COOPERATIVES WORK
Hundreds move to new houses from remote areas in a Tibetan county as part of a poverty alleviation project. reports.
Hundreds of people in Quxu county in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, have relocated to a new settlement provided by the government under a poverty alleviation project. The new community, named Sanyou village, was built in four months from scratch.
In July, some 760 villagers from various places, especially remote mountain areas, started to move in.
The new village is located next to the county’s railway station and a national highway. A clinic that has equipment for remote medical consultations has also been built.
Some shops and supporting facilities have also been constructed by the local government. The villagers are allowed to rent the shops at low rates.
“Our life is much more convenient. I am happy about our new home here,” says Gesang, a 35-year-old resident.
He moved here along with his family from a remote village in Dagze county, also in Lhasa, and now they live in a new single-family unit, which has a market value of 200,000 yuan ($29,000). The construction was done with special funds from the central government’s poverty alleviation projects.
The house is equipped with new furniture, a TV, home appliances and the internet.
Gesang used to be a truck driver and would earn about 2,000 yuan per month. He is now taking time off work following an eye surgery.
His wife, Dorje, 27, a former farmer, now runs a kindergarten in the new village, and can earn more than 1,000 yuan per month. The couple have two children, aged 3 and 5.
“I enjoy watching TV series dubbed in the Tibetan language during my spare time,” says Dorje.
Dorje’s younger brother is attending college in Fujian province. Now there are 15 college students from their village.
“The majority of the college students from the village, including my brother, are willing to come back to work in the county since the conditions have improved a lot and there are many opportunities with government support,” Dorje adds.
Each household in the new village is being provided with construction funds depending on the number of family members, Gesang says.
Besides houses, cooperatives have also come up with the local government’s support to improve the livelihoods of the villagers. There are four cooperatives that raise chicken, cows and grow herbs for Tibetan medicines. The cooperatives have already started to make profit.
Our life is much more convenient. I am happy about our new home here.” Gesang, resident, Sanyou village in Lhasa
The cooperatives are providing income sources to those who cannot go to the cities as migrant workers, including women. More than 60 villagers have been hired to work in the cooperatives after receiving training. Some others from the nearby areas have also been recruited for the work.
Dawa from Sanyou village now works in a cooperative that raises chicken and earns about 1,500 yuan per month.
“Each of my family members can also get 300 to 400 yuan as bonuses from a cooperative every month. Our life has been improving,” he says.
The cooperative divides its profit each year, with 30 percent used as working capital and a management fund, 10 percent for charity and the other rest 60 as dividends for the villagers.
Speaking about the changes, Mao Xin, head of the township where Sanyou village is situated, says: “Poverty alleviation through agricultural industrialization and government’s assistance to the villagers to start their own businesses have helped the villagers come out of poverty.”
“We are trying to develop more industrial branches based on old ones, and will promote our products, such as organic chicken in areas outside Tibet.”
In the past, the village’s present residents, who belong to the Han, Tibetan and Hui communities, were scattered in 10 different villages, most of which were remote and prone to natural disasters including landslides. They had an average income of less than 2,800 yuan a year.
“But now, they don’t have to worry about problems like medical treatment. Also the traffic is better now,” says Mao.
It was hard to persuade some of the villagers to leave their old homes at first, he adds.
“But they were happy to move in after we organized tours for them to see the new houses and especially the lives of those who had moved in earlier,” he says. “We also promised them supportive policies.”
According to Mao, the township has so far received more than 40 million yuan for poverty alleviation from the central government.
The local government has also made efforts to help the villagers further. It has negotiated with some State-owned enterprises in the area to allow villagers to rent arable land from the enterprises with subsidies provided by the local government. The land is now collectively managed by a village cooperative.