Lianjiang, a county-level city in Zhanjiang, received the grade of "good comprehensive evaluation" in the recent assessment of poverty alleviation and development work of Zhanjiang in 2019, with its assessment index score ranking first among all units.

To date, the 16,353 impoverished households with 39,488 people in Lianjiang have been lifted out of poverty, while the 57 provincial-level impoverished villages have also been lifted out of poverty.

The city has been building industrial poverty alleviation bases to increase the incomes of impoverished households. It has invested a total of 925.08 million yuan ($138.41 million) into 2,215 poverty alleviation projects, benefiting 16,395 impoverished households and 39,491 impoverished people.

A plantation base for lotus seed pods was established at Nalang village in Lianjiang, and takes the "economic cooperative + impoverished households" operational mode. A total of 151 impoverished households have joined Nalang Rural Eco-tourism Professional Cooperatives, of which 68 households with 168 people have been lifted out of poverty.

The poverty-relief planting base for passion fruit reaps a bumper harvest. [Photo/Zhanjiang Daily]

Lianjiang has also been promoting the development of characteristic industries. All of the 17 townships in the city have developed a featured industry and have set up a town-level industrial poverty alleviation base.

Nearly 120 million yuan has been used for the establishment of the Lianjiang Poverty Alleviation Industrial Park, which covers an area of 216 mu (14.4 hectares). The industrial park is operated in a leasing mode, with rental incomes distributed to the impoverished households.

Preferential employment policies were also released by the industrial park to encourage impoverished people to work in the park.

The city has also created public welfare jobs for impoverished people. "In the first half of this year alone, Lianjiang has invested more than 900,000 yuan in creating public welfare posts for those who have not been lifted out of poverty," said Xiao Fanian, executive deputy director of the city's poverty relief office.

According to Xiao, there were 11,814 impoverished people in Lianjiang that were able to work in 2019, of which 9,909 people were transferred to other places and received employment, while 1,421 people were assigned to public welfare posts like road maintenance, forest protection, and cleaning.

In addition, Lianjiang organized its poverty-stricken areas to take part in a variety of trade fairs, as well as set up e-commerce websites for poverty alleviation agricultural products. Its 23 governmental units have reached long-term cooperation with poverty-stricken areas, promoting sales of 233 tons of potatoes and 120 tons of fruit, generating 3.93 million yuan in sales revenue.