Zhaojue county, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of southwest China’s Sichuan province is making all-out efforts to fight the decisive battle against poverty.

Greenhouses and farmers’ houses in Zhaojue county. (Photo/Xinhua)

Zhaojue county is the main battlefield of Sichuan’s endeavor to fight poverty and one of the most difficult tasks of the province’s poverty alleviation efforts.

By the end of 2019, Zhaojue county still had 55 poor villages and 33,000 registered poor population.

By relocating poor households, developing local industries, and offering favorable policies, Zhaojue county has geared up for lifting all of its poor people out of poverty and preventing any return to poverty.

Zhaojue county aims to relocate 54,505 people from 12,239 poor households living in inhospitable areas during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), accounting for 54.4 percent of the total poverty-stricken population in the county.

So far, construction of 83.6 percent of the buildings of the poverty-relief relocation sites in Zhaojue county have been completed, and 7,120 households have moved in their new homes, according to Zhou Jian, staff member of the bureau of development, reform, economy, and informatization of Zhaojue county.

Thanks to the poverty-relief relocation plan, Mahai Shiha, a villager of Kumo town, Zhaojue county, has moved to new houses and started new businesses together with his fellow villagers.

“It’s close to the center of the county, which makes it quite convenient for the children to go to school,” said Mahai Shiha, who is very satisfied with the new home.

“My home covers an area of 100 square meters. We only paid 10,000 yuan (about $1,411.15), and the rest was covered by the special fund for the poverty-relief relocation project”, Mahai Shiha disclosed.

The relocation site where Mahai Shiha’s new home was located at is a typical poverty-relief relocation site of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture. 70 percent of the poor households included in Zhaojue county’s relocation plan will be resettled in the site.

Besides relocation, Zhaojue county has made efforts to help local residents secure employment or return to work in other provinces.

“With the health certificate provided by relevant department of our town, I can directly go to work in my factory when I arrive in Foshan,” said Buge Waluo, a woman of the Yi ethnic group in Sikai town, Zhaojue county.

On March 16, Buge Waluo and her 175 fellow residents of Zhaojue county were brought to Chancheng district, Foshan, south China’s Guangdong province, by a special vehicle arranged by local government to take migrant workers back to work.

Working in other provinces of the country as migrant workers is the major source of income for impoverished people in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture.

This year, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused widespread delays in migrant workers returning to work, thus directly affected the efforts of poor local people to increase income and shake off poverty.

In an effort to address the problem, Zhaojue county launched an initiative named “spring wind action” to provide free health examination, targeted transportation services, and relevant subsidies for local migrant workers.

As of March 24, the number of Zhaojue county’s migrant workers who had successfully returned to work in other provinces had reached 50,300, among whom a total of 852 people, with 506 being impoverished people, returned to their work or found employment because of the “spring wind action”.

Zhaojue county has also taken targeted measures to help those poverty-stricken people who are not willing or able to work outside their hometown.

The county has allocated 34.8 million yuan for efforts to increase income of poor people by such means as developing industries and adding public service positions.

Local governments encourage poor households to increase income by engaging in jobs of crop farming and breeding industry, and to promote development of industries through the model of “famer household+company+cooperative”, according to Xu Zongjun, deputy director of the bureau of poverty-relief relocation of Zhaojue county.

The county has witnessed nearly 20,000 more livestock and 220,000 more poultry recently, and has meanwhile increased the number of public service jobs such as road cleaner and security patrolman by 3,600, Xu disclosed.

According to credible source, Zhaojue county has planned to provide training more than 5,000 person-times of impoverished people for professional skills via courses in subjects including electric welding, housekeeping and nursing, cooking, crop farming, and breeding.

Apart from helping poor people get rid of poverty, Zhaojue county also pays close attention to the condition of the people who have been lifted out of poverty and offers timely policy support to those who are likely to fall into poverty again.

Efforts should be made to consolidate the achievements of those who have shaken off poverty and focused on preventing those who are likely to return to poverty from actual relapse into poverty, said Zike Lage, deputy head of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture and secretary of Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhaojue county committee.

Targeted measures should be implemented to help special poor households including those which live on basic living allowances, receive subsidies for food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses, suffer major diseases, and have disabled family members, Zike Lage noted.

Zhaojue county focuses efforts on long-term and stable condition of poor households after lifting them out of poverty, and ensures that relevant responsibilities, policies, assistance, and supervision regarding poverty alleviation are not shaken off after helping impoverished people get rid of poverty, Zike Lage stressed.