Four years of poverty relief effort pays off in rural Guangdong

Over the past four years, the judicial bureau in Zhuhai, a coastal city in South China's Guangdong province, has been committed to eradicating poverty in three registered poor villages. As a result of its persistent effort, the villagers' lives have achieved a big turnaround.

Introduce new industries for income growth

Aimed at raising villagers' income, the bureau helped introduce a passion fruit planting program to the village of Changpo in 2017. Now, the program, with a planting area of of 240 mu (16 hectares), has provided the villagers with considerable extra income.

According to Liu Bipeng, a bureau official responsible for poverty relief work in the village, by the end of this June, the base had generated 353,000 yuan ($50,443) in revenue and benefited 180 households. It has brought an extra income of 2,234 yuan per capita for 12 impoverished families who participated in the program.

Since the launch of an aquatic breeding program in another village named Chenxie in 2018, the program has distributed 295,000 yuan in dividends to impoverished families. What's more, it is projected to reach a total net profit of 1.5 million yuan this year.

New industries have also made a big difference in the village of Chemugen as many of its villagers are now engaged in a variety of programs including a multi-purpose planting and breeding farm, a power plant and a lotus growing base.

Enhance education resources

Enhancement of the three villages' education resources is also a key part of the bureau's poverty relief strategy. As shown by the data, the bureau, through efficient donation management, subsidized over 80 teachers and students with more than 200,000 yuan between 2016 and 2020.

In addition, as a result of its comprehensive effort to improve education infrastructure, primary schools in Changpo and Chemugen are now equipped with such devices as multi-media teaching devices and computers.

It is worth noting that the bureau also organized lawyers to provide pupils with legal education so as to enhance their legal awareness.

Strengthen self-reliance

Positive changes were made not only to the villagers' lives but also to their minds. According to Li Longbin, an official responsible for poverty relief in Chemugen, more and more villagers have voluntarily sought job opportunities in the hope of making money on their own.

Such a mind shift was achieved with the bureau's relentless effort to boost villagers' job skills and bring them to job fairs, which has dramatically raised the number locally employed.

According to Liu, the bureau is going to explore a coordinated mechanism for villagers who intend to work outside their hometowns.