Shanxi Achieves Victory, Lifts Over 3M People out of Poverty
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Friday, March 5, 2021 DISCOVER SHANXI | 15 Modern methods help with bumper harvests By YUAN SHENGGAO ning similar hopes on agricultural modernization. As spring is the crucial time for Spring is the busiest time for agriculture, farmers in North Chi- local agronomists. They have to na’s Shanxi province are busy travel frequently and extensively working on their land and hoping to meet farmers’ demand for tech- for a good harvest this year. nological services. And the use of modern means of Li Fengchao, head of the agricul- operation is putting their expecta- tural technology station in tions on more solid ground. Ruicheng, is not to be found in his In Pinglu county in the south of office during this period. Instead, Shanxi, farmers are using water he can often be spotted in the from the Yellow River to irrigate fields. their 9,000-plus hectares of win- He was busy measuring the soil ter-sowed wheat. thickness and moisture of farm- Liang Wenbo, who was operat- land in various townships. He gave ing a spray-irrigation system in the his suggestions on irrigation and field, highly praised the modern fertilizing to township agricultural methods. technicians through WeChat. “Several years ago, we used to Li Yaping, a farmer in Qiaotou pump underground water from village in Ruicheng, said the servi- A total of 3,378 forestry cooperatives have been founded in 58 impoverished counties and cities in Shanxi over the past five years, wells to irrigate and the cost was ces from experts like Li Fengchao contributing to rural environmental improvements by planting some 535,300 hectares of trees. LIU SHENGFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY more than 1,500 yuan ($232) a hec- are especially useful for farming. tare,” Liang said. “Now the cost is “Unlike the traditional ways of reduced to some 750 yuan after the farming, agriculture is becoming recent completion of an extensive increasingly technology-inten- irrigation system channeling sive,” Li Yaping said. water from the neighboring Yellow As modern technologies and Shanxi achieves victory, lifts River.” techniques have greatly improved He also noted the environmen- farming efficiency and economic tal benefits of using the spray sys- benefits, local farmers’ enthusi- tem over flood irrigation. asm has increased steadily in “Flood irrigation consumes recent years, according to Li Feng- over 3m people out of poverty much more water and can lead to chao. the salinization of soil,” Liang said. The technical official said this “Spray irrigation can further save year’s growing area of wheat in lished the Wanjiale Relocation the least developed villages in Kelan erative responsible for the purchase, 200 yuan for each hectare of Ruicheng county reached 33,000 Community and Industrial Park in county because of the lack of suffi- production and sales of day lily wheat, while improving the quali- hectares, an increase of 1,770 hec- the county seat, offering new settle- cient land for farming and poor products. ty of soil.” tares from the previous year. ments to impoverished residents access to both roads and electricity. The company has signed con- In Ruicheng, a county to the and providing job opportunities by Over the past decade, most of the tracts with more than 21,000 farm- west of Pinglu, farmers are pin- Li Shu contributed to this story. attracting industrial projects to the 200-plus villagers have moved to ers in Yunzhou for the purchase of park. other parts of the county, leaving their crops. Province’s targeted To date, a total of 10,232 residents only 13 elderly residents in six fami- Forestry cooperatives are one of have moved to their new residences lies in 2017. the most popular forms of rural efforts allow rural in the community and 15 enterpris- Zhang Xiuqing and his wife were cooperatives in Shanxi. residents a better life es have settled in the industrial among the 13 residents. He said he Wang Mingzhen, a farmer in the park, creating more than 5,000 new was reluctant to move because of his village of Hamashen in Lyuliang jobs. “emotional attachment to his home- city, had been struggling to make a By YUAN SHENGGAO The most significant project for land for many generations of his living by farming for decades. poverty alleviation in Tianzhen is family” and his doubt whether he He did not expect the game- North China’s Shanxi province the Heishiliang Solar Power Project. and his wife could find jobs to sup- changer would be the forestry has achieved a major victory in pov- The project is also referred to as port themselves. industry. erty reduction, with its entire the “100-village photovoltaic After visits to the government’s “We used to make a living work- impoverished population of 3.29 project” by locals, as it has solar proposed new