Poverty Alleviation and Development in Jiangxi Province

　　【Overview】 In 2011, in the poverty alleviation and development, in accordance with the guideline of “scientific development, leapfrog development and green rise” developed by the provincial party committee and government and the regional development structure of “rise of leading enterprises, parallel development of two wings, revitalization of old revolutionary base areas and green rise”, based on the good beginning of the implementation of the “12th Five-Year Plan”, Jiangxi Province made steady progress in implementing the “3456” anti-poverty projects, highlighted four key points, namely the contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties, immigrants’ resettlement areas, the rural poor with the ability to work and livelihood projects. As for the organic combination of poverty alleviation and relocation with regional economic development, the province combined farmers’ cooperative organizations with production and market competitiveness in impoverished regions and resettlement spots. As for the effective convergence of poverty alleviation and development and rural social relief, the combination between special poverty alleviation and industrial and social poverty alleviation, and the combination between the efficiency of public project funds and the construction of strict and efficient supervision systems, the province promoted the “five innovations” and intensified six work: pilot work of entire village advancement, relocation-based poverty alleviation, industrial poverty alleviation, “Rain Plan”, anti-poverty projects and social poverty alleviation, achieving three objectives – enhancement of the income level of the poor, improvement of the production and living conditions of impoverished regions and the enhancement of self-development capacity of the objects of poverty reduction and relocation.

　　【Investment of anti-poverty funds】  In 2011, the central and provincial governments invested a total of 803 million Yuan of anti-poverty funds (not including minority development fund, work-relief funds), with an increase of 145 million Yuan over the previous year, up 22.1%, of which 651 million Yuan was from the central government, with an increase of 126 million Yuan, up 23.93%; and 153 million Yuan was provincial matching funds, with an increase of 200 million Yuan, up 14.88%.

　　【Entire village advancement】 In 2011, Jiangxi Province identified 3400 impoverished villages for the “12th Five-Year Plan” period and formulated the “Planning of Jiangxi Province for Entire Village Advancement of National Impoverished Villages during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period” and the “Planning of Jiangxi Province for Entire Village Advancement of Provincial Impoverished Villages during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period”. It issued 340 million Yuan of entire village advancement funds in 2011, selected 100 demonstrative villages for this program, and arranged special funds of 52.08 million Yuan for entire village advancement of impoverished villages in contiguous poor areas with special difficulties.

　　【Infrastructure construction】 Combining anti-poverty work closely with the new rural construction, Jiangxi Province provided support for nearly 9,000 infrastructure construction projects in poor villages, built highroads of nearly 30,000 km, more than 2500 pools and water reservoirs, 850 bridges, 610 drainage and irrigation stations, 12,390 biogas digesters, solved the drinking water problem of more than 300,000 people; implemented 4682 public welfare projects, built and rebuilt 610 schools, 780 clinics, 420 cultural stations and 530 village activity centers; continued to vigorously implement rural cleaning projects to improve the ecological environment, moved garbage of 300,000 tons for poor villages, cleaned 33,000 ditches and cleared up more than 16,000 roadblocks, rebuilt village roads of 12.3 km, improved 28,000 water conservancy facilities and 61,000 toilets and planted trees of 35,000 mu, greatly improved the production and living conditions of impoverished regions.

　　【Industrial poverty alleviation】 In 2011, Jiangxi Province allocated 20.5 million Yuan of discount funds for poverty-relief project loans and anti-poverty household loans, selected and cultivated 20 demonstrative leading enterprises and 50 demonstrative farmers’ cooperative organizations. The discount funds were mainly used to support poverty alleviation leading enterprises and associations to construct 164 industrial development projects and encouraged the issuance of 1.1 billion Yuan of project loans. The projects increased the income of more than 80,000 poor rural households, 300 Yuan per household. In 2011, more than 8 million Yuan of discount funds was issued for anti-poverty household loans, encouraging the issuance of more than 200 million Yuan of loans for rural households. It supported 13867 rural households, of which 8384 were poverty-stricken families. In 2011, the province supported more than 4,000 industrial projects, covering more than 500,000 poor rural households and more than 2 million people; planted fruit, forest, oil-tea camellia, sericulture, tobacco and herbs of nearly 200,000 mu, bred more than 7 pigs, chickens, ducks and herbivorous livestock, and developed more than 120,000 mu of area for fish farming, shrimp farming as well as other specialty aquaculture. The per capita net income of the province's 21 key counties reached 3725 Yuan, up 19.8%, 0.7 percentage points higher than the provincial average.

