Poverty Alleviation and Development in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

　　【Overview】  Located at the junction of South China and Southwestern part of China, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (hereinafter referred to as the autonomous region) covers a land area of ​​236,700 square kilometers with mainland coastline of more than 1500 km and land border line of 1020 km. It has a total of 14 prefecture-level cities, 109 counties (cities, districts or autonomous counties), 1324 towns and a population of nearly 50,920,000, of which about 38 percent are minority population.

　　Guangxi has 49 key counties for poverty alleviation and development, of which 28 are national key counties and 21 are regional key counties, and it has 4060 impoverished villages. At the end of 2009, it had a poor population of 2.76 million, accounting for about 10% of the total rural residents.

　　In 2009, the rural per capita net income of the 28 key national counties was 3,051 Yuan, 241 Yuan more than the figure (2810 Yuan) in 2008, with a growth rate of 11.4% after deducting price factors, 0.8 percentage points higher than the regional average; the rural per capita net income of the 4060 poverty-stricken villages rose from 2,376 Yuan in 2008 to 2,596 Yuan, with an increase of 220 Yuan and a growth rate of 12.1% after deducting price factors, 0.8 percentage points higher than the regional average. The number of the rural poor residents was reduced from 2.98 million at the end of 2008 to 2.76 million at the end of 2009, with a decrease of 220,000.

　　【Investment of anti-poverty funds】 In 2009, a total of 1.32 billion Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds was invested, of which nearly 1 billion Yuan was from the central government and more than 300 million Yuan from the regional government. Composition of the central anti-poverty funds: financial anti-poverty funds (development funds) of 550 million Yuan, various special funds of 120 million Yuan (including 50 million Yuan for “entire village advancement and contiguous development”, 10 million Yuan of pilot project funds for the contiguous development in old revolutionary base areas, 27 million Yuan was poverty relief loan discount funds, 2 million was for poverty relief by science and technology, 10.50 million Yuan was village-level mutual funds of impoverished villages, 4 million was for post-disaster reconstruction, 9.95 million Yuan was project management fee, 125,000 Yuan was statistics observation feeds and 6 million Yuan was performance assessment reward), work-relief funds of 240 million Yuan and minority development funds of 81 million Yuan. The proportion of the central government’s anti-poverty funds for key counties and poor villages was respectively 70% and 90%.

　　The proportion of the regional anti-poverty funds for key counties and poor villages was respectively 62% and 90%. Divided based on specific orientation of investment, 606,724,000 Yuan of the funds was for the construction of village roads, drinking water projects and other infrastructure, accounting for 46%; 96.606 million Yuan was direct subsidies to poor households for industrial development, accounting for 7.3%; 22.25 million Yuan was for labor force trainings, accounting for 1.7%; 19 million Yuan was for poverty alleviation by science and technology, accounting for 1.4%; 90.15 million Yuan was interest payments on loans, accounting for 6.8%; 251.48 million Yuan was work-relief funds, accounting for 19%; 91 million Yuan was minority development fund, accounting for 6.9%; 39 million Yuan was immigrant poverty relief fund, accounting for 3%; 11.5 million Yuan was pilot mutual fund, accounting for about 1%; 60 million Yuan was pilot contiguous development fund, accounting for 4.5%; 13.35 million Yuan was project management cost, accounting for 1%; 2.425 million Yuan was fixed-point monitoring fund, accounting for 0.1 %; and 17.41 million Yuan was other funds, accounting for 1.3%.

　　【Poverty alleviation discount loans】  In 2009, a total of 44.60 million Yuan of discount subsidies was arranged in the regions and 900 million Yuan of loans were issued for poverty alleviation of specific households, 300 million Yuan more than that in 2008, covering 77 counties (cities, districts) in the regions, 14 more than that in 2008. In addition, facing the impact of the financial crisis on poverty alleviation leading enterprises, the government arranged discount funds of 34.35 million in 2009 and issued 1.02 billion Yuan of discount loans for poverty relief projects, 200 million Yuan more than that in 2008.

　　【Entire Village Advancement】 In 2009, the entire village advancement projects in 1165 poor villages passed the inspection and acceptance and basically achieved the objective. Meanwhile, entire village advancement projects were launched in the third (last) batch of 1164 impoverished villages. According to preliminary statistics, in the whole year, 252 roads of 744.74 kilometers were newly built in the poor villages and the proportion of the poor villages with highroads rose from 78.4% in 2008 to 83.4%. 2152 roads of 5593.84 km were built for natural villages and the proportion of the natural villages with 20 or more households with highroads rose from 60.5% in 2008 to 79.6%, with an increase of 19 percentage points. 30,000 new biogas digesters were dug and the proportion of the households with biogas digesters grew from 29.7% in 2008 to 32.7%, with an increase of 3 percentage points. Meanwhile, the projects solved the drinking water or safe drinking water problem of 410,400 people, helped 8,459 poor families renovate the thatched houses or dilapidated buildings, supported the poor to develop featured farming area of 420,700 mu, built offices of 9154.35 square meters for village committees, cultural training rooms of 4430.5 square meters, clinics of 3313 square meters and Family Planning offices of 1692 square meters, rebuilt dilapidated buildings of 27,596 square meters for village-level primary schools, solved the radio and television problem of 11,037 natural villages and organized practical skills trainings for 148,601 people. As a result, it achieved half of the targets with half of the time according to the plan.

