Industrial poverty alleviation focuses on building distinctive industries

Recently, nine departments including the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Developing Distinctive Industries in Poverty-Stricken Areas to Promote Targeted Poverty Alleviation". Among the "six precision" poverty alleviation policies proposed in the "Opinions", industrial poverty alleviation is undoubtedly the centerpiece. In my view, doing a good job in industrial poverty alleviation ultimately depends on grasping "precision" and "distinctiveness".

So-called "precision" means precisely selecting industrial projects, precisely selecting the scope of poverty-stricken areas where they will be located, and precisely selecting the mode of industrial development, so as to "prescribe the right medicine" and "order dishes according to need". So-called "distinctiveness" means adapting measures to local conditions, deeply tapping local distinctive natural resources, tourism resources, cultural resources and so on, thereby exploring industrial development models suited to local realities, so as to make full use of the advantageous resources of poverty-stricken areas and achieve leapfrog development.

At present, the overall level of distinctive industry development in poverty-stricken areas is not high, and in many places resource advantages have not yet been effectively transformed into industrial advantages and economic advantages, requiring comprehensive measures and a prominent emphasis on distinctiveness. In my view, to precisely advance industrial poverty alleviation, the following factors must be considered comprehensively: first, whether the supporting institutional mechanisms for fiscal agriculture-related funds and financial support involved in industrial development support are basically in place and complete; second, whether poverty-stricken areas have precisely positioned their own distinctive industries and whether there is potential to be tapped; third, whether industrial development helps achieve a high degree of participation by the poor population, and whether the fruits of industrial development can benefit the poor population to the greatest extent; fourth, whether it helps enhance the mastery and improvement of the skills the poor population needs to escape poverty and become prosperous.