　　【Pilot project of village-level mutual funds】 The province strengthened inspection and supervision to improve the effectiveness of pilot work. 2011 is the year for the consolidation and improvement of the national "mutual funds". In accordance with the state’s requirements, Jiangxi Province organized the sample survey on the pilot mutual funds of 300 impoverished villages in the province, increased 50 villages for the pilot work, and the number of pilot villages for mutual funds reached 350. It carried out pilot project of awarding for mutual funds project in poor villages of Le’an and Wan’an, completed the pilot project of financial software operation for mutual funds launched by LGOP in Shangyou and Suichuan, and selected and cultivated 22 "mutual funds" model villages.

　　【Pilot work of contiguous development】We completed the writing of summary reports of the seven pilot counties for contiguous development, seriously summed up the experience and practices of pilot work in the recent years, conducted examination and assessment on four pilot counties in 2011 jointly with the provincial department of finance and issued 20 million Yuan of contiguous development funds according to the planning.

　　【Pilot projects of lottery public welfare funds】 In 2011, another two key counties were identified in Jiangxi Province and 15 million Yuan of special funds was issued for each county to implement the “pilot project of entire village advancement in old revolutionary base areas with central lottery public welfare funds”. The pilot work planning of the two counties was approved by the state and put into implementation.

　　【Poverty relief relocation】 In 2011, according to the requirements of the “Guideline for Relocation Work in Jiangxi Province”, adhering to the principle of “government-led sunshine operation on a voluntary basis” and the objective of “affordable immigration, long-term stable development and gradual prosperity”, the province was strict in project construction, increased investment and raised the poverty-relief relocation subsidy to 4000 Yuan per person, combined the relocation of 50,000 people with the ecological relocation and work-relief relocation, and further integrated the funds for geological disaster prevention and rural dilapidated house renovation. The increased investment from the provincial government for relocation projects of poor areas amounted to 181 million Yuan. The province actually relocated a total of 50,829 people, 1.7% beyond annual plan, including 36461 people involved in the concentrated resettlement and 14368 people involved in scattered resettlement; the government built houses for 42994 immigrants, purchased houses for 7835 immigrants and moved 56 people to seniors’ homes.

　　【Rain Plan】 In 2011, Jiangxi Province issued 21 million Yuan of training funds for 33,000 people involved in the “Rain Plan”, and actually trained 34,599 people, completing 103.5% of the scheduled task. It organized labor transfer training for 18936 poor young people, 103.61% of the scheduled task; and transferred employments of 17,651 people (13680 people within the province, accounting for 77.5% of the total) and the transfer employment rate reached 93.21%. It organized trainings of secondary and senior technicians for 4,086 people, 105% of the scheduled task, and enterprising skills for returned migrant workers and practical agricultural technical trainings for 11,577 people, 102.8% of the scheduled task. In addition, the province vigorously implemented pilot projects of implementation plan reform for the Rain Plan, increased four key counties, namely Xingguo, Suichuan, Poyang and Le’an, and strived for 8.814 million Yuan of subsidies for training. It rectified and re-identified 168 training bases and raised the training subsidy for children from needy families to receive vocational and technical trainings from 1500 Yuan per person to 2000 Yuan per person.

　　【Poverty alleviation by science and technology】 Pilot project of poverty alleviation by science and technology: In 2011, the province applied for 1 million Yuan of special funds for the pilot poverty alleviation by science and technology in Xingguo and Yudu, respectively to support the Ginkgo biloba extract and the navel orange intelligent water-saving drip irrigation project; launched 30 technological poverty alleviation projects and boosted the economic development in poor areas and vigorously promote the poverty reduction of poor rural households relying on industrial poverty alleviation. Activities of poverty alleviation by science and technology: The activity of poverty alleviation by science and technology themed on “integrating into the construction of Pohu to achieve ecological poverty reduction” launched in 2010 was successfully completed in 2011. The activity was successively launched in Yujiang, Jinxian, Wannian, Duchang, Yongxiu and Poyang, and on-site technical consulting and household technical instruction activities were organized. Seminars on practical agricultural technology were held and technical data were distributed to boost the development of backbone industries in Pohu Region, benefiting more than 6,000 people. The activity was reported by Jiangxi Daily and other media, and Jiangxi Satellite TV conducted an interview on it.

