Zhushan’s Ecological Poverty Alleviation
Poverty alleviation has recently become a topic of concern for people from all walks of life. The Chinese government has set the goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2020. To achieve this goal, participation from all of society, especially private businesses, is crucial, as demonstrated by the case of “Zhushan Ecological Farms” in Zhucheng City of Shandong Province.
Only 15 kilometers from downtown Zhucheng, Zhushan Mountain features an untouched natural environment, but struggles due to its weak economic foundation, limited income sources for villagers, and underdeveloped infrastructure.
Zhushan Mountain’s fate changed in 2013, when it was approved as a national forest park. Since then, the lives of those living at the foot of Zhushan Mountain have changed too. Building ecological farms, a model created by “Zhushan Ecological Agriculture”, has become the local carrier of targeted poverty alleviation.
The pioneer of Zhushan Ecological Agriculture is Liu Shugang, a farmer-entrepreneur from Zhucheng City. Liu started his business in real estate. However, Liu believed that ecological agriculture was a sector with great potential because after the basic needs of food and clothing have been met, Chinese people have greater demand for leisure tourism and healthy food. He therefore turned to Zhushan Mountain on the outskirts of Zhucheng City, a mountain with a pristine ecological environment that had not yet been tapped. Liu led his team in investing in ecological agriculture.
In 2013, Liu’s company signed a contract with Hongyi research team of the Institute of Botany under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The contract requires the application of Hongyi Ecological Farm’s advanced “Six Avoidances” rules, namely avoidance of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, additives, agricultural films and transgenic technology, aiming to bring advanced technology and management to agricultural work on Zhushan Mountain.
Presently, “Zhushan Ecological Agriculture” has a base of about 7.4 acres in which Liu planted a dozen kinds of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs including honeysuckles, pawpaws, Red Sage, and saponins. He also designated 100 acres for a Chinese chestnut base along with 25acre orchards for nursery stocks including blueberries, walnuts, and winter jujubes. “Zhushan Ecological Agriculture” has a chicken farm with over 3,000 cage-free chickens of the “Nongda No. 3” breed introduced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the eggs sell out every day. A green industry chain connecting ecological agriculture, ecological tourism, and lodging is taking form.
Some land of Heitukuang Village at the foot of Zhushan Mountain has been rented for ecological agriculture and new jobs have been created. Unemployed villagers who were once farmers began to work for companies such as the drinking water company, ecological farms, breeding bases and construction sites.
Wang Daofu, a 62-year-old retired secretary of the Party of Heitukuang Village, now works for “Zhushan Ecological Agriculture” as a “professional executive”. As a witness to the increasing prosperity of Zhushan Mountain and Heitukuang Village, Wang said, “Villagers now can find jobs at home. They get both land transfer fees and jobs. Farmers are getting wages like workers!” According to Wang’s figures, 70 percent of labor force living there have become “industrial workers”, with an annual per capita income of more than 20,000 yuan.
The development of Zhushan Mountain has transformed Heitukuang Village, which was once a “ghost village”. Many who had left have come back to work. He Yinghui came back to work for the drinking water company without hesitation upon hearing about the development in her hometown. Her colleagues at the water company are all women from her village. “We not only live in the same village, but now we’re colleagues.” He Yinghui noted that by working there she earns the same income as a job in a city, yet can now raise her two school-age children, so the choice was obvious.
Land transfer frees farmers from their plows and gives them more options. “As Zhushan becomes prosperous and attracts more tourists, my family and I are thinking about starting a business at home, like a small supermarket or a rural home inn,” reveals He Yinghui.
The “Zhushan Model” is helping more villages shake off poverty. Caowu Village in Taolin Township, 30 kilometers from downtown Zhucheng, was designated a poverty-stricken village by the provincial government. In 2015, Liu’s company helped the village eliminate poverty through fixedpoint poverty alleviation, a government program to help underdeveloped areas.
Located in a mountainous area, Caowu Village endured poor soil, a shortage of water, bumpy roads and a lack of infrastructure for water conservancy and irrigation. The per capita income was so low that many sought employment elsewhere. Liu applied his methods according to the unique situation of each low income family. “First we invited experts to give instructions on growing seedlings, and then helped find buyers for the produce,” Liu explained.
Poverty alleviation conducted by the company has been compared to “blood transfusion combined with a boost in blood cell production,” a metaphor for the twopronged attack of accompanying money to poor areas with instruction on how to earn sustainably higher incomes. The aroma of roasted tea fills the courtyard of villager Zhou Shulan’s home. Tea planting has become a major source of income for most families in Caowu Village and the tea industry has solid foundation there. However, the price their tea fetched used to be little due to a lack of advanced technology and distribution channels. Once these impediments were understood, Liu’s team trained tea growers and searched for more distribution channels. They have built a complete industry chain starting from tea planting and ending with packaging and sale. By just working smarter, the villagers have shaken off poverty and become better-off without even switching products.
“In the past, we planted tea without help from the outside world, so the output and quality of tea were both not great and dealers only offered lower prices,” explains Zhou Shulan. “But now, we can earn 20,000 yuan a year after special technical guidance and with better distribution channels.” Zhou sold 5,000 yuan worth of tea in the month before Qingming Festival, primetime for tea harvesting.
Given that Caowu Village relies heav-ily on agriculture, modern agricultural technology has been introduced to plant traditional Chinese medicinal herbs including Red Sage and honeysuckle. The village has both achieved poverty alleviation and increased output and income of villagers by developing industry. Meanwhile, traditional Chinese medicinal herb bases in Caowu Village have adopted a “Companies + Cooperatives + Households” model, providing free technical instructions and seeking more distribution channels for farmers. As a result, more traditional Chinese medicinal herbs are planted, surplus of manpower in rural areas is reduced, and the income of farmers living there is increased.
“Enterprises can’t develop without society, so they should repay their debt to the people by investing in social programs that promote sustainable growth,” declared Liu Shuguang. His team has regarded development and poverty alleviation as equally important since they started work on Zhushan Mountain. His company pioneered the “Zhushan Model” for poverty alleviation and reaped healthy profits at the same time.
Liu Shugang and his colleagues weed blackberry bushes in a garden on Zhushan Mountain. The development of ecological agriculture has changed lives. by Qin Bin