Region taps rich vein to tackle poverty

Ziyuan county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has made remarkable progress in poverty relief based on its rich resources, policies and industries, said a local official.

Lu Xinshe, Party secretary of Guangxi, said that the county has diverse cultural heritage and a picturesque natural environment.

“Developing industries is the key for poverty alleviation. Ziyuan county could implement the rural revitalization strategy, accelerate urbanization and promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas,” he said.

Over the past few years, the government of Ziyuan has launched a series of projects on targeted poverty alleviation by developing its tourism industry.

In 2016, Ziyuan county government introduced several policies to encourage local farmhouses to promote farm tourism.

It invited experts to advise farmhouse owners and teach them how to attract more tourists from other regions.

At present there are two fourstar farmhouses and nine threestar farmhouses in Ziyuan. These farmhouses boost the variety of Ziyuan tourism while providing job opportunities to locals.

Lan Yongzhong is one of the villagers who benefited from the tourism development.

“In 2017 we opened the four-star farmhouse in Ziyuan,” Lan said. The number of tourists who visited the farmhouse in 2018 doubled year-on-year thanks to the tourism development strategy.

“This year, we are cooperating with the government and recruiting the unemployed to help the cooperative in Ziyuan with raising pigs and chickens.”

Lan’s success is just one example of local people battling poverty by working in the tourism industry.

In the past few years, the local government has put much effort on Zijiang, Bajiaozhai and other places of interests.

Ziyuan county is improving the agricultural and farmhouse tourism routes.

The aim is to boost the integration of the agricultural industry and the tourism industry of the region.

Take Ziyuan Hongti Culture Gallery, for instance. The 2-kilometerlong gallery, located in the center of Ziyuan Wangmu Hongti Central Demonstration Base, is a mixeduse district of planting, sightseeing, tourism and leisure.

Inside and nearby the gallery, there are more than 20 farmhouses, leisure farms and agricultural picking gardens.

Ziyuan Hongti Culture Gallery is listed as a major spot in the Guilin Grand Tourism Circle.

According to the data from Ziyuan authority, more than 2,000 people from the county now work in the tourism industry. More than 10,000 people have a job linked with tourism.

For instance, in the Zijiang and Wupaihe scenic areas, the administration employed more than 200 people, all of whom are local farmers.

In harvest time, these farmers work in their fields. But in the tourism peak time, they come to the scenic area and work for tourism companies.

Through this, local farmers have enjoyed a salary increase of around 20,000 yuan ($2,825) every year.

Furthermore, Ziyuan county government has drawn up a threeyear work plan on targeted poverty alleviation by developing tourism.

Last year, the tourism office of Ziyuan county received a 2 million yuan tourism poverty alleviation fund from the government.

It plans to use the money to build public toilets and car parking at its main tourism sites.