　　Technological training: We organized 187 people to participate in seven trainings held by LGOP, and organized 441 cadre trainings for 46,088 person-times, of which 13 trainings were held for 204 cadres from relevant ministries and departments, and six trainings were for 610 provincial cadres.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】 In 2011, the province further expanded the areas for party members and cadres to provide counterpart support, enterprises to help impoverished villages and households, social forces to provide financial aid for anti-poverty work and the implementation of “Three Supports and One Assistance” for university graduates, targeting at 3,400 poor villages, made deployments for the implementation of a new round of fixed-point poverty alleviation by 181 departments and 110 units directly under the provincial government, implemented the fixed-point poverty alleviation projects of relevant cities and counties, mobilized and guided all circles of society to participate in the fixed-point poverty alleviation, and raised a total of 1.1 billion Yuan of anti-poverty funds from all lines of society, up 10% over 2010. Meanwhile, the province carried out social poverty alleviation assessment and commendation activities. The provincial party committee and government issued a document to praise 86 advanced units directly under the provincial government and 57 advanced individuals for fixed-point poverty alleviation in the province; the provincial leading group for poverty alleviation and development printed relevant document to praise 30 advanced provincial units and 26 advanced individuals for fixed-point poverty alleviation as well as 10 models for social poverty alleviation.

　　【A new round of poverty alleviation】 The province took the lead in the country to identify 3400 poor villages and took poverty alleviation and development as an important task to be included in the provincial government work report, the province's "12th Five-Year" Plan and the overall deployment for the work of "three rural issues", livelihood projects and new rural construction. Based on the actual situation of key counties for poverty alleviation and development, the provincial party committee and government maintained the original key counties in the new round of poverty alleviation and development, determining the priorities for the anti-poverty work in the new era. 17 counties of Luoxiao Mountain area were designated as national contiguous poor areas with special difficulties. We proposed the opinions on the delineation of contiguous poor areas with special difficulties and eight key counties and developed the planning, put forward policy recommendations on the development and revitalization of the central old revolutionary base areas, providing important reference for the provincial party committee and government to make deployments for the anti-poverty work in contiguous poor areas and old revolutionary base areas as well as the poverty alleviation project characterized by “combination of four”; based on the actual situation of the province, raised the poverty line of 2300 Yuan in time to achieve convergence with the new national poverty line, identified 4.38 million poor people in the province and determined the objects of the new round of poverty alleviation and development.

　　【publicity and research of poverty alleviation】 The province strengthened the publicity of poverty alleviation and development. In 2011, it had more than 1,000 articles on publicity of poverty alleviation printed in national media. Based on the propaganda work, the province successfully held the high-level seminar on poverty alleviation in contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties, work conference on poverty alleviation by science and technology and the training courses on study of the performance assessment of anti-poverty funds and African delegation’s field research on poverty alleviation in Jiangxi, etc, presenting its work experience, practices and effectiveness to the higher authorities, other provinces and migration departments as well as foreign friends. Meanwhile, the province organized the activities to award and make propagandas for advanced units and individuals in the national and provincial poverty alleviation and immigration, participated the "Exhibition on China's Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century" and won the Outstanding Organization Award, printed the album of social poverty alleviation and demonstrative villages for immigration, printed the non-fiction novel titled “Let the Mountain Witness” on the poverty-relief relocation of Jiangxi Province, vigorously publicizing the remarkable achievements made by Jiangxi Province in poverty alleviation and development in the new century. In addition, the province intensified the research on “Five Innovations” work, forming more than 80 articles on the research results, and actively promoted the innovation in practice.

　　【Management of anti-poverty funds】 The province implemented various regulatory measures on anti-poverty work, strengthened inspections on capital projects, strictly implemented the systems on democratic centralism, “three major decisions and a large amount of capital” and incorrupt government management of positions with risks and seriously organized the performance evaluation of anti-poverty funds. It got an A in the performance assessment of anti-poverty work. Meanwhile, the province issued the “Circular on Performance Assessment of 2010 Financial Anti-poverty Funds” (Gan Cai Nong [2011] No. 164) and organized 28 people from the cities divided into districts to carry out cross-assessment of financial anti-poverty funds in 11 cities divided into districts and 33 counties. According to the requirements of “innovating the household poverty reduction mechanism and adopting various methods to directly support the poor”, on the basis of careful research, the province formulated the “Guiding Plan of Jiangxi Province on Consolidating the Results of Effective Convergence of Two Systems and the Pilot Work of Innovating the Mechanism for the Use of Household Poverty Reduction Funds in 2011”, implemented the “Cell Project” on some targets of identification relying on the industrial development in 21 key counties, provided point-to-point support for impoverished villages and households and actively explored multi-mode, multi-form new ways for household poverty reduction.

