Poverty Alleviation and Development in Hebei Province

　　【Overview】  2011 is the first year for the poverty alleviation in the new decade and the implementation of the "12th Five-Year Plan". The Party Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Outline") and made important adjustments to the poverty alleviation and development strategies and policy system. In the context of policy adjustments, many tasks and heavy working pressure of planning and making deployments for the poverty alleviation and development in the "12th Five-Year Plan" period and the new decade, relying on its own efforts, Hebei Province emancipated the mind to forge ahead, did solid work, focused on the implementation and achieved new results in the anti-poverty work. In 2011, the central and provincial government allocated a total of 987.17 million Yuan of financial funds for the poverty alleviation in Hebei Province, of which 852.17 million Yuan was from the central government, 135 million Yuan was from the provincial government. Meanwhile, 10.878 million Yuan of discount funds was issued for poverty alleviation leading enterprises, encouraging the issuance of project loans of 362.5 million Yuan. The province implemented the project of “training ten thousand people, providing employments for ten thousand people and lifting ten thousand people out of poverty”, trained and transferred 8,200 poverty-stricken labors and organized practical agricultural technology trainings for 68,000 person-times to further improve the ability of poor families to shake off poverty. In the whole years, Hebei lifted 200,000 people out of poverty, launched the entire village advancement project in 2,200 key villages and significantly increased per capita net income of farmers in impoverished areas. In addition, we participated in the preparation of Hebei Pavilion of the “Exhibition on China's Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century” organized by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection He Yong and other leading comrades visited Hebei Pavilion and affirmed the results. 

　　In the new era, Hebei Province’s poverty alleviation and development task is still arduous. Especially with the continuous enhancement of the poverty line and the deepening of the connotation of poverty alleviation, we have higher requirements and more arduous tasks for anti-poverty work. There are still a large number of poverty-stricken people in the province. Based on the new poverty line of 2300 Yuan set by the central government, confirmed by the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2011, Hebei had a total of 8.7 million impoverished people, of which 5.61 million were objects of poverty reduction, accounting for 10.1% of the total rural residents. These people are mainly concentrated in Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Yanshan – Taihang Mountain area and Heilonggang basin with harsh natural conditions, poor infrastructure, low level of social development and a heavy burden of poverty reduction and development.

　　【Preparation of the Outline Implementation Plan】 In May 2011, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)" and required that provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) must develop the implementation plan based on their actual situations. The Hebei provincial government leaders attach great importance to it and repeatedly instructed the provincial poverty alleviation office to offer opinions on the implementation of the outline. To this end, the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office of Hebei arranged special personnel to set up the Implementation Plan Development Team to conduct in-depth research on relevant issues on poverty alleviation and development at the new stage. On the basis of careful analysis of the situation, tasks and problems faced Hebei Province in the poverty alleviation and development on the new stage, in accordance with the requirements of the “Outline” and the actual situation of the province, Hebei presented the first draft of its “Implementation Plan” in late October. After that, according to the requirements of Governor Zhang Qingwei and Vice Governor Shen Xiaoping, we improved relevant policies, further revised the plan learning from the effective practices of other provinces and autonomous regions and sought the opinions of 55 departments directly under the administration of the provincial government. We invited relevant experts and scholars from the LGOP and the province as well as relevant principals of the departments directly under the provincial government to participate in the seminar on the issue. On this basis, we completed the draft for discussion and submitted it to the provincial party committee and government.

　　【Basic idea for poverty alleviation and development in the new era】 To conscientiously implement the spirit of the "Outline", Hebei Province developed the following basic idea for the poverty alleviation and development in the next decade: Based on providing adequate food and clothing for the poor and enhancing the self-development capacity of impoverished regions, adhere to the guidance of scientific outlook on development, insist on contiguous development and the combination of special poverty reduction, industrial poverty alleviation and social poverty alleviation and make further innovation to the poverty alleviation and development mechanism to enhance the level of anti-poverty work and promote the economic and social development in poverty-stricken areas. To be specific, we should adhere to one target, aim at one objective, hold firmly one starting point and increase efforts in three fields. Adhere to one target: we should always target at the poor in the poverty reduction. Aim at one objective: To achieve the objective of income growth of impoverished families, we should strengthen the implementation of the cell project for poverty alleviation and development to ensure that the poor will get adequate food and clothing and shake off poverty. Hold firmly one starting point: Starting from industrial development for poverty alleviation, we should vigorously develop facility vegetables, facility husbandry, efficient forestry and fruit industry, etc. In the poverty-stricken regions around Beijing, we should focus on the development of facility vegetables, facility husbandry, edible fungus, high-quality forestry and fruit industry and the implementation of the Rain Plan to create a well-off ecological zone around the capital; In Heilonggang area, we should launch the "Vegetable Basket Project" to enrich people and support impoverished villages and households to develop facility vegetables (fruits and melons) and raise broiler chickens and meat ducks based on local conditions, aiming to make this region a well-known “Big Vegetable Basket” area for the province and even North China and significantly increase the income of farmers; In Taihang Mountain area, we should continue to develop high-quality walnuts, expand the planting scale and enhance the quality to promote the industrial restructuring and increase the income of farmers. Increase efforts in three fields: We should increase efforts for pilot work of mutual funds, increase discount subsidies for project loans and intensify the guarantee for microfinance to further improve the long-term mechanism for poverty alleviation and development.

