Poverty alleviation relay continues without letup, steadily consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation
The towering Wuling Mountains will not forget that there is a solemn promise, upheld for 30 years as if it were a single day, “if farmers do not escape poverty, the assistance will not be unlinked”; the gentle Qingjiang River will not forget that there is a sincere dedication, integrating with the grassroots, industry-based poverty alleviation, abundant fruits.
Since 1986, the Ministry of Agriculture has carried out targeted paired assistance in the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Hubei, which had just been established 3 years earlier, ensuring food and clothing, building bases, drafting plans, and supporting industries; after entering the new century, the Ministry of Agriculture “made a pledge for ten years, then pledged another ten years,” working term after term, “giving sincerity, giving policies, giving support, giving officials”; over 30 years, the Ministry of Agriculture has successively dispatched 114 person-times to hold poverty alleviation posts in Enshi Prefecture, investing in more than 400 various agricultural projects in Enshi Prefecture, with 3.8 billion yuan in central government funds, and nearly a thousand officials have come to Enshi Prefecture for coordination work; now, the poverty alleviation relay baton is being held by the tenth batch working group members Feng Zhongze, Huang Hai, and Guo Junchao……
“These posted officials are down-to-earth, with very solid work styles, like antennas of policy foresight, opening up channels for the outside world to understand Enshi, and making major contributions to the economic and social development of Enshi Prefecture.” Wang Haitao, Secretary of the Enshi Prefecture Party Committee, stated that Enshi Prefecture is an important part of the Wuling Mountain area, one of the country's concentrated contiguous extremely impoverished areas, and all 8 counties and cities under its jurisdiction are national-level impoverished counties and cities, with 920,000 people in absolute poverty registered under the poverty card system, mostly concentrated in deep mountain areas and high-cold areas, with great difficulty and heavy tasks, and requested the Ministry of Agriculture to continue its support and assistance.
“Posted officials should do more valuable things in limited time.” Feng Zhongze, a member of the tenth batch targeted poverty alleviation liaison working group of the Ministry of Agriculture, member of the Standing Committee of the Enshi Prefecture Party Committee, and Vice Governor of the Prefecture, has held posts in Enshi twice, and has deep feelings for Enshi. In his view, “during the two-year posting, one must both do a good job in poverty alleviation liaison work and focus on the key work of the local Party committee and government, taking the initiative to fight the tough battle of poverty alleviation in Enshi.”
“The working group is our think tank”
——Making suggestions, doing promotion, coordinating and liaising, ensuring central policies benefiting farmers are implemented
Enshi enjoys the reputation of “World Selenium Capital” and also shoulders the dual tasks of ecological protection and poverty alleviation towards a moderately prosperous society.
With the support and assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture working group, Enshi Prefecture has built over 5 million mu of characteristic agricultural bases, has the country's largest “selenium-rich” tea base, and has Hubei Province's largest high-mountain vegetable, konjac, and potato bases.
Liu Fangzhen, Deputy Secretary of the Enshi Prefecture Party Committee and Acting Governor of the Prefecture, said that after the tenth batch working group came to Enshi, they often went deep into the front lines for research, providing many valuable bases for decision-making references for the Prefecture Party Committee and Prefecture Government in modern agricultural development and other aspects, and also continuously built a platform for external publicity and promotion for Enshi.
Taking tea as an example, Enshi's entire prefecture has 1.2 million mu of tea gardens, with over 1,900 large and small tea enterprises, almost one brand per enterprise, and many are playing the selenium-rich card. The scale is there, what to do next? The working group, based on the overall thinking of the Enshi Prefecture Party Committee and Prefecture Government on tea brand building, actively participated in planning and integrating resources.
“The working group is our think tank, and has poured its heart and soul into building the public brand ‘Enshi Selenium Tea’.” Li Huahui, Director of the Enshi Prefecture Agriculture Bureau, introduced that in May 2014, under the direct promotion and organization of the working group, 46 tea enterprises under the prefecture-level public brand “Enshi Selenium Tea” brought over 500 products together to appear in the capital, participating in the “2014 Beijing·Enshi Selenium Tea Expo,” with signed contracts amounting to 1.0377 billion yuan, boosting the rapid upgrading of the tea industry.
Enshi has nearly 2,000 years of tea planting and processing history, nurturing a profound tea culture, and also has abundant tourism resources. The working group suggested that improving the quality and efficiency of the tea industry should be reflected in playing the ecological card, the selenium-rich card, and the Tujia and Miao culture card, and should be combined with beautiful countryside construction, using tea to promote tourism and tourism to drive tea, promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries.
Huazhi Mountain in Tunbao Township, Enshi City, is located near the entrance of the tourist attraction Enshi Grand Canyon, with white clouds lingering year-round. Liu Zhongshan, Chairman of the Huazhi Tea Cooperative, said: “Previously I only knew how to plant and process tea well. Inspired by the working group, I learned that telling the tea story well and selling the tea well are also very important.” Hukou Village in Bajiao Dong Township is a beautiful countryside selected by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2013, with characteristic residences nestled among green mountains and clear waters. Village Party Secretary Xiao Fuyun said: “The Ministry of Agriculture working group has come to research many times and given many good suggestions. The villagers are very confident about combining the tea industry with rural tourism.”
Over the past year and more, the working group has actively assisted Enshi Prefecture in striving for and implementing national-level agricultural projects; actively contacted media to vigorously publicize and promote Enshi's characteristic agriculture, ecological selenium-rich resources, tourism resources, local customs, and folk culture, achieving good results. With the working group's facilitation, on August 15, the 100 million yuan “Postal Savings Agricultural Loan” is about to be implemented, mainly tilting towards new agricultural operating entities in the tea industry and livestock industry chains.