Dahua lifts over 87,100 people out of poverty in four years

More than 87,100 impoverished people in Dahua Yao autonomous county of Hechi have been lifted out of poverty in the past four years after the county has devoted great efforts in its poverty alleviation measures.

Since the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the county has invested a total of 284 million yuan ($39.92 million) in ensuring the security of housing and drinking water for its residents.

It has renovated 9,094 dilapidated houses in rural areas in the past four years, benefiting a total of 43,500 people. Among them, 6,457 were houses of registered poverty-stricken households, benefiting 32,900 impoverished people.

Nearly 308.4 million yuan was put into the construction of 9,219 water tanks and 325 centralized water supply projects in the past four years, along with supporting facilities for the 2,602 water tanks, which secured safe drinking water for 152,500 people in the county, including 79,500 people living in poverty.

The relocation of people from inhospitable areas is also one of the county's poverty alleviation efforts, with an investment totaling 2.37 billion yuan over the past four years.

The 16 resettlement areas within the county have relocated 6,338 households, comprising 28,766 people, while the one resettlement area outside the county relocated 277 families, comprising 1,011 people. Among them, there are 6,265 impoverished households with 28,603 people, accounting for 29 percent of the county's total poverty-stricken population.

Duhua has also been devoted to promoting its poverty alleviation efforts through industrial development. To date, a total of 409 poverty alleviation planting and breeding farms have been built up in the county, helping increase the incomes of about 43,000 people in more than 8,600 impoverished households.

The 10 poverty alleviation industries, which include walnuts, fruit, tea-oil trees, sugarcane, mulberry, and Chinese chestnuts, have seen rapid development in the past four years. The coverage rate of characteristic industries in the county has reached 93.34 percent.

Since 2016, the county has devoted 750 million yuan to its infrastructure construction. A total of 1,370 village-level roads have been built up, with the total mileage reaching 2,306.26 kilometers, benefiting 58,800 households and over 310,000 people.

Three measures were taken by Dahua to advance the development of the village-level collective economy.

A development fund of 500,000 yuan was provided for impoverished villages, while 250,000 yuan were provided for non-impoverished villages or communities, with the total amount adding up to 174 million yuan.

In addition, it is required that poverty alleviation planting and breeding farms in the county will be charged a rental fee that is 3 to 5 percent of their invested capital as villages' collective incomes, along with 10 percent of the farms' profits.

The county also invested 97.96 million yuan to purchase or rent shops in its resettlement areas to help boost the village-level collective economy.

To date, the total collective economic incomes of the 160 administrative villages or communities have reached 10.48 million yuan, while the collective economic income of each village or community has exceeded 40,000 yuan.