Leaders Guide and Share Wisdom: Ruitai Sets Clear Direction for Poverty Alleviation

In the process of targeted poverty alleviation, grassroots exploration requires guidance from the top. In November 2014, Liu Yongfu, Director of the State Council's Poverty Alleviation Office, and Zhao Yong, Deputy Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, made a special trip to the predecessor of Chengde Ruitai - Xinglong County Ruitai Fruit and Vegetable Farming Cooperative, to preside over a targeted poverty alleviation field meeting. This research and guidance not only served as an on-site inspection of the cooperative's previous poverty alleviation work but also pointed out a practical path for the hawthorn industry to help in poverty alleviation.

◄ In November 2014, Liu Yongfu, Director of the State Council's Poverty Alleviation Office, and Deputy Provincial Party Secretary Zhao Yong held a targeted poverty alleviation field meeting at our cooperative

In the core hawthorn planting area of the cooperative, Director Liu Yongfu and Deputy Secretary Zhao Yong walked into the fields, carefully examining the hawthorn fruit conditions and engaging in face-to-face discussions with cooperative leaders and representative farmers. "How many impoverished households have joined the cooperative? How much more money can one acre of hawthorn earn compared to before?" "Can technical guidance keep up? Is there a guaranteed market?" The leaders raised these questions that concerned the farmers. Upon learning that the cooperative had already attracted over a hundred farming households but some impoverished households still had concerns due to lack of planting experience and insufficient investment capacity, Director Liu Yongfu emphasized, "The key to industry-driven poverty alleviation is connecting 'small farmers' to the 'big market,' and the cooperative must effectively help farmers resolve their concerns about technology and market access." Deputy Secretary Zhao Yong added that they should leverage Xinglong's advantages as a hawthorn production base and implement poverty alleviation measures in specific planting and processing stages.

During the field meeting, the cooperative reported in detail on their initial assistance approaches, including "contract planting" and "unified procurement." Director Liu Yongfu approved of the cooperative's commitment to a "minimum guaranteed purchase price" for the fruit, while also providing specific improvement suggestions: "You can explore a model of 'land shares + labour income,' allowing impoverished households to earn both rent and wages." Deputy Secretary Zhao Yong instructed relevant local departments to provide necessary support for the cooperative's technical training and infrastructure construction. After the meeting, the cooperative quickly sorted through the leaders' suggestions and optimized their assistance plan: addressing the technical shortcomings of impoverished households by forming a basic technical service team with the county agricultural bureau to conduct regular rural training in pruning and fertilization; addressing investment challenges by introducing flexible policies like "seedling credit + repayment after income" to lower participation barriers.

The leaders' on-site guidance made the cooperative's poverty alleviation approach clearer. With policy coordination and departmental support, the cooperative secured special poverty alleviation funds to upgrade irrigation facilities and build small sorting sheds, resolving the problem of mould damage after hawthorn harvest. Old Li, an impoverished farmer participating in the planting, said: "Previously, when growing hawthorns independently, we couldn't get good prices and worried about sales; after joining the cooperative, we have technical guidance and guaranteed purchase prices, which gives us peace of mind." This visible change is a vivid manifestation of the field meeting's results - the leaders' requirements transformed into specific measures benefiting every participating impoverished household.

This field meeting became a crucial turning point in the cooperative's development. Following the leaders' guidance to "build a solid industrial foundation," the cooperative gradually expanded its reach from the initial hundred households to eventually involving over 1,400 impoverished households, accumulating over 5 million yuan in increased income for farmers through share returns and dividends. From single planting cooperation, it gradually extended to processing, transforming hawthorns from "fresh fruit" to "products," further increasing the industry's added value.

Today, Chengde Ruitai, which has grown into a provincial-level poverty alleviation leading enterprise, continues to uphold the "practical poverty alleviation" concept advocated at the field meeting. The leaders' instructions in the hawthorn orchard that year have been transformed into the enterprise's operating principle of "developing together with farmers," making Xinglong hawthorns truly become the "fruit of prosperity" that helps people achieve stable income growth.

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