Guizhou forestry industry contributes to poverty alleviation

Workers collect pine mushrooms at the State-owned Langfengguan tree farm in Guizhou's Ziyun county. [Photo/gog.cn]

According to a news conference held on June 11, Southwest China's Guizhou province achieved a total output value of 11.84 billion yuan ($1.67 billion) from its forestry industry in 2019. The industry features bamboo, camellia, prickly ash and Chinese honey locust, and covers a planting area of 9.44 million mu (629,593.33 hectares).

Focusing on brand construction, Guizhou has enhanced the market competitiveness of its featured forestry products, coordinated production and sales, and held product promotion activities.

Guizhou's Chishui city, Yuping county and Zhenfeng county are known respectively as the hometown of bamboo, the hometown of tea-tree oil and the hometown of prickly ash in China.

Guiding county was selected as a pilot production base of national forestry eco-products, 13 companies in Guizhou were titled as pilot companies of national forestry eco-products, while Tongzi county's square bamboo shoots, Zhijin county's Chinese honey locust seeds and other featured forestry products were certified by authorities.

Guizhou has always put benefiting farmers - especially those on low incomes – at the top of its agenda. By transferring forest rights on collective forest land, Guizhou can develop an efficient and large-scale forestry industry to guarantee farmers' stable incomes.

The forestry industry's long business operation cycle and large demand for labor can also provide employment for poverty-stricken people. In 2019, Guizhou's featured forestry industry provided 232,400 stable positions and helped 2.81 million people increase their income, including 235,700 poor people.