Chongqing’s Multiple Measures to Fight Against Poverty While Overcoming COVID-19 Impact

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Chongqing has stuck with the fight against COVID-19 and poverty. The city has formulated a series of policies and measures on work and employment of the poor, industrial development, agricultural and livestock product sales, and other problems. Multiple targeted support measures contributed to the victory in the fight against COVID-19 and poverty alleviation.

Adequate supplies are ready for spring plowing

The villagers plowed their fields for cultivation in Banan, Chongqing.

Li Xiaoqiang, living in Gaoba Village, Xiaodu Town of Tongnan District, has been lifted out of poverty. He was busy with cultivation on his vegetable plot. Watching the sprouts of vegetables, he felt satisfied and was looking forward to the future harvest.

“I couldn’t go out to buy the agricultural supplies due to the epidemic. Thanks to our village cadres! They sent me the seeds I needed, so that spring plowing was not delayed,” said Li Xiaoqiang cheerfully.

Facing the needs of spring tillage amid the epidemic, all members of the leading group for poverty alleviation and development in the city cooperated closely with each other and left no stone unturned to ensure the normal spring tillage.

Moreover, Chongqing is adjusting and optimizing the requirements for the use of poverty alleviation funds. It will provide one-off production subsidies or discount interests of loans for enterprises that strive to overcome the impact of the epidemic and promote the development of poverty-stricken families.

Free point-to-point flight for the resumption of work

“What a blessing it is to take a free flight to work in another city!” A chartered airplane carrying 58 migrant workers flew from Wushan Airport to Yantai, Shandong Province, on February 29, starting the cooperative labor transfer between Chongqing and Shandong in 2020.

Living in Shengguang Village, Gaosheng Town of Dazu District, Ma Zhongwen, who has got his family registered for poverty, is a member of the 58 migrant workers. He said, “Thanks to the government, I got a public-welfare cleaning job with a stable monthly income.”

To help poverty-stricken families find jobs, Chongqing issued the Notice on Poverty Alleviation through Employment amid. A total of 20 measures have been taken to promote employment among people in financial difficulties.

Expand online & offline marketing channels for farmers

Agricultural product sale is in trouble while cities are in short supply of fresh products affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. To solve the sudden contradiction between supply and demand, all relevant local departments in Chongqing are building bridges between buyers and sellers through online marketing, poverty alleviation through consumption and other ways.

Meanwhile, they actively develop local enterprises and products for poverty alleviation and make them available on the national website “fupin832.com”. In this way, their local agricultural products could be sold online through the media’s promotion of e-commerce enterprises in impoverished areas.

Furthermore, the city also set up a special counter for poverty alleviation by selling agricultural products from poverty-stricken areas, which became a new marketing channel for those products.