　　【Poverty alleviation training】In 2009, the autonomous region allocated 38 million Yuan for to organize trainings for 249,000 person- times, accounting for 107% of the scheduled task, including cadre trainings for 5,500 people, 110% of the scheduled task; rural practical technical trainings for 215,500 person- times, 108% of the scheduled task; and labor transfer trainings for 28,000 people, 100% of the scheduled task.

　　In 2009, the autonomous region arranged financial anti-poverty funds of 3 million Yuan and officially launched the vocational and technical education projects for the children from poor families in the impoverished regions of Dashi mountain areas. By providing special support for the 2,000 junior and senior middle school graduates from the families with per capita arable land below 0.5 mu, especially those below 0.3 mu, the government enabled them to receive 2 or 3-year vocational education in vocational schools, aiming to help them master the employment skills, improve the basic quality for integrating into the city and ultimately achieve long-term stable transfer of employment.

　　【Poverty alleviation by industrialization】 In 2009, the government arranged financial anti-poverty funds of 92.05 million Yuan for the industrial development in poverty-stricken villages, covering the third batch of 1164 poor villages involved in entire village advancement and 173,700 poor rural families. As of the end of 2009, in the autonomous region, 354,000 mu of featured planting area was developed, 62,000 mu of low-yielding area was improved and 959 cattle, 7,000 sheep, 20,000 pigs and 289,000 poultries were bred. For the large-scale, high-grade, potential, large-coverage competitive poverty alleviation leading enterprises the government made multi-county regional planning to increase the enterprises’ circulating funds, farmers’ planting and breeding funds and skills training funds, aiming to promote the income growth of poor farmers.

　　【Pilot projects of mutual funds in impoverished villages】 The pilot projects of mutual funds were launched in 105 poor villages in 21 national or regional key counties for poverty alleviation and development (poverty relief mutual aid societies were set up in 89 of these villages) with investment of 16.5479 million. A total of 2.168 million Yuan of loans were issued.

　　【Pilot demonstration zone for contiguous development and old revolutionary base construction】  In 2009, there were 11 pilot counties for contiguous development and old revolutionary base construction. Lingyun County, with pilot project launched in 2007, had completed the planned project construction and passed the region’s inspection and acceptance. The pilot counties of Tian’e, Longsheng, Longzhou and Longlin, with the project launched in 2008, had achieved half of the goals with half of the planned time; the six counties with pilot projects launched in 2009, including Xilin, Napo, Donglan, Mashan, Jinxiu and Sanjiang, had done the preliminary work and launched some projects.

　　【Infrastructure construction】  In 2009, the government invested anti-poverty funds of 626.65 million Yuan for the infrastructure construction in impoverished regions, of which 523.12 million Yuan was financial poverty relief funds, 103.53 million Yuan (including infrastructure construction in contiguous development) was financial subsidies from the autonomous region. As of the end of 2009, the following projects were completed: 19 four-level roads of 55.7 km to impoverished villages, 53% of the scheduled task; 3860 village-level roads of 9087 km, 62% of the scheduled task; 287 independent bridges, 51% of the scheduled task; 966 drinking water projects, 65% of the scheduled task; 30,000 biogas digesters, 100% of the scheduled task; 119 small-sized irrigation projects, 89% of the scheduled task; and thatched house renovation for 2,000 households, 100% of the scheduled task.

　　According to the government’s deployments for the Party Committee and Government to do practical things for the people, in 2009, the poverty alleviation department undertook the following practical projects for the people: road building for more than 1,000 poor villages; thatched house renovation for 2,000 rural poor households, construction of 30,000 biogas digesters, solving drinking problems for 200,000 people in poor areas, village-level road building for five counties (cities, districts) in the infrastructure improvement campaign of the Frontier Construction Action, namely Dongxing, Fangcheng District, Ningming, Pingxiang and Daxin County, as well as the village-level road building for five counties in the western areas of Guangxi in the infrastructure improvement campaign. As of the end of 2009, the region has built 1,570 village roads to benefit 2,050 villages and over-fulfilled the designated task; constructed 675 human drinking water projects to solve the drinking water problem of 251,893 people and over-fulfilled the designated task; renovated thatched house for 2,000 rural poor households, fulfilling 100% of the scheduled task; dug 30,000 biogas digesters for poor villages, fulfilling 100% of the scheduled task; built 349 village-level roads of 832.4 kilometers and 36 independent bridges in the infrastructure improvement campaign of the Frontier Construction Action, 569 village-level roads of 2294.1 kilometers in five counties in the western areas of Guangxi in the infrastructure improvement campaign, fulfilling 106% and 102% of the scheduled tasks; and built 21 independent bridges, fulfilling 100% of the scheduled task. In addition, to support the large and medium-sized reservoir construction in the infrastructure improvement campaign in Guangxi, the poverty alleviation departments built 221 village-level roads in the impoverished immigrant villages in the reservoir areas, which benefited 950,000 people.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】  In 2009, the nine units directly under the central government involved in the fixed-point poverty alleviation in the autonomous region, 138 units directly under the regional government and central government agencies in Guangxi, the city and counties’ helping units involved in the fixed-point poverty alleviation invested a great deal of funds to improve the production and living conditions in impoverished villages, of which 20 million Yuan was provided by Guangdong Province for free to support the road building, human drinking water projects, school building and industrial development in 23 entire village advancement demonstration villages in Baise and Hechi City.

