CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Friday, November 29, 2019 | 19 BUSINESSFOCUS
RIGHT TRACK Microlending offers lifeline to Sichuan’s agricultural enterprises
By JIANG XUEQING erage a larger amount of funds in Guangyuan, Sichuan from the financial sector to sup port the development of leading The family of Huang Mingzhi, a local enterprises and reduce pov farmer in Wangcang county of erty in this way,” said Yang Ren Guangyuan, Sichuan province, hai, an official of the Guangyuan was hard hit by poverty after his Bureau of Poverty Alleviation and eldest daughter was diagnosed Development. with leukemia. So far, 974 business entities in To improve his family’s finan Guangyuan have obtained loans cial health, Huang transferred of this type totaling 589 million the management rights of 0.2 yuan, lifting 5,896 families out of hectare of farmland to Wang poverty or creating jobs for them, cangbased Sichuan Mumen Tea Yang said. Co Ltd, a company specialized in Postal Savings Bank of China, a tea growing, production and large Stateowned commercial sales, at a price of 3,000 yuan lender, offered a 1.5 million yuan ($427) per hectare a year and loan to Mumen Tea in 2017. received a payment of 80 to 100 Apart from building a 133hec yuan per day for fertilizing and tare tea plantation for highend removing weeds from the compa tea growing and demonstration ny’s tea plantation. purposes, the company also His annual household income signed contracts to purchase fresh has now increased to more than tea leaves grown on a total area of 30,000 yuan, compared with 1,333 hectares from local farmers 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a few years at a price of 800 yuan per kilo ago. It includes revenue from tea gram, offered technical instruc growing, pig farming, transfer of tions to the farmers, and paid farmland management rights, them 120 yuan for picking a kilo working at the plantation, and gram of tea leaves, said Tan Bo, running a small business. general manager of the company. Mumen Tea has helped lift at Herdsmen feed mares at a husbandry cooperative in Ulaanqab, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. JIANG XUEQING / CHINA DAILY least 78 farmers from 20 impover ished families in Wangcang coun ty of Guangyuan out of poverty by 5,896 By JIANG XUEQING At the end of the contract, the adopting a model that combines number of families that have been lifted out of poverty or in Ulaanqab, Inner Mongolia families own the mares and foals the resources and efforts of the offered jobs in Guangyuan, [email protected] born to the mares belong to the government, banks, agriculture Sichuan province, through a credit guarantee companies, agri Inner Mongolia cooperative. new poverty relief model Huo Jinyuan, a 72yearold farm As the current demand for the cultural enterprises, and poverty er in Ulaanqab in the Inner Mongo serum of pregnant mares is only 300 stricken households. lia autonomous region, struggled to tons a year in China, the key to start Starting as a pilot program in Currently, the company produ make ends meet before an oats ing the business was finding a buyer. Guangyuan and Yibin in 2017, the ces 120 metric tons of tea a year. company joined hands with the boosts poverty PICC introduced the cooperative to model was later promoted across Its annual sales exceed 23 million local government and financial Ningbo Sansheng Pharmaceutical Sichuan province. It allows agri yuan, of which offline sales institutions to help lift impoverish Co Ltd, which agreed to buy the cultural enterprises and rural account for 80 percent. ed households in the region out of serum after it passed the drug man entrepreneurial leaders that lack Similar to PSBC, Agricultural poverty. ufacturer’s inspection. sufficient collateral to obtain Bank of China Ltd also explored a The annual net income of his fam relief efforts “Apart from lifting 300 rural bank loans ranging from 100,000 model of poverty alleviation in ily has now increased from between households out of poverty, we are yuan to 2 million yuan based on Wangcang county through the 3,000 yuan ($427) and 5,000 yuan to Firms in region join hands with local looking forward to those families their creditworthiness and the development of the agricultural 12,000 yuan as Yinshan Oats, a com being able to buy more mares in level of assistance they provide for sector. pany specialized in oat breeding, government, financial institutions to three years’ time and joining our poor families. The bank offered threeyear planting, deep processing and ware support impoverished households cooperative as shareholders with For each povertystricken fami loans ranging from 10,000 yuan house logistics in Qahar Right Wing their mares as assets,” said Zhang ly that receives a job offer or is lift to 50,000 yuan to povertystrick Middle Banner of Ulaanqab, offered Jinzhu, legal representative of the ed out of poverty according to the en families, using a specially him free oat seeds and bought the cooperative. current poverty alleviation stan designed credit rating system. oats he planted for 3 yuan per kilo Its production capacity is expect dards, the agricultural enterprise Borrowers could apply for this gram, 30 percent higher than the ed to reach 15 tons in 2020. Consid that offers help is eligible for a kind of small loan without collat market price. ering that the income from 100,000 yuan loan. eral or credit guarantee, and the The production capacity of his pregnant mare serum may vary “Our clients obtained subsi government provided funds to farmland also increased from from 180,000 to 260,000 yuan per dized loans as the government cover the full amount of interest around 750 kg per hectare to about ton, it is estimated that the coopera implemented an interestdeduct paid. 3,000 kg thanks to the highquality tive will make a profit of 700,000 to ed policy for this type of loan and “We formed a risk control team seeds and training on oat planting 800,000 yuan a year, he said. offered subsidies to cover guaran at the village level that includes provided by the company. “To reduce poverty through finan tee fees. In the end, the interest leading village officials and virtu A total of 1,087 povertystricken cial support, we must raise our polit rate they paid was no more than ous and respectable villagers. families enjoyed the same benefits ical awareness and adhere to 1.3 percent,” said Liu Deqiang, They rated impoverished families amid a nationwide povertyrelief commercially sustainable lending. vicepresident of the Postal Sav on a 10point scale according to battle in China. Financial institutions should pro ings Bank of