Poverty Alleviation and Development in Heilongjiang Province

　　【Issuance of anti-poverty funds】 In 2010, Heilongjiang Province issued a total of 425 million Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds, of which 379 million Yuan was issued by the central government, 46 million Yuan was provincial matching funds and 760 million Yuan was credit loans, including project loans of 450 million Yuan and household loans of 310 million Yuan. As poverty relief funds were issued, smooth progress was made in the implementation of entire village advancement, construction of old revolutionary base areas, labor transfer trainings for poor households, poverty alleviation by industrialization, mutual funds for poverty-stricken villages and pilot projects of contiguous development, etc.

　　【Entire village advancement】 In 2010, in accordance with the standard of “four possessions, three accesses and three improvements”, taking infrastructure construction as the basic project to lift poor areas out of poverty, Heilongjiang Province strengthened the integration of resources and successfully completed the task of entire village advancement of the fifth batch of 750 poor villages for the first year. With the central and provincial subsidies for purchase of agricultural machinery and the financial anti-poverty funds, it supported 54 villages to set up agricultural machinery cooperatives, purchase 66 large agricultural machines and construct warehouse of agricultural machinery of 700 square meters, which enhanced the level of standardization of agricultural equipment and field work in poor villages. Through coordinating relevant departments to give priority to poverty-stricken villages in providing subsoiling soil preparation subsidies to support 44 poor villages to implement subsoiling soil preparation and develop protective farming, which promoted the sustainable agricultural development. Through building village cement roads of 517.62 kilometers, red-brick roads of 143.96 kilometers, asphalt roads of 1 kilometer and farm roads of 312.4 kilometers, it solved the highroad problem of the poor. Through digging 29 wells for people and livestock and supporting 21,000 poor households to install tap water pipeline in poor villages, it addressed the drinking water problem of the poor. Through digging 687 farm wells and building drains of 46,500 meters, causeway of 5,765 linear meters and 43 culvert gates for poor villages, the province achieved “stable yields despite drought or excessive rain” in agricultural production. Meanwhile, the province installed CATV cables for 9165 households, installed 308 street lamps, built clinics of 6139 square meters, villagers’ cultural activity rooms of 21279.6 square meters and leisure plaza of 151,590 square meters, installed fences of 90658.5 square meters and repaired 566 toilets, which solved the problem of power supply, CATV and leisure and recreational activities in poor villages. In addition, the province renovated the mud and grass houses of 307 poor households. With the improvement of infrastructure, the overall appearance of poverty-stricken areas has been significantly improved and the production and living conditions and standards of the poor have been significantly enhanced.

　　In 2010, entire village advancement in Heilongjiang Province directly benefited 41,000 poor households. The per capita income of local villages reached 2600 Yuan or more and the rural per capita net income of 14 key counties amounted to 2893 Yuan, up 15.4%. In 2010, 300,000 rural poor in the province were lifted out of poverty.

　　【Labor transfer training - Rain Plan】 In 2010, Heilongjiang Province strived to enhance the comprehensive quality of poor farmers and strengthen the intellectual development in poor areas and adjusted the content of “Rain Plan” for poverty alleviation and development: First, it highlighted practical technical training for poor villages, adopted many supportive pro-poor measures, including labor transfer training of migrant workers, local employment training of rural labors and encouraging junior and senior middle school graduates to receive secondary vocational education, and implemented whole village training transfer program to ensure that labors from poor rural households will not lose the opportunity for receiving trainings due to poverty and provide living security guarantee for the poor to achieve transfer of employment and shake off poverty. Meanwhile, it organized the training for the first batch of village cadres, farmer brokers, foregoers of planting and breeding and pioneers of labor exports and invested 16 million Yuan of "Rain Plan" training funds for trainings of 159,000 poor labors. In addition, it held five trainings for village party committee secretaries and village heads and a total of 750 village cadres and business leaders attended the trainings.

