Weining Yi-Hui-Miao autonomous county in Bijie, southwest China's Guizhou province, is intensifying efforts to alleviate poverty by developing industries that cater to local conditions and relocating impoverished people from inhospitable areas.

Farmers harvest cabbages in a vegetable base in Weining. (Photo/People's Daily Online)

Li Qiming, an impoverished person from Chahe village, in the county’s Mezhan township, found a new job in a poverty alleviation vegetable base for relocated poor populations in Caohai township in March. "I can earn 80 yuan per day, and the base covers my food and boarding expenses. If I work 22 days each month, I can get a daily bonus of 20 yuan," Li said.

Weining has built 4,666.7 hectares of poverty alleviation vegetable bases like this since last year. By mid-May, vegetables had been planted at over 2,066 hectares of these bases, providing jobs for 6,302 registered impoverished people. The figure will reach over 10,000 if all these bases are put into use.

Located in contiguous areas of extreme poverty in the Wumeng Mountain range, Weining had 38,300 poor people by the end of 2019. It is the county with the largest number of poor people in Guizhou province, and one of the 52 poor counties in China.

Weining made ensuring stable employment and income growth a priority in its poverty alleviation efforts, said Tang Yong, deputy head of the county's poverty alleviation office, adding that industrial development is a practical measure for realizing this goal.

"With a high altitude and abundant sunlight, Weining sees a large temperature difference between day and night, making it one of the nation’s off-season vegetable production bases," said Xie Hong, an official with the county's bureau of agriculture and rural affairs.

The county has implemented a poverty alleviation policy of relocating and developing industries to build vegetable bases in areas near the county's downtown area and townships with relatively sound infrastructure.

This measure not only helps impoverished workers in remote townships and those who have relocated from inhospitable areas increase their incomes, but also promotes scaled operations and standardized production of the county's vegetable industry, Xie added.

The county has also established an agricultural investment company to integrate funds related to agriculture and construct infrastructure for poverty alleviation bases by developing industries and relocation. Furthermore, Weining has brought in business entities, including leading enterprises and agricultural cooperatives, to develop the vegetable industry. To date, 65 business entities have settled in the county's poverty alleviation vegetable bases.

"While developing industries for poverty alleviation, we focus on ensuring stable income growth for people," said Xiao Fajun, Party chief of Weining, adding that the county will rectify deficiencies in order to upgrade its vegetable industry and lay a solid industrial foundation for securing a decisive victory in the drive to alleviate poverty.