu (0.05 hectares).

Since the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the county has been devoted to promoting poverty alleviation through industrial development, employment, relocation, and infrastructure construction.

Du'an initiated the "cattle for cattle" poverty alleviation model in 2016 by cooperating with local livestock companies.

People living below the poverty line in the county are allowed to raise calves of beef cattle provided by livestock companies and purchased by charity organizations. When it is time for slaughter, the beef cattle will be bought back by the livestock companies at a fair price, which minus the principal is the farmers' profit. Then more cattle will be loaned out, creating a system which benefits all involved.

By the end of 2019, there were 38,955 impoverished households in Du'an involved in the seven characteristic industries, including beef cattle breeding. The number of beef cattle raised reached 134,000 and that of mutton sheep was nearly 800,000.

The total number of migrant workers from 2016 to 2019 amounted to 187,500. There were 45,081 people that were relocated by 2019, one year ahead of schedule to complete the county's task of poverty alleviation relocation set for the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Du'an also strengthened communications and cooperation with Bao'an district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, obtaining funds of 74.56 million yuan ($10.73 million) for 18 projects.

In addition, Du'an implemented education supportive policies like meal subsidies for impoverished people, benefiting more than 110,000 students.

The medical costs of 25 major diseases and 29 special outpatient chronic diseases were included in the scope of basic medical assistance. In addition, the "one-stop settlement" and "diagnosis first and payment later" systems were fully implemented in the county by 2019. The participation rate of the impoverished people in Du'an in the insurance system reached 100 percent.

Great efforts were also made by the county in the past four years to improve drinking water facilities, transform and upgrade the rural power network, as well as renovate dilapidated houses, benefiting more than 300,000 local people.

More than 469.95 million yuan had been invested by the county government into the renovation of dilapidated houses in rural areas. By the end of 2019, the county had completed the renovation of 17,132 households.

This year is the last year of the 13th Five-Year-Plan and a decisive year in the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

"We should shift our focus from the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia back to poverty alleviation, and we will win the battle against poverty in an all-round way," said Chen Jiyong, deputy mayor of the county at the recent poverty alleviation conference.

It is expected that all the remaining impoverished people in Du'an will be lifted out of poverty by the third quarter of this year, as well as the 65 poverty-stricken villages.