　　【Industrial poverty alleviation】 In 2010, to promote the industrial development in impoverished villages, taking it as the fundamental solution to rural poverty to enhance the self-development capacity of farmers and achieve the transformation from blood-transfusion poverty reduction to blood-making poverty relief, Heilongjiang Province actively developed industries to enrich people and constantly increased sources of income for farmers. Through the implementation of poverty alleviation by industrialization, it enhanced the degree of organization of the production of poor farmers and accelerated the process of industrialization of agriculture in impoverished villages. In the fifth batch of 750 poor villages involved in the entire village advancement, the government supported 5,271 poor households to purchase 2,970 cows, 1,141 cattle, 6,585 pigs, 123 donkeys, 1,918 sheep, 98,400 poultries and 341 boxes of bees; supported 19,263 poor households to introduce 807.64 tons of new grain varieties and built pasturing communities of 12,120 square meters and 24 milk stations. Based on the poverty alleviation projects, the province established 163 professional farming cooperatives mainly composed of poor households in the impoverished villages involved in entire village advancement, which helped 11,000 poor households. Through entire village training, it set up 97 labor export service team for poor households. Meanwhile, with 11.9 million Yuan of anti-poverty loan discount funds, it supported 33 leading enterprises and 125,000 poor households, guided enterprises to built farming bases in impoverished villages and organized poor farmers to conduct large-scale operation by land transfer and participate in the construction of industrial bases relying on enterprises. A total of 380,000 mu of land was transferred and the coverage of industrialization base was expanded. Through poverty alleviation by industrialization, the masses in poor villages developed various industries and achieved substantial income growth.

　　【County-based pilot projects of contiguous development】 In 2010, Heilongjiang Province implemented the county-based pilot projects of entire village advancement and contiguous development through integration of funds in three key counties, namely Lanxi, Baiquan and Huanan. A total of 15 million Yuan of state financial anti-poverty funds were issued and 62.011 million Yuan of agriculture-related funds were integrated for the implementation of more than ten projects, including the construction of featured farming communities, agricultural production cooperatives, rice planting, water-saving irrigation, planting of pollution-free sticky corn, infrastructure construction, etc. Through integrating financial anti-poverty funds and other agriculture-related funds to combine entire village advancement with contiguous development and combine poverty alleviation and development with regional economic growth, the province achieved the coordinated economic and social development in impoverished areas and stable income growth of poor farmers as well.

　　【Pilot projects of mutual funds】 In 2010, financial anti-poverty funds of 18 million were arranged for the pilot program of mutual funds. The pilot projects were launched in 60 poor villages of 40 counties, and the average subsidy for each village was 300,000 Yuan. Through absorbing 12,300 rural households to invest as shareholders with anti-poverty funds, the province set up new farmers’ organizations for mutual assistance to increase financing channels for the poor to develop production. So far, mutual funds have been established in 214 poor villages in Heilongjiang Province.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】In 2010, the social poverty relief funds in Heilongjiang reached 220 million Yuan, of which 115 million Yuan was gratis investment and 105 million Yuan was introduced. 10 central state organs, 160 provincial party and government organs, enterprises and institutions and 4714 city and county organs sent a total of 2270 cadres to support the poverty reduction in designated counties, towns and villages and implemented 2600 projects to support 750 impoverished villages and nearly 1600 poor students. 33 industrialization poverty relief leading enterprises went to develop industrial bases in poor villages, which led 57800 rural households to participate in industrial development and achieve per household income growth of 5000 Yuan.

　　【Promote the development of old revolutionary base areas】 In 2010, Heilongjiang issued financial funds of 20 million Yuan for the construction of old revolutionary base areas, of which 15 million Yuan was provided for the construction of 30 high-standard demonstration villages in old revolutionary base areas; 5 million Yuan was issued for the implementation of 53 small projects in 44 counties (cities, districts). Through supporting construction, it accelerated the economic and social development in old revolutionary base areas.

　　【Convergence of two systems】  In 2010, Heilongjiang highlighted poverty alleviation and development and social relief and formed the model of “two-wheel driven” to strengthen the construction of security system in impoverished areas. Based on the effective convergence of the rural minimum living security system and pro-poor policies in 14 national key counties, the province expanded the pilot area to nine provincial key counties. Through farmers’ declaration, democratic evaluation and information card archiving, it identified poor families among low-income households and included all the farmers receiving the minimum living allowances with the ability to work into the coverage of poverty alleviation. Mainly through supporting poverty relief projects, social poverty alleviation, industrialization-based poverty reduction, trainings for transfer of employment and the rural minimum living security system, the province provided allowances and support for all those meeting the conditions.

　　【Pro-poor measures】  In 2010, based on the construction of “ten projects”, in order to increase the income of poor farmers and improve the production and living conditions of impoverished villages, Heilongjiang Province adopted five measures to accelerate the pace of industrial development in poverty-stricken villages, speed up the infrastructure construction in poor villages, vigorously develop social undertakings in impoverished villages, enhance the public services, constantly improve the backwardness of poverty-stricken regions and narrow the development gap.

1. Vigorously conduct industrial poverty alleviation to increase sources of income. In 2010, based on local actual situation, Heilongjiang Province actively developed grain, livestock breeding, labor service and other featured industries to enrich people and, with the support of anti-poverty funds, poverty relief loan discount subsidy, agricultural insurance and poverty reduction trainings, vigorously developed planting, breeding and labor export cooperative organizations, which enhanced the degree of organization of poor farmers’ production. Meanwhile, it constantly increased sources of income growth for farmers, enhanced the self-development capacity of farmers and achieved the transformation from blood-transfusion poverty reduction to blood-making poverty relief. Planting, breeding and labor export cooperative organizations respectively increased the income of 11,000, 5,500 and 2,910 poor households, which achieved per household income growth of 5,700 Yuan.

