Bumper catches lift village out of poverty

Fu Jianshang, a fisherman in Xuwen county of Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, feels good about his catch this year.

From Baimao fishing village, Fu has been busy hauling in fish for over two months. Thanks to the good weather, he can earn about 1,000 yuan ($140) a day selling at the local market, he said.

Fu's experience is shared by many people in Baimao who also earn a living on the water.

However, in the past income could be volatile due to poor weather conditions and aging equipment.

The situation changed four years ago on the back of Zhanjiang's renewed poverty alleviation drive.

In 2016, the Zhanjiang science and technology bureau cooperated with relevant authorities to set up a team to help lift 33 disadvantaged households out of poverty in Baimao village.

Focusing on fishing, the team carried out tailor-made projects, including an agreement with an aquaculture company from Guangdong province, and granted 1.5 million yuan to support the company's anti-poverty project in the village, thus giving villagers an annual dividend worth 1,400 yuan.

By 2019, the 33 poverty-stricken households in the village had been lifted out of poverty, and the per capita annual disposable income of the village's residents was 18,825 yuan.

To prevent people from falling back into poverty, the local authorities said they have continued to focus on boosting the village's economic development via financial support and the development of rural tourism.

Last year, Xuwen county was listed among the first batch of national demonstration parks for the integrated industrial development in rural areas.

The county represents the epitome of Zhanjiang's progress in rural revitalization.

Rural revitalization plays a prominent role in promoting high-quality development in Zhanjiang, said Jiang Jianjun, a deputy to the National People's Congress, who serves as mayor of the city.

The city has launched a series of measures and made substantial achievements in them, Jiang said. One of the efforts is setting up specialized groups in helping develop rural areas in fields including industries, culture, ecology and human resources.

In 2019, the added value of modern agriculture in Zhanjiang reached 58.52 billion yuan, up 4.2 percent from 2018, and the grain output reached 1.47 million metric tons, an increase of 6.3 percent.

The city has implemented environmental projects in rural areas including building five new wetland parks and scheduling 1,522 villages to develop rural tourism, the mayor said.

Zhanjiang is advancing the rural revitalization plan issued last year to make great achievements in the next three years. The plan covers governance of rural areas, cultivation of experts and specialists working at grassroots level, agriculture development and rural tourism.

"Rural revitalization is a huge topic and task requiring long-term strategies and input," Jiang said.

Zhanjiang will continue its efforts revolving around ensuring the victory in the battle against extreme poverty, and the completion of the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, he added.