Poverty Alleviation of Ministry of Agriculture

　　【Overview】 In 2011, in accordance with the guideline of the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council for a new round of poverty alleviation and development, giving full play to its department functions and industrial advantages, combined with the fixed-point poverty alleviation and the counterpart support for Xinjiang and Tibet, based on the actual agricultural and rural economic development situation of poor areas, to boost economic development and improve people’s livelihood, the Ministry of Agriculture integrated resources, innovated the mechanism, highlighted key points and conducted multi-channel, comprehensive anti-poverty work to promote the sustainable income growth of farmers, stable development of agriculture and rural prosperity and harmony in poor areas.

　　【Field research guidance】 Based on the actual development situation of impoverished regions, giving fully play to their functional advantages, various departments, bureaus and subordinates of the Ministry of Agriculture conducted special field research in various forms on the development of featured agriculture and industries, quality safety of farm product, animal and plant quarantine, etc. In 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture sent more than 20 ministerial leaders and more than 100 department cadres to conduct field research in Xiangxi of Hunan, Enshi of Hubei, Bijie of Guizhou, Xinjiang and Tibet. In April, for instance, relevant cadres went to Enshi to give guidance on the quality safety of farm produce and the construction and certification of green food bases. In May, Minister Han Changfu personally carried out field research in Bijie Experimental Zone, made deployments on promoting the agricultural development and income growth of farmers in Bijie Experimental Zone, signed with Guizhou Provincial People’s Government the “MOU on Jointly Promoting the Development of Featured Agriculture in Guizhou Province”, proposed to give priority to the agricultural and rural economic development of Bijie Experimental Zone and included it into the MOU as an important part of the cooperation. In May and July, we successively went to Xiangxi and Enshi to carry out field research on the development of green tea and Longshan lily industry and the High-tech Demonstration Zone of Enshi Prefecture Institute of Agricultural Sciences. In September, we conducted field research in Yezhou Town, Jianshi County of Enshi Prefecture, and organized relevant experts to hold trainings and provide field consulting service for the villagers on healthy breeding, disease prevention and control, safe use of medicines, veterinarian laws, etc. In October, we conducted field research on the construction of border animal epidemic prevention system in Ali of Tibet, made clear relevant situation and put forward policy suggestion of intensifying the construction of animal epidemic prevention system in border areas. In October, we got involved in the field research of the special Research Group led by National Port Office at Baketu Port of Tacheng, Xinjiang, and formulated the Opinions on the Establishment of a “Green Channel” for China-Kazakhstan Farm Produce at Baketu (China) –Bakete (Kazakhstan) Port.

　　【Planning preparation】  On the basis of field research, in the process of preparing the industrial development planning, taking the improvement of industrial development environment and conditions of poor areas as an important content, the Ministry of Agriculture gave priority to impoverished regions in the policy development, capital investment and project arrangements. In 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture successively completed the formulation of the "Planning for Construction of Export-oriented Organic Agriculture Demonstration Base in Beijiang”, the “Development Planning for Fishing Industry of Xinjiang Autonomous Region during the ‘12th Five-Year Plan’ Period”, the "Planning for Construction of Livestock Pens in Cold Pastoral Areas of Tibet", the "Development Planning for the Comprehensive Utilization of Straw in Tibet", the "Planning for the Establishment of Technology Support System for Agricultural and Animal Husbandry in Tibet", the "Planning for the Construction of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation System for Agricultural and Animal Husbandry in Tibet", the “Planning for Naked Carp Resource Protective Development and Utilization in Shenzha of Tibet”, the “Planning for Poverty Alleviation and Development in Reclamation Area of Tibet during the ‘12th Five-Year Plan’ Period”, the “Development Plan of Competitive Featured Agriculture in the Regions Involved in Fixed-pointed Poverty Alleviation” and the “Development Planning of Green Food Industry in Enshi Prefecture (2009-2015)”, etc. At the same time, under the unified arrangements of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture reviewed the agriculture-related contents of the planning for 19 provinces and municipalities to provide counterpart support for Xinjiang and actively strived for the support of the aiding provinces and municipalities for the development of husbandry industry of Xinjiang. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and LGOP jointly prepared the planning for the development of competitive featured industries for poverty reduction in Wuling Mountain area.