2. Vigorously conduct poverty alleviation by facilities to improve the production and living conditions in impoverished rural areas. In 2010, the province strongly promoted the construction of basic projects such as improvement of farmland and water conservancy, safety of drinking water in rural areas, agricultural mechanization, rural roads and mud and grass houses of poor farmers to accelerate the pace of poverty reduction in impoverished regions. As a result, the infrastructure in poor villages was further improved, the sustainable agricultural development was further strengthened and rural development environment and the production and living conditions of the poor were further improved. The fifth batch of 750 poor villages were equipped with 600 sets of large or middle-sized agricultural machinery, 720 poor villages installed tap water pipelines, 663 kilometers of roads in poor villages were hardened, the infrastructure in impoverished villages such as drainage equipment, power supply, CATV and leisure and creation activity centers was obviously improved and the public services were significantly enhanced.

3. Vigorously conduct intellectual poverty alleviation to improve the comprehensive quality of poor farmers. In 2010, based on the actual situation of low quality of poor labors and the lack of labor skills, through the implementation of “Rain Plan”, Heilongjiang Province carried out entire village training, skills training and trainings for pioneers in getting rich and provided subsidies for “two kinds of backward students” to receive secondary and senior vocational education, which enhanced the capacity of farmers to develop production and enhanced their consciousness of science and technology and consciousness of getting rich through entrepreneurship. As a result, farmers took the initiative to learn and use science and technology and obviously got strong labor skills and a large number of farmer brokers, foregoers in farming and pioneers in labor export appeared in impoverished areas.

4. Vigorously implement poverty reduction by security guarantee to achieve two-wheel drive of development and relief. In 2010, Heilongjiang Province gave priority to impoverished areas and targeted at poor households in implementing social security policy, aiming to ensure that the elderly will be looked after properly, the needy family will be aided, ill people will get medical service and the poor’s basic living will be guaranteed. The pilot projects for the effective convergence of the rural minimum living security system and pro-poor policy covered 266,000 poor households in 23 national and provincial key counties for poverty alleviation and development. Under the principle of "basic security, wide coverage, flexibility and sustainability", pilot projects for the new rural endowment insurance gave priority to impoverished villages and poor households. In the poverty-stricken villages involved in entire village advancement, those poor farmers who really cannot afford the individual payment can use anti-poverty funds for individual contribution. The new rural cooperative medical system covered all the fifth batch of 700 poor villages and poverty relief funds were issued to those really cannot afford the individual payment to pay the individual contribution so that all the poor can enjoy the basic medical service. 100% of the poor households participated in the cooperative medical system. It solved farmers’ problem of falling into poverty and poverty returning due to illness.

5. Vigorously implement social poverty relief to enhance the overall efficiency of poverty alleviation and development. In 2010, Heilongjiang Province further strengthened the leadership over social poverty relief, improved the working mechanism, fully mobilized the enthusiasm and consciousness of all circles of society to actively participate in poverty alleviation, strengthened fixed-point poverty reduction, promoted enterprises’ poverty relief and mobilized all circles of society to participate in poverty reduction. A five-level poverty alleviation system was established in the province for ten central state organs, 1690 provincial party and government organs, enterprises and institutions and 4717 city, county and township government organs to support the designated poverty-stricken counties, impoverished villages and poor households. The helping units put emphasis on the key work and paid equal attention to poverty relief and development. They provided not only materials but also development ideas and technologies for the poor and attached importance to both blood transfusion and blood making to effectively support poor villages to develop industries and select projects to increase income for long-term development. In the province, 33 poverty alleviation leading enterprises and all circles of society were actively involved in the poverty alleviation. Currently, social poverty relief has become an important force for the poverty alleviation and development in Heilongjiang.

　　【Review of decade of poverty alleviation and development】In 2001, Heilongjiang Province formulated the "Outline for Poverty Alleviation and Development of Heilongjiang Province (2001-2010)" and clearly proposed to "address the food and clothing problem of the poor and eliminate absolute poverty". With the joint efforts of the cadres and masses in the whole province, remarkable achievements were made in the field of poverty alleviation and development.

