Ningxia, June 19 (People’s Daily Online) -- On June 18, 2019, staff members from Ningxia WRSA (Western Returned Scholars Association - Overseas-educated Scholars Association of China) paid a visit to some of the most successful poverty alleviation models in Xiji County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Over the course of the past six years, China has lifted 82.4 million rural poor out of poverty, with the rural population below the poverty line down from 99 million at the end of 2012 to 16.6 million by the end of 2018. Moreover, Xiji County is one of the most convincing examples of the success of China’s poverty alleviation strategy.

Xiji County consists of four towns and 15 villages. It is one of the most populated counties in Ningxia. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China prioritized poverty alleviation nationwide, Xiji County has dramatically reduced the poverty rate from 33.3 percent in 2014 to 5 percent this year.

 Local villagers explain their business to WRSA members (He Zhuoyan/ People’s Daily Online)

According to Mao Jingkun, the researcher at the Publicity Department of WRSA, since the founding of the WRSA branch in Ningxia in 2017, the organization has been actively reaching out to locals in Xiji County to help reduce poverty through business research, investment and collaboration.

Chen Zhanwen, one of the locals who has been lifted out of poverty, told People’s Daily Online that his idea of initiating a Breeding Cooperative in 2010 has turned into a business with an annual turnover of 300,000 yuan ($43,284), increasing the annual income of each of 50 households in his village by 30,000 yuan ($4,340).

Local villagers explain their business to WRSA members (He Zhuoyan/ People’s Daily Online)

The same situation is evident in two further industries visited by the group, where the situation has been ameliorated by taking advantage of the geographic characteristics of Xiji County to make profitable products such as delicious fruit and vegetables.

Local villagers explain their business to WRSA members (He Zhuoyan/ People’s Daily Online)

According to Ma Xiaojie, the vice researcher of WRSA in Jiangsu Province, the future blueprint for poverty reduction in Xiji County will be a combination of both short and long-term planning as well as a flexible integration of planting and breeding industries.

Local villagers explain their business to members of WRSA (He Zhuoyan/ People’s Daily Online)

The group will remain in Ningxia for another three days, during which time they will visit more promising industries to further their research and pursue possible business collaborations with local governments and residents that could help locals live better lives.