　　【Pro-poor policies】  The Ministry of Agriculture, according to actual needs of impoverished areas, gave priority to impoverished areas in developing farming-benefit policies. First, in 2011, the state set up the mechanisms for subsidizing the ecological protection in grassland of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Ningxia, Yunnan and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and provided grazing ban subsidies, grants for balance of grassland and animal husbandry, production subsidies and performance appraisal reward. Second, in 2011, the scale of seed subsidies was further expanded and the standards for some species were enhanced. The grain, wheat, corn and cotton of central and western regions, the soybean of northeast and Inner Mongolia, the winter rape of the 10 provinces and municipalities in the Yangtse River delta, Xinyang of Henan, Hanzhong and Ankang of Shaanxi were included into the coverage of subsidies. Ten Yuan per mu was issued for wheat, corn, soybean and rape planting, and the subsidy standard for improved wheat species of Xinjiang was raised from 10 Yuan per mu to 15 Yuan per mu. At the same time, we promoted the implementation of improved species subsidy policy for the highland barley, yak and potatoes in Tibet and the Tibetan areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu. Third, in 2011, the subsidy for purchase of agricultural machinery in the disaster districts and counties and key epidemic areas after Wenchuan Earthquake was raised by 50%. Fourth, it raised the proportion of central subsidies for western large and medium-sized biogas projects in the total investment to 45% (35% in the central areas, 25% in east areas), set the central subsidy standard of 1500 Yuan (1200 Yuan in central areas and 1000 Yuan in eastern regions) for household biogas projects in the western regions, actively coordinated the National Development and Reform Commission to further raise the central subsidy standard for household biogas projects in Xinjiang from 1500 Yuan to 2000 Yuan per household, and raised the standard for the three prefectures in South Xinjiang to 3000 Yuan. Fifth, it continued to promote the implementation of transportation fee subsidy for cotton and cotton yarn to be transferred outside Xinjiang, raised the subsidy standard from 400 Yuan per ton to 500 Yuan per ton. Sixth, in 2011, the country began to implement large-scale renovation of dilapidated houses in agricultural reclamation areas, arranged 3.4 billion Yuan of central financial funds to support the renovation of dilapidated houses in agricultural reclamation areas of 24 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities).

　　【Poverty alleviation by project construction】 Based on the characteristics of outstanding industrial advantage in poor areas, the Ministry of Agriculture vigorously supported the industrial development and agricultural infrastructure construction of contiguous poor areas, focusing on plant protection projects, fine species projects in cultivation industry, animal and plant protection, county immune system, farm produce quality inspection system construction and market information service system, etc, which effectively promoted the improvement of agricultural infrastructure and comprehensive production capacity. Based on the rich agricultural resources in poor areas in helping farmers increasing income, combined with the implementation of the “Regional Layout Planning of Competitive Agricultural Products in China (2008-2015)” and the “Regional Layout Planning of Featured Agricultural Products (2006-2015)”, it arranged 51 demonstration comprehensive agricultural development projects in 11 contiguous poor areas including fine seed breeding for development of competitive cultivation with central government investment of 91.46 million Yuan.

