"A year ago, the Pianyanba was straightened in a thoroughly divergent situation." Wang Yunyou, the first secretary of Huaxi Village, said that due to the barren land and poor transportation, most young laborers left here to earn a living, leaving messy and uninhabited residential houses overgrown with weeds. Last year, Huaxi Village began to tap into the excellent natural environmental resources of Pianyanba, and with the help of Sunac Group, improving the overall environment of residential courtyards there.

The villagers in Huaxi Village checks the nesting status of bees. Photo by Long Fan.

Wang Yunyou said that the past year witnessed earth-shattering changes. At the end of last year, the remaining 19 impoverished people of eight households were lifted out of poverty, marking a complete success of all 307 people of 85 households there in poverty alleviation. Last year, the per capita disposable income of the village reached more than 14,000 yuan, an increase of 1,400 yuan compared to 2018.

The increased internal motivation for poverty alleviation

"What I experienced most in the past year is the change of spirits among the villagers. The priority of poverty alleviation should be given to spirit-lifting, and so we did. Cadres and the masses were motivated to the hilt," Wang introduced.

Tan Wenzhi, a member of Xianfeng Group in Huaxi Village, returned to his hometown after failing to start a business. He was frustrated and felt at loose ends. He and his spouse were in good health, but they suffered.

"The deep-seated cause of Tan's poverty was actually lack of internal motivation and loss of confidence." To raise Tan's spirits, Wang Yunyou often came over to encourage him to use his special skills and find ways to cast off poverty.

Last year, the sealwort planted on Huaxi Village's collectively-owned land on which the land-use right can be transferred were contracted by the villagers for management and protection, allowing the villagers to increase their income in a sustainable way. Tan Wenzhi regained hope and came round. "I cannot squander the golden."

Last year, Tan Wenzhi earned 5,850 yuan from odd jobs, and 9,700 yuan from contracting the sealwort planting, and his wife earned 27,000 yuan on construction sites. Thus, they successfully got rid of poverty. The Tan family also moved into a residential settlement and finally had their own house.

Implementing the mechanism of contract after rent for selected industries

Chinese honeybees, Chinese medicinal materials, and characteristic fruit trees are the three main specialty industries of the village. Currently, Huaxi Village is home to over 1,200 swarms of bees.

Tan Wenxiang, who used to suffer from poverty, grasped the opportunity to vigorously keep Chinese

honeybees. Last year, he got nearly 60 barrels of Chinese honeybees, thus breaking away from poverty with an annual income of over 50,000 yuan.

In addition, the sealwort, a kind of Chinese medicinal materials with high yield, stable price, and strong anti-risk ability, has been planted in the economic fruit forest of Huaxi Village. Wang Xiangsheng, secretary of the CPC committee of the village, introduced that the sealwort can be sold in the market after growing three to four years, with a yield of about 3,000 kg/mu (1 mu=666.7m²). At the market price of 16 yuan/kg last year, the income was nearly 50,000 yuan/mu, and the net income was about 20,000 yuan. Now, the village has planted 520 mu (about 350,000m²) of the sealwort.

Besides, Huaxi Village has also implemented a mechanism of contract after rent to transfer about 150,000m² of the sealwort to the villagers for management and protection. The villagers participating in the mechanism have a guaranteed minimum income per year for management and protection. After selling the sealwort, they can also divvy up 20% of the total revenue. "Based on the conservative estimates of a yield of 3,000 kg/mu and the average price of 10 yuan/kg, the villagers will receive a dividend of about 30,000 yuan after contracting five mu (about 3,000m²) of the sealwort for three years," Wang Xiangsheng said.

So far, Huaxi Village has planted about 180,000m² of crisp peaches, 55,000m² of crisp plums, 142,000m² of Evodia, 210,000m² of papaya, about 23,000m² of water shield, and about 27,000m² of lotus root. In 2019, Huaxi Village's sales revenue of agricultural products such as honey and fragrant rice reached 2.2 million yuan.