Concentrated efforts help villagers in Yunan shake off poverty

Due to its tough natural environment and underdeveloped local industries, the village of Wayao in Southwest China's Yunnan province turned out to be one of the most critical points in the province's drive to eliminate poverty.

Fortunately, with the support of the governments at four levels and the province's judicial department that started in 2013, the village's situation began to improve, and it pulled off a complete victory over poverty three years later.

Focusing on education

To prevent poverty from being passed on to younger generations, the department put great emphasis on the education of youth in the village.

Supported by the department's poverty-relief projects such as education fund, a villager named Su Youke, for example, happily saw his elder son become a doctor after graduating from college and his younger son continue his vocational education. The fund brought much-needed hope to this registered poor family.

In another case, after learning that a local primary school was short of beds and mattresses because of more than 100 new admissions, the department immediately donated materials worth 50,000 yuan ($7,550) to the school to fill the gap.

With its continued contribution to local education, the department managed to ensure that none of the children from local impoverished families is left behind.

Cultivating local industries

The department has also actively organized various training programs for villagers to learn new skills.

As a beneficiary of these programs, Xiao Xiancan from a local registered poor family rented farmland in 2016 to grow a variety of crops such as poria cocos and pomegranates. After this successful attempt, Xiao went on to raise silkworms, livestock and poultries on a large scale in 2019.

As a result, he has not only lifted his own family out of poverty but also led his fellow villagers to a better life by engaging 11 families in the silkworm raising business which has an annual value of production of 150,000 yuan.

Apart from incentivizing more people to raise silkworm, the department also actively explored the prospects of industries like apiculture and forage processing in an effort to diversify local streams of income.

Maximizing Party's leadership

The sea change of the villagers' lives couldn't have happened without the relentless effort of the department's Party members who are stationed in the village. They succeeded in bringing down the local poverty rate from as high as 25.4 percent to a mere 0.35 percent.

They are also in regular communication with the village's Party committees to improve the poverty relief work and strengthen the Party's leadership over it.