settlement, where ing on the farm. Life was hard million people lifted out of absolute farms in more than 100 villages in residents there told him a number because of the lack of sufficient poverty over the past decade, local the county. of enterprises had been established farmland and harsh environment authorities announced recently. With sufficient sunlight and a in the neighborhood and jobs were with frequent soil erosion during In his government work report great number of undeveloped bar- easily available with recommenda- the rainy season,” Wang said. Farmers work on crops in a greenhouse in Yangqu county. addressed to the fourth session of ren hills, Tianzhen is an ideal desti- tions from the government, Zhang He said he and his wife are cur- LI ZHAOMIN / FOR CHINA DAILY 13th Shanxi People’s Congress on nation for solar power and his wife finally decided to move. rently working with a forestry coop- Jan 20, Governor Lin Wu said all of development, according to Ren Zhe- They now live in an apartment in erative and can earn an annual Shanxi’s 58 impoverished counties feng, head of Tianzhen’s poverty-re- Guanghuiyuan community in the income of nearly 30,000 yuan by and 7,993 impoverished villages duction office. county seat, with access to running planting trees. Dual extraction process have eradicated poverty, and the per The Heishiliang Solar Power water, gas and central heating. “After years of planting trees, the capita income of its impoverished Project became operational in 2017, Zhang found a job in a nearby coal mountains and hills have become population increased from 2,327 benefiting more than 5,000 impov- coking factory and earns a monthly greener and there are much fewer yuan ($360) in 2012 to 9,592 yuan in erished residents in 120 villages. salary of more than 3,000 yuan. His occurrences of soil erosion,” Wang increases mining safety 2020. “Each of the 120 villages can earn wife works as a ranger at a nearby said. Shanxi has been a major battle- 80,000 yuan in annual rental of land forest. Over the past five years, a total of By YUAN SHENGGAO can lead to the increase of green- field in China’s fight against poverty, for the project and the lease can last The land of Zhaojiawa has been 3,378 forestry cooperatives have house gases in the atmosphere. with 58 of its 117 county-level admin- 25 years,” Ren said. He added that leased to a company for growing been founded in 58 impoverished Coal-bed methane used to be the The executive said Yuecheng istrative regions included on State some local residents earn additional medical herbs and former villagers counties and cities in Shanxi, con- No 1 threat to coal mine safety in was chosen as the site of the simul- or provincial lists of impoverished incomes working at the solar farms. receive rent and dividends, Zhang tributing to improvements in both Shanxi, but it’s now expected to taneous extraction research counties, cities and districts. Over the past five years, more said. people’s lives and the ecological envi- become a safe source of energy in because it owns several high- Enhanced investment in health- than 5,400 solar power projects In Yunzhou district of Datong, ronment, according to the Shanxi large volume thanks to new tech- methane-content shafts. care and education; relocation and have been built in rural Shanxi, ben- day lilies — a crop with steady prof- Forestry and Grass Administration. nological achievements made by a “We usually use horizontal slic- industrial development; as well as efiting about 720,000 households, itability — are grown by local farm- The administration’s statistics local coal and coal-bed methane ing mining to extract coal,” Wang improved rural environment, infra- according to Shanxi’s poverty allevi- ers as major means to increase show that these cooperatives have simultaneous extraction lab. said. “The process can lead to a dif- structure and services, are among ation office. revenue. planted 535,300 hectares of trees in The Jincheng, Shanxi-based ference in gas pressure in working the major measures undertaken in Tianzhen was removed from the The plant is a popular food ingre- the past five years, contributing a National Laboratory on Coal and and rubble areas, causing a threat the province, according to Shanxi’s impoverished counties list on Feb dient in China. per capita annual income of 16,000 Coal-Bed Methane Simultaneous to miners.” poverty alleviation office. 27, 2020. Xie Wen, a farmer in the village of yuan to more than 70,000 impover- Extraction, a research institute He noted that the simultaneous Tianzhen county in the north of There are similar stories for pov- Hedian in Yunzhou, is one of the ished residents working for the jointly founded by Jinneng Hold- extraction of coal and gas can Shanxi was once among the 10 least- erty reduction in Kelan county in local residents who has been lifted cooperatives.