Government works to improve livelihoods

The local governments in Ganzhou, a city in southern Jiangxi, have taken a range of measures, including developing their e-commerce sectors and working to ensure improved soil and water conservation, to facilitate poverty alleviation.

Among them is the government of Huichang county, which released an implementation plan for alleviating poverty that focuses on helping people in poor areas sell products online.

The government, in concert with e-commerce company Zhc365.com, chose 118 impoverished villages and 21,445 impoverished households in 19 townships as targets for poverty alleviation.

The company used different methods to help the different households based on their individual circumstances. It also trained local people, including village officials, to ensure that farmers from poorer areas were able to use the e-commerce platform.

The company also helped to create jobs and train e-commerce professionals in the county, an executive at Zhc365. com said.

Ganzhou has also taken measures to solve the problems of soil and water erosion, both of which exacerbate poverty levels.

The family of Chen Nanchang, in Zhuxi village in Shicheng county, have leased their three-hectare plot of land to Jiangxi Minghongda Ecological Agriculture Development Co. The land had been barren for some time due to the effects of soil and water erosion.

The company cultivated fruit crops and the local government worked to tackle the problem of erosion by implementing a tree-planting program. Chen’s family was given some shares in the company.

According to Chen, the company has begun to turn a profit and he said he is excited to be a shareholder.

Zhuxi village had largely solved its land erosion problem by the end of last year. It encouraged local farmers to cooperate with companies to use land more productively and increase people’s incomes.

Local companies have also created jobs that have helped lift local people out of poverty. “At present, 36 households work at Minghongda and 21 of them are long-term employees,” said Huang Xiaoyong, an executive of the company.

This year, the city of Ganzhou also focused on using local resources, such as navel oranges, vegetables, poultry and tourism to help to alleviate poverty. The agriculture sector had increased the incomes of 90,600 impoverished families by the end of August, according to the city government.