　　【Poverty reduction planning】 The province improved and issued the overall planning for poverty alleviation and relevant work plans, and organized and formulated the entire village advancement planning for 3400 impoverished villages, laying a basis for the poverty alleviation and development in the new stage. Before the identification of the national contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties, the province conducted investigations on relevant cities divided into districts, collected a lot of data, wrote the “Research Report on the Poverty Reduction in National Contiguous Areas with Particular Difficulties” and, on this basis, prepared the poverty alleviation planning for national contiguous poor areas in the cities divided into districts. After the identification of national contiguous poor areas, 17 counties (cities) included in the contiguous poor area - Luoxiao Mountain Area, including Gan County, Jinggangshan, Le’an, Lianhua, etc, as well as relevant cities divided into districts were required to re-formulate the planning according to the central spirit, and the province formulated the “Poverty Alleviation Planning of Jiangxi Province for National Contiguous Poor Areas with Special Difficulties in the 12th Five-Year Plan Period (2011-2015)”. At the same time, according to the scientific decisions made by the provincial party committee and government, we prepared the “Poverty Alleviation Planning for Provincial Contiguous Poor Areas with Particular Difficulties in Jiangxi” for eight counties not listed in national contiguous poor areas, including Ji’an, Shangrao, Guangchang, Xiushui, etc.

　　【Provincial work conference on poverty alleviation and development】 On December 20, 2011, the province's poverty alleviation and development work conference was convened in Nanchang. The meeting studied the spirit of the central poverty alleviation and development work conference, comprehensively summarized the main achievements and basic experience of Jiangxi Province in the anti-poverty work over the past decade, conducted in-depth analysis of the new situation and new tasks of poverty alleviation and development, and mobilized all forces of the province to unite for a new round of poverty alleviation and development campaign to promote the sound and rapid economic and social development of impoverished regions and ensure that Jiangxi Province will achieve the goal of building a well-off society by 2020 together with other provinces of the country. The Provincial Party Secretary Su Rong and Governor Lu Xinshe attended the meeting and respectively delivered a speech. Provincial Deputy Party Secretary Zhang Yijiong presided over the meeting. The provincial leaders Fu Kecheng, Shu Xiaoqin, Ling Chengxing, Zhao Zhiyong, Shi Wenqing, Zhou Meng, Cai Xiaoming, Chen Daheng, Xiong Shengwen, Xie Ru, Hu Youtao and Zhong Ligui were present at the meeting.

　　【"Outline for Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural Areas of Jiangxi Province (2011-2020)"】 On December 31, 2011, the Jiangxi provincial government formally issued the "Outline for Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural Areas of Jiangxi Province (2011-2020)", which is divided into seven parts and 34 articles. The first part reviews the notable achievements and deep-seated contradictions in poverty alleviation and development as well as the significance of promoting poverty alleviation and development work. The second part clarifies the overall requirements, guiding ideology, working principles and basic principles for poverty alleviation and development. The third part sets the objectives for 2015 and 2020 and clarifies 13 objectives and tasks for promoting income growth, improving conditions and enhancing self-development capacity. The fourth part clarifies the poverty line and the targets of poverty reduction, and requires that we must ensure effective support for the poor, highlight the battlefield of contiguous poor areas, continue to support key counties and conduct poverty alleviation and development with poor village as the basic unit. The fifth part strengthens measures to promote poverty alleviation and development, determines the large-scale "trinity" poverty alleviation pattern integrating special poverty alleviation, industrial poverty alleviation and social poverty alleviation, and puts forward 23 specific measures for the work. Part VI provides policy guarantee for poverty alleviation and development, clarifies that we should improve the pro-poor strategies and policy system, continue to pay equal attention to poverty alleviation and subsistence allowance for the poor, give play to the role of the "trinity" poverty alleviation pattern, and makes clear the supporting policies on 11 aspects. Party VII clarifies the management system and working mechanism for poverty alleviation and development and the requirements from the perspective of responsibility system, fixed-point poverty alleviation of leaders and cadres, style improvement, construction of grassroots organizations, management of anti-poverty work, training publicity, statistics monitoring and team building. The “Outline” has become a program of action for the poverty alleviation and development of the whole province at the new stage.