　　【Contiguous development】  Contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties are the main battlefields of the poverty alleviation and development in the new decade. The additional funds allocated by the state in the new decade will mainly be used in the contiguous poor areas and counties. The central government has listed 22 counties into the Yanshan – Taihang Mountain area, namely Tang County, Fuping County, Shunping County, Laiyuan County, Yi County, Quyang County, Laishui County, Wangdu County, Wei County, Yangyuan County, Huaian County, Wanquan County, Zhangbei County, Guyuan County, Shangyi County, Kangbao County, Xuanhua County, Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Weicheng Manchu and Mongolia, Longhua Manchu County, Pingquan County and Chengde County. Among the 22 counties, 16 are key counties for national poverty alleviation and development. Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Government decide to take the arid and saline areas of Heilonggang Region as the provincial contiguous poor areas with special difficulties, represented by Cangzhou, Hengshui, Xingtai and Handan, and will provide support for these areas according to relevant policy to promote their rapid development.

　　【Anti-poverty demonstration zone around the capital】According to the instruction of the central government and the requirements of mobilizing all circles of society to do a good job in a new round of poverty alleviation and development of the 8th Congress of Party Representatives of Hebei Province, in order to boost the development of impoverished areas around the capital and do a good job in the poverty reduction of impoverished areas around Beijing, the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office of Hebei arranged capable cadres to form a joint research group with the provincial development and reform commission to conduct in-depth research in Chicheng, Fengning, Wei County, Laishui and Yi County as well as other areas near the capital. On the basis of in-depth research, extensive solicitation of opinions and comprehensive analysis, we wrote a report and submitted it to the provincial party committee and government. On this basis, the provincial government decided to select nine key counties near Beijing to form the anti-poverty demonstration zone around the capital, including Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Luanping County, Xinglong County, Chicheng County, Guyuan County, Wei County, Laishui County, Laiyuan County and Yi County. Through providing centralized support for breakthroughs, we explored new methods to boost regional development and poverty reduction, new approaches to poverty alleviation by developing industries, poverty alleviation by science and technology, relocation-based poverty reduction, poverty relief by improving water conservancy facilities, ecological poverty alleviation and counterpart support-based poverty reduction, the new ways to promote entire advancement of county, town and village as well as the household poverty reduction, and the new ways to combine poverty reduction with social progress to form a new path for poverty alleviation and development under the guidance of scientific outlook on development. We’ll strive to develop one income-generating project for each poor family in the demonstration zone in two or three years, make the growth rate of per capita net income of the poor above provincial average, narrow the development gap among the counties in the suburb of Beijing and crate a beautiful landscape to present the results of our anti-poverty work.

　　【Adjustment of key counties】 According to the requirements of the state for adjustment of key counties for poverty reduction, based on the actual situations, Hebei Province re-adjusted the key counties for national and provincial poverty alleviation. There are now 40 key counties for national poverty reduction after the adjustment, namely: Tang County, Fuping County, Shunping County, Laiyuan County, Yu County, Yangyuan County, Huaian County, Wanquan County, Zhangbei County, Guyuan County, Shangyi County, Kangbao County, Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Weicheng Manchu and Mongolian autonomous County, Longhua County, Pingquan County, Chicheng County, Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, Wuqiang County, Raoyang County, Wuyi County, Guanzong County, Haixing County, Fucheng County, Zanhuang County, Lingshou County, Chongli County, Wei County, Xinhe County, Julu County, Daming County, Pingxiang County, Wei County, Nanpi County, Lincheng County, Yanshan County, Xingtang County, Luanping County, Pingshan County and Zhuolu County, and 17 provincial key counties, namely: Xian County, Mengcun Hui Autonomous County, Guangping County, Dongguang County, Zhuolu County, Guantao County, Gucheng County, Zaoqiang County, Boye County, Nanhe County, Jize County, Ren County, Wuqiao County, Feixiang County, Neiqiu County, Linxi County and Xinglong County. In addition, three counties are no longer national or provincial key counties, including She County, Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County and Suning County. According to the relevant policy, however, we’ll continue to provide support for these three counties during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period.