　　From 2001 to 2010, Heilongjiang Province issued a total of 7.19 billion Yuan for poverty alleviation and development, of which 2.97 billion Yuan was special anti-poverty funds and 4.22 billion Yuan was integrated funds, and implemented entire village advancement, labor transfer trainings for poor households, poverty alleviation by industrialization, pilot projects of contiguous development, pilot projects of mutual funds in poverty-stricken villages and the effective convergence of two systems, etc, which improved the infrastructure in impoverished areas, significantly improved the basic living conditions of the poor and gradually increased sources of income for farmers.

1. Main results. Poverty alleviation and development projects made a great contribution to poverty reduction and eradication and the common prosperity of farmers in the Heilongjiang Province, promoted the economic growth in impoverished areas and laid a solid foundation for building a moderately prosperous society and a harmonious socialist society, mainly reflected in: First, a steady decline in rural poverty. Based on the poverty line set in 2001, the number of rural poor in Heilongjiang Province dropped from 3.73 million in 2001 to 1.83 million in 2010. Second, significant enhancement of the living standards of the poor. By the end of 2010, the rural per capita net income of Heilongjiang Province increased from 21.482 million Yuan in 2001 to 62.107 million Yuan in 2010 and brick houses accounted for 85% of the total rural houses. Third, constant improvement of infrastructure in impoverished areas. The length of highroads, number of households with CATV program, number of households with telephone sets and number of households with access to tap water in poor villages respectively increased from 1200 kilometers, 320,000, 330,000 and 314,000 in 2001 to 8900 kilometers, 1.25 million, 648,000 and 940,000 in 2010. Fourth, rapid social development in impoverished areas. The enrollment rate of children of school age in poor villages, the proportion of village-level clinics in key counties and the proportion of village-level cultural activity rooms respectively increase from 94%, 15.2% and 14.3% in 2001 to 100%, 80.4% and 81.5% in 2010. Fifth, stable regional economic development. The per capita GDP of key counties, local general budget revenue and gross agricultural production respectively rose from 3500 Yuan, 603.08 million Yuan and 5.91973 billion Yuan in 2001 to 11,000 Yuan, 2.8118 billion Yuan and 17.8168 billion Yuan in 2010.

2. Main practices and experience. Over the past decade, Heilongjiang Province constantly explored innovative mechanisms for poverty reduction to highlight key work and integrated all resources for poverty relief, which fundamentally guaranteed and enhanced the quality and effectiveness of poverty alleviation and development.

　　First, mechanism innovation and comprehensive promotion are the systematic guarantee for the development of poverty alleviation. At the beginning of the new century, Heilongjiang took the lead in China to implement entire village advancement and successively formulated the “Regulations on Entire Village Advancement”, “Measures for Rolling Poverty Alleviation” and “Measures on the Management of Mutual Funds” to standardize, regularize and institutionalize the work management. To this end, it took the initiative in the country to provide legal status for poverty alleviation and development and promulgated the "Regulations of Heilongjiang Province on Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development"; and took the initiative in the country to establish the system for local government to integrate funds. In line with the principle of "smooth channels, same nature, relatively concentrated and merit recording", over the past decade, the province integrated and issued a total of 7.19 billion Yuan of poverty relief funds, which gradually enhanced the standards for the construction of poverty reduction projects and accelerated the pace of development in impoverished areas.

　　Secondly, special projects and public participation are the systematic guarantee of the harmonious development of poverty relief work. Adhering to the ideology of “large-scale poverty reduction”, on the base of special poverty alleviation, Heilongjiang Province actively coordinated various sectors and departments, social forces and the poor to participate in poverty alleviation and development and established a poverty relief system featured government leadership, social participation, self-reliance and joint efforts for key problem tackling, which stimulated the inherent development vitality of the masses in impoverished areas.

　　Thirdly, development-oriented poverty reduction and the consolidation of basic projects are the basic guarantee for the scientific development of poverty alleviation. Taking it as the starting point and ultimate goal of protecting the fundamental interests of the poor to help poor people shake off poverty and become rich and solve the basic development problem of impoverished areas and poor people, through the implementation of entire village advancement, Heilongjiang Province has improved the production and living conditions of the masses in 3134 poor villages; through the implementation of “Rain Plan”, it enhanced the basic quality and labor skills of 288,000 labors from poor families. A total of 86,000 poor households have been long engaged in non-agricultural industries and 43,000 labors from needy families have become industrial workers in the city still with the identity of farmer. Through the implementation of poverty reduction by industrialization, the province has also increases sources of income of the farmers. 33 poverty alleviation leading enterprises directly set up production bases in poor villages, providing opportunities for 57800 poor households to participate in the construction of bases. Meanwhile, the degree of organization of the production development of poor farmers has been constantly enhanced, the basic sources of income growth were guaranteed and the rural per capita net income of the poor villages involved in entire village advancement reached 2600 Yuan.