　　【Poverty alleviation by foreign capital】  In 2009, in the National Poverty Reduction Synergies Industry Promotion and Investment Fair, 34 counties of Guangxi signed 37 agreements with 31 enterprises, with contract value of 3.2 billion Yuan. Meanwhile, in 2009, the region introduced grants of 30 million Yuan and completed the project proposals for urban and rural energy construction projects in Guangxi, China-Canadia policy option projects and Japan-China economic and technical cooperation projects. The pilot project for community-oriented development in minority areas of Guangxi aided by Canadian International Development Agency was initially identified and the planned aid was 13.78 million Yuan.

　　【Poverty alleviation measures】  1．Taking poor villages as the key areas, target at the objects of poverty reduction. First, ensure that more than 80% of the financial anti-poverty funds are used in the impoverished villages involved in poverty alleviation and development by entire village advancement, and more than 90% of the infrastructure construction funds are used in poverty-stricken villages. Secondly, all the introduced foreign capital and anti-poverty funds from Guangxi and Guangdong should be invested in the key counties for national poverty reduction and the impoverished villages identified by the autonomous region; Thirdly, all the household-reaching projects, such as biogas digesters, home drinking water projects, farmer training, industrial development grants and household loans must support poor rural households.

　　2．Poverty alleviation through combining entire village advancement and contiguous development: First, launch entire village advancement projects in impoverished villages in batches. From 2005 to 2010, it launched entire village advancement projects in 4,060 poor villages in three batches, two years for each batch. The project construction was completed in 2010. Secondly, implement contiguous development in special contiguous poor areas by way of campaign. In the new stage, nearly 10 billion Yuan of funds were integrated in the region to conduct comprehensive governance on Dashi mountain areas, minority areas, old revolutionary base areas and border areas by way of campaign. The government successively carried out infrastructure campaigns in many contiguous poor regions, including border areas, Donglan County, Bama County, Fengshan County, five counties in Dashi mountain areas, five counties in the western areas of Guangxi and the areas within 20 kilometers away from the border line.

　　3．Explore different models for poverty reduction based on the actual situation. Based on the different conditions in various regions, different villages and poor groups, the region explored different models for poverty alleviation. First, local development: Mainly for the regions and villages with relatively good resources condition and low cost for improvement of traffic conditions. Support industrial projects, improve the ecological environment and help the poor masses to shake off poverty and get rich through infrastructure improvement. Secondly, relocation: Mainly for the regions and villages under poor natural environment lacking production development conditions. Move the poor to the areas with better conditions and rebuild homes for them to alleviate the conflict between humans and land. Thirdly, employment transfer: On the one hand, foster and guide surplus rural labors of poor villages to work in urban areas to increase their income; on the other hand, implement vocational education projects for the children from poor families in impoverished villages of Dashi mountain areas. Support the students from poor villages of Dashi mountain areas that completed compulsory education but did not go to high school or university to receive 2 or 3-year vocational education in designated vocational schools to master new, more comprehensive employment skills and achieve stable employment transfer so as to alleviate the conflict between humans and land.

　　4．Starting with the immediate interests poor people are most concerned, determine four key areas for annual development. First, put emphasis on infrastructure construction in poverty-stricken villages to create conditions for development of poor people; Secondly, put emphasis on the development of competitive industries involving poor rural households to lay a solid foundation for the poor to obtain more income; Thirdly, put emphasis on ecological construction to promote the sustainable development of impoverished areas; Fourthly, put emphasis on the improvement of the overall quality of poor people to enhance the self-development ability of the poor.

　　5．Implement social poverty reduction under the guidance of the government. Through a variety of forms, create an atmosphere of helping the poor. Mobilize social forces and guide all circles of society to donate money and offer advice and suggestions for poverty alleviation and development, and increase investment in poverty alleviation and development. First, increase support for organs to involve in fixed-point poverty alleviation and support state organs, democratic parties, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and state-owned enterprises to help the key counties for poverty alleviation; Secondly, cooperate with Guangdong in the pairing-off poverty reduction and deepen the new ideas for the cooperation between Guangdong and Guangxi in the poverty reduction cooperation. Thirdly, organize the units directly under the regional government and central government in Guangxi to carry out fixed-point poverty reduction in impoverished villages; Fourthly, issue poverty relief loans for rural households and guide financial investment to turn to industry development in poor villages; Fifthly, carry out international exchanges and cooperation in the field of poverty alleviation, broaden channels for foreign capital to be involved in poverty alleviation and strive for foreign investment in the poverty alleviation in Guangxi.