　　【Entire village advancement】  In accordance with the working mechanism of “village and household poverty alleviation based on contiguous poor areas”, the provincial government decided to provide support for 6000 key villages for poverty alleviation and development covered by the planning in two groups in ten years. 3000 villages will be supported from 2011 to 2015 and the other 3000 will get support from 2016 to 2020. In such a way, we strive to lift all the key villages out of poverty. In 2011, in accordance with the principles of real poverty reduction, relative concentration and strong capacity of leading group, the provincial, municipal and county governments cooperated with one another to conduct the preliminary audit, cross checks, open publicity, party committee’s research and opinion solicitation, then submitted the plan to the provincial leading group for poverty alleviation and development for approval and launched the entire village advancement project in 2200 key villages.

　　【Construction of poverty alleviation projects】  In accordance with the requirements of using 70% of the county funds in household projects, in 2011, Hebei Province mainly supported more than model poor households to develop income-generating projects such as facility vegetables, facility husbandry and efficient forestry and fruit industry and further boosted the development of the contiguous areas engaged in poverty-relief industries such as Taihang Mountain High-quality walnut industrial zone, Hengshui – Cangzhou Hutuo River 100-li Greenhouse Galley, Yanshan Edible Mushroom Industrial Cluster and Bashan Water-saving Off-season vegetable Zone, forming the industrial poverty reduction model of leading enterprises + cooperatives + bases + poor households. At the same time, it launched the “Big Vegetable Basket Project to Enrich People” in 20 key counties of Cangzhou, Hengshui, Xingtai and Handan, covering all the impoverished villages of Heilonggang area, focusing on the development of facility planting and breeding. As a result, more than 80% of the poor households got income-generating projects.

　　【Rain Plan】  In 2011, LGOP and the Ministry of Finance launched the pilot reform of the Rain Plan implementation methods in five counties, including Guangzong, Lingshou, Shunping, Weichang, etc. The central government issued special funds of 7.71 million Yuan and directly provided subsidies of 1500 Yuan per person for poverty-stricken junior and senior middle school graduates (not continue study after middle school graduation) to receive higher vocational education and skills training for more than one year, covering a total of 6328 people.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】According to the requirements of the "Circular Concerning the Further Implementation of the Anti-poverty Project of ‘Four-Help-One’" of Hebei Province, we organized the inspection and acceptance of the ‘Four-Help-One’ projects in the third batch of key villages for the period from 2008 to 2010 and, based on the new tasks for the new stage, developed the adjustment plan for the party and government organs, enterprises, institutions, colleges, universities and the economically powerful counties (cities, districts) to support key counties and poor villages in the new round of poverty reduction. We urged relevant cities and counties to launch the fixed-point poverty alleviation of the first batch of key villages for the new decade, making full preparations for the provincial party committee and government to make arrangements for a new round of anti-poverty work. At the same time, we actively promoted Tangshan, Langfang and other developed regions in the province to conduct poverty alleviation independently.

　　【Long-term mechanisms for poverty alleviation】  In order to make innovations to the long-term mechanism for anti-poverty work, we introduced the “Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving the Mass Work” (Ji Fu Ban Dang [2011] No.13), issued the “Opinions on Further Strengthening the Inspection of Poverty-relief Funds” (Ji Fu Ban Fa [2011] No. 5), promulgated the “Opinions Concerning Performance Evaluation of the Key Counties for Poverty Alleviation and Development” (Ji Fu Ban Fa [2011] No. 11) and organized the assessment. Meanwhile, we revised and improved the Methods for Identification and Management of Poverty Alleviation Leading Enterprises, carried out the credit guarantee activity for one hundred enterprises, approved “two organizations” and enterprise guarantee, established the service center for independent poverty alleviation, made new progress in addressing the loan problems of the poor and carried out the activity of “Year of Standard Enhancement” for mutual funds and the integrated management of funds for poverty-relief projects.

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(Cx�#ent. The results will be an element for award or priority giving in the allocation of anti-poverty funds next year and an important reference for provincial poverty alleviation departments to identify annual advanced units. The government will circulate a notice of criticism for the provinces with the assessment result of D. The assessment results will also be reported to party committee’s organization department as an important part of the comprehensive evaluation of the leadership and cadres of the regions and departments assigned the task of anti-poverty work and an important reference for reward and punishment.