　　【Poverty alleviation by science and technology】 First, combined with grassroots agricultural technology extension system reform and the construction of demonstrative counties and infrastructure of township extension agencies, the Ministry of Agriculture gave more instructions on the work in more than 60 national key counties for poverty alleviation and development to enhance the public service capacity of the grassroots agricultural technology extension system in impoverished areas. Second, it actively organized the implementation of 948 research projects of modern agricultural and industrial technology system and public service sectors (agriculture) and the pilot projects of infrastructure construction of township agricultural technology extension agencies to promote the research, development and promotion of key appropriate technologies for agricultural production in contiguous poor areas. For example, the modern agricultural technology system set up one potato system pest prevention and control position, No. 3 Rice Experiment Station and one tea system test station in Enshi Prefecture of Hubei, and invests central financial funds of 5.1 million Yuan per year. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the “2011 Work Plan for Aiding Tibet with Soil Testing Fertilization Technology” and carried out the work of soil testing and fertilization in Tibet Autonomous Region Agricultural Technology Extension Center and relevant prefectures (cities) through field guidance, field support and trainings. Third, it guided the contiguous poor areas to carry out disaster relief for harvest by science and technology and vigorously promoted efficient high-yield quality production of major crops in contiguous poor areas, low-cost high-quality organic soil cultivation, safe and effective pest prevention and control, eco-efficient use of water, soil and fertilizer, etc. Fourth, it strengthened technology information support to break the information blocking bottleneck of poor areas. In 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture assisted the operation of various application systems of Phase I of “Jinnong” Project for project benefits, prepared for the final exam of Phase I of “Jinnong” Project and conducted the final examination on time. It also provided support for the preparation of Phase II of “Jinnong” Project. Fifth, it actively carried out various activities to support agriculture by science and technology. In 2011, for example, jointly with the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and China Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture organized the activity for “technological experts and capable people for getting rich to support Tibet”, donated 4300 books on planting and breeding to local farmers and herdsmen and the “Farmers’ Reading Rooms”, donated 162 sets and 500 practical technical discs in Chinese and Tibetan, and held training courses for rural practical personnel and leaders for getting rich in poor regions such as Enshi of Hubei, Xiangxi of Hunan, Bijie of Guizhou, Xinjiang and Tibet. Relevant research institutes affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture held in poor areas the farm produce technology promotion activities many times to help solve the technological problem for grain and oil processing, fruit and vegetable processing and animal product processing, and developed fruit and vegetable drying technology, technique and equipment suitable for northwestern areas.

　　【Construction of rural market】 Poverty-stricken areas are mostly mountainous, ethnic minority areas with rich resources, distinctive three-dimensional climate characteristics and prominent advantages. First,, the Ministry of Agriculture and the agricultural sectors of relevant provinces and cities actively helped to build a variety of marketing platforms, successively established the online presentation of Beijing Exhibition Center for "special agricultural products" and specialty products showroom, held regular promotion meetings of featured agricultural products, and organized online marketing docking and trading to expand the sales market of farm produce with local characteristics. Currently, the Xiangxi’s ponkan businesses have established relatively stable cooperative relationship with 30 agricultural products wholesale market and set up relatively stable market channels. Second, we strengthened the publicity to enhance the influence of the agriculture and animal husbandry products with local characteristics in poor areas through opening special columns in CCTV-7, the Chinese agricultural information network and Farmer's Daily and distributing free advertisements. In 2011, the column "Life 567" developed pro-poor public welfare programs of more than 2000 minutes. Among them, “Going to School on A Camel” is the first TV program in China to reflect Tajik children’s difficulty in going to school. After it was broadcast, all circles of society paid attention to the local children and strived to help them. The “Agricultural Economics Daily” developed a large-scale program on aiding Tibet – “Gesang Flowers”. Lasting for 45 minutes, the program effectively publicized the changes in Tibet’s agriculture and animal husbandry in recent years. Eight programs of “Autumn Farm Produce Exhibition” was developed through taking pictures of medlar of Jinghe wolfberry, lavender, cantaloupe and seedless grapes in Urumqi, Turpan, Kashgar, Changji other places of Xinjiang, and the program last for 65 minutes. Third, based on the actual situation of green food and organic food, from the perspectives of base construction and marketing propaganda, we continued to implement the policies of reducing or exempting certification fee and logo use fee to support the areas involved in the fixed-point poverty alleviation. Fourth, the Ministry of Agriculture conscientiously implemented the strategy of "introducing" and "going global" and issued 200,000 Yuan of special funds for the “going global” program of Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Sciences. We supported the construction of the Kyrgyz agricultural demonstration center project, helped strengthen policy coordination and agricultural trade negotiations, and promoted the establishment of China- Kazakhstan agricultural products quick clearance mechanism, effectively promoting regional agricultural cooperation and agricultural product trade. Fifth, we were concerned about the agricultural market information dissemination and research. We set up in Xinjiang the cotton price monitoring and analysis center and paid close attention to the production and market changes