China’s Wangcang their creditworthiness, labor President Xi Jinping called for mote intellectual development of county subbranch. skills, production willingness and perseverance in the fight against impoverished families and invigo The government also injected household income. Our bank poverty as time is limited for the rate them to make money, thus pre money into agriculture credit made decisions on whether or not country to meet its goal of eradicat venting them from relying heavily guarantee companies to establish to issue a loan to a family and how ing extreme poverty by 2020. He on government assistance,” said guarantee funds and a risk shar much to offer based on the rat made the remarks when deliberat Zhang Chunlin, president of the ing mechanism. When a default ings,” said Cai Dong, general man ing with deputies from Gansu prov Agricultural Bank of China Inner occurs, the government will ager of the department of agro ince at the second session of the 13th Mongolia Branch. assume 40 percent of the loan related business at Agricultural National People’s Congress, China’s With the help of financial institu loss, and the relevant bank and Bank of China Guangyuan national legislature, on March 7. tions and the China Banking and agriculture credit guarantee com Branch. During an inspection tour in Insurance Regulatory Commission, pany will be responsible for 30 A mechanism of coordination Chongqing in April, Xi said: “The 192 impoverished families and the percent each. among the township government, battle against poverty has entered a rural collective economic organiza “This credit guarantee mecha the villagelevel risk control team decisive and critical stage. We must tion in Tumuertai town in Qahar nism was built for the long run. It and the bank was established for press ahead with our full strength Right Wing Rear Banner purchased has a significant effect on poverty postlending management. This and strongest resolve and never a total of 292 Angus cattle for 4.69 alleviation, so local governments model of poverty reduction stop until a complete victory is million yuan, of which the regulator in Sichuan have continuously through microlending proved secured.” contributed 2.6 million yuan and injected funds into agriculture effective in Wangcang and was Gao Sen, head of the government Zheshang Jinhui Trust Co Ltd con credit guarantee companies promoted nationwide, he said. of Qahar Right Wing Middle Ban tributed 500,000 yuan. Ping An since 2017. These companies The bank offered loans totaling ner, said civil servants in the banner Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd charged borrowers guarantee 1.32 million yuan to 30 poor fami strictly implemented President Xi’s also donated 148,400 yuan to pur fees at a rate as low as 0.5 to 1 per lies in Xiuhai village, Wangcang instructions on poverty alleviation chase insurance for the cattle. cent,” said Liao Peng, deputy gen county, alone in 2016 to help them and development. Lu Wenbing, chairman of Yinshan Oats, briefs visitors about oats The families and the rural collec eral manager of the department grow 60 hectares of kiwifruit and “Taking the tough battle against and their principal growing regions at his company in Qahar Right tive economic organization signed of agrorelated business at the red plums. The annual income of poverty as a major task and the most Wing Middle Banner of Ulaanqab. JIANG XUEQING / CHINA DAILY an eightyear contract with Inner Postal Savings Bank of China impoverished households in the important project concerning the Mongolia Huoshanben Agriculture Sichuan Branch. village reached 6,000 yuan per improvement of people’s liveli and Livestock Co Ltd, entrusting the “The policy was designed to use person at present, up from 1,500 hoods, we pooled various resources company an interest subsidy of making donations to helping pover company to raise their cattle. The limited fiscal policy funds to lev yuan per person in 2016. and concentrated on poverty reduc about 2 million yuan a year. tystricken families expand their company will pay dividends totaling tion,” he said. The company used the interest production capacity and make a 13,800 yuan per cow during this To make sure the poverty allevia subsidy to provide 40 metric tons of profit. period and will return cattle of the tion program works in Qahar Right oat seeds, 650 tons of potato seeds, In Guangyilong, a town in Ulaan same age and size as they were when Wing Middle Banner by spurring fertilizer and pesticides for free to qab, 300 impoverished families bought by their owners when the the development of the oats indus 1,087 impoverished households last joined a husbandry cooperative. contract expires. try, Bank of Inner Mongolia formed year. Each family bought a Mongolian The current market price for a ful a partnership with the local govern “I was born and raised in Qahar mare at a price of 9,000 yuan, of ly grown Angus cow is more than ment and Ping An Property and Right Wing Middle Banner, an which the family paid 3,000 yuan 30,000 yuan, and it takes three years Casualty Insurance. administrative division hit hard by and the rest was paid by PICC Prop for a newborn calf to become ready The bank has provided a oneyear poverty, and I wanted to do some erty and Casualty Co Ltd. for slaughter, said Sun Qi, general working capital loan of 30 million thing for people in my hometown. The families signed a threeyear manager of the company. yuan to Yinshan Oats for two years The fight against poverty is a major contract with the cooperative, Located in Daxi village of since 2018 at a lending rate of 6.25 agenda for China. Our company entrusting it to raise their mares and Tumuertai town, the project will percent. Meanwhile, the local gov should make a contribution by pro extract serum from the animals also lead to a transition of the vil ernment provided a security deposit moting industrybased poverty alle when pregnant. During the term of lage’s planting industry from grow worth 10 percent of the loan viation,” said Lu Wenbing, chairman the contract, the cooperative will pay ing grains to grass, in addition to amount. The insurer issued a surety of Yinshan Oats. each family 1,000 yuan a year in divi providing 10 jobs to povertystrick bond promising to repay the loan in China’s povertyrelief efforts are dends and gain a profit from the en families at a monthly salary of Two women pick tea leaves at the plantation of Mumen Tea in the event of a default and offered the in the middle of a transition from serum, which is used in pig breeding. 2,500 yuan. Guangyuan, Sichuan province. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY