Why Farmers' Poverty Alleviation Falls into the Capability Poverty Trap

The “poverty” problem is an important issue constraining the development of China's economic and social undertakings, and eliminating poverty is a social difficulty commonly faced by the whole country. The effective way to solve poverty in the short term through poverty alleviation is to raise the income level of the poor population, while in the long term, the poor population must be enabled to lift themselves out of poverty. At present, what is the poverty alleviation capability of China's poor population? Given the current state of capability, how are farmers faring in escaping poverty? With these questions in mind, the China Rural Research Institute of Central China Normal University, relying on the “Hundred Villages Observation” project platform, conducted an empirical survey from June to September 2014 of a total of 2,259 farming households in 75 poor villages across 15 provinces nationwide, and carried out in-depth specialized interviews with 1,405 poor households.

Research shows that China's poor farmers have a low level of quality, lack vocational skills, engage in a single type of agricultural production, have limited structural adjustment, face difficulties in raising funds, have few external connections, make low use of policies, and lack comprehensive capabilities, resulting in farmers lacking sufficient human capital and social capital for poverty alleviation, making short-term poverty alleviation difficult and leaving a large gap with the national expectation. For this reason, we suggest focusing on improving farmers' poverty alleviation capability, increasing government policy support, and accelerating farmers' escape from poverty.