　　【Ecological poverty alleviation】 Poverty-stricken regions are mostly ecologically fragile areas and alpine regions, especially in the northwest areas. First, since 2011, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang (including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia and Yunnan have comprehensively established grassland ecological protection subsidies and reward mechanisms and provided grazing ban subsidies. Grazing is prohibited on severely degraded grassland with harsh living environment. The central government provides subsidies of six Yuan per mu for the grassland enclosure. Meanwhile, rewards are issued for forage-livestock balance. On a basis of a rational stocking rate, the central government issues reward of 1.5 Yuan per mu to the herdsmen not involved in overgrazing on the grassland that can be used. Implement production subsidy policy for herdsmen: Increase subsidies for improved species of livestock in pastoral areas and included yaks and goats into the coverage of subsidies on the basis of subsidizing improved species of beef cattle and sheep; Implement the subsidy policy for forage seed: Provide subsidies for 90 million mu of artificial pasture in the 8 provinces (autonomous regions) according to the standard of 10 Yuan per mu; Implement the subsidy policy for means of production: Provide subsidies for about 2 million rural households in the  8 provinces (autonomous regions) according to the standard of 500 Yuan per household. Meanwhile, we increased support for the development of education and training of herdsmen to promote the employment transfer of herdsmen. In order to establish the subsidy mechanism for ecological protection of grassland and increase the income of herdsmen, the central government arranges 13.4 billion Yuan per year. Second, as for the rural biogas construction, in 2011, the central government invested 138 million Yuan to continuously support the construction of biogas digesters in rural areas of Xinjiang and issued 91.24 million Yuan of central government funds to support the construction of biogas digesters in Tibet. As for the living resource proliferation, the Ministry of Agriculture successively held the living resource proliferation activities to promote the protection of living aquatic resources jointly with Xinjiang Autonomous Region People's Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Third, as for the comprehensive management of rural environment, we strived to help impoverished regions to construct clean water resources, clean countryside and clean homes through the construction of model villages for rural clean projects, agricultural production environmental and agricultural non-point source pollution monitoring, agricultural clean production technology demonstration projects, etc.

　　【Poverty alleviation by personnel training】First, organize trainings of new types of farmers, trainings of principals of rural grassroots organizations, trainings of one million secondary school students as rural practical talents, and trainings of university student village cadres, etc. We coordinated the relevant departments to increase capital investment in the "Sunshine Project" of rural labor transfer in Xinjiang, Tibet and the Tibetan areas of Yunnan, Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan, expand the training scale, increase subsidy standards and organize trainings for more than 930,000 person-times; we continued to implement the Sunshine Project in eight counties of Xiangxi and Enshi Prefecture, allocated training funds of 4.05 million Yuan and organized trainings for 13,900 person-times. Second, implement the  "Western Light" visiting scholar program and accept the students of Xinjiang, Tibet and the Tibetan areas of Yunnan, Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan to practice in inland areas. Third, make full use of the existing farmers' science and technology education and training and distance education and training network to organize experts to hold remote training, expert advice and other exchange activities to provide quality distance education for remote poverty-stricken areas. We supported the development of audiovisual programs in minority languages​​ to enrich the technology training resources of local areas; supported the statistical team-building and statistical training work of township enterprises and agricultural product processing industry and, based on the industrial advantages, we organized the trainings of agricultural and livestock management personnel, trainings of farmers’ specialized cooperative organizations, trainings of rural biogas management and technical personnel, trainings on safe production of feedstuff, animal husbandry statistics trainings, aquatic technology training, as well as green food and organic food inspector and supervisor trainings to improve the agricultural technology popularization and application capacity and level of impoverished areas.

　　【Exchange of cadres】 We continued to improve the mechanism for exchange of cadres to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of helping the poor. Through technical and personnel support, we further improved the agriculture and animal husbandry technology and personnel systems in poor areas, effectively enhanced the service capabilities of agriculture and animal husbandry and injected vitality to the development of agriculture and animal husbandry in poor areas. In addition, we continued to accept two agricultural cadres from Enshi of Hubei and Xiangxi of Hunan to practice in the Ministry of Agriculture. Through practice, the capabilities of relevant comrades for scientific decision-making, communication and coordination were improved and we successfully completed the task of providing counterpart support for poor areas by sending cadres there.