Inner Mongolia boosts poverty relief efforts

Firms in region join hands with local government, financial institutions to support impoverished households

Huo Jinyuan, a 72-year-old farmer in Ulaanqab in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, struggled to make ends meet before an oats company joined hands with the local government and financial institutions to help lift impoverished households in the region out of poverty.

The annual net income of his family has now increased from between 3,000 yuan ($427) and 5,000 yuan to 12,000 yuan as Yinshan Oats, a company specialized in oat breeding, planting, deep processing and warehouse logistics in Qahar Right Wing Middle Banner of Ulaanqab, offered him free oat seeds and bought the oats he planted for 3 yuan per kilogram, 30 percent higher than the market price.

The production capacity of his farmland also increased from around 750 kg per hectare to about 3,000 kg thanks to the high-quality seeds and training on oat planting provided by the company.

A total of 1,087 poverty-stricken families enjoyed the same benefits amid a nationwide poverty-relief battle in China.

President Xi Jinping called for perseverance in the fight against poverty as time is limited for the country to meet its goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2020. He made the remarks when deliberating with deputies from Gansu province at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's national legislature, on March 7.

During an inspection tour in Chongqing in April, Xi said: "The battle against poverty has entered a decisive and critical stage. We must press ahead with our full strength and strongest resolve and never stop until a complete victory is secured."

Gao Sen, head of the government of Qahar Right Wing Middle Banner, said civil servants in the banner strictly implemented President Xi's instructions on poverty alleviation and development.

"Taking the tough battle against poverty as a major task and the most important project concerning the improvement of people's livelihoods, we pooled various resources and concentrated on poverty reduction," he said.

To make sure the poverty alleviation program works in Qahar Right Wing Middle Banner by spurring the development of the oats industry, Bank of Inner Mongolia formed a partnership with the local government and Ping An Property and Casualty Insurance.

The bank has provided a one-year working capital loan of 30 million yuan to Yinshan Oats for two years since 2018 at a lending rate of 6.25 percent. Meanwhile, the local government provided a security deposit worth 10 percent of the loan amount. The insurer issued a surety bond promising to repay the loan in the event of a default and offered the company an interest subsidy of about 2 million yuan a year.

The company used the interest subsidy to provide 40 metric tons of oat seeds, 650 tons of potato seeds, fertilizer and pesticides for free to 1,087 impoverished households last year.