From "Evolution of the Farm," See the Innovative Exploration of "The Central Plains Poverty Alleviation Foundation"

Giving a person a piece of beef can feed him for a day; teaching a person to raise a cow can feed him for a year; teaching a person to run a cattle farm can feed his whole family; helping him expand the cattle farm can lift a whole village out of poverty.

This sentence reveals not only the essence of "teaching a man to fish is better than giving him a fish," but also the quintessence of "poverty alleviation through industry".

On April 28, 2019, Gao Yunlong, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, praised the "1,000 Enterprises Helping 1,000 Villages" precision poverty alleviation campaign organized by the Hebei Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce: "Leadership attaches importance, organization is effective, precise docking, and methods are effective. In particular, the innovative establishment of the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation and the practice of coordinated poverty alleviation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei have played a typical demonstration role."

What is new about the innovatively established Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation?

What are some new approaches in coordinated poverty alleviation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei?

Creating a new path for joint poverty alleviation by private enterprises

In July 2018, under the guidance of the Hebei Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, China Zhongji Investment, together with ten companies including Rongsheng Development, Junlebao, Qianxuhe, Tianshan Industrial Group, Yiling Pharmaceutical, Yangyuan Zihui, Hebei Jingcai Wuxian, Lixin Investment, and Yufeng Industrial Group, jointly invested in the establishment of the "Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation." The initial fundraising was nearly 100 million yuan, focusing on poverty alleviation work in Hebei Province.

After its establishment, the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation, starting from the actual needs of the poverty-stricken areas, focused on precision poverty alleviation to find "poverty alleviation focal points," seizing the "bull by the horns." In the four aspects of industrial poverty alleviation, employment poverty alleviation, education poverty alleviation, and public welfare poverty alleviation, it has initially formed a unique and sustainable new model for poverty alleviation and poverty eradication.

Xie Jingrong (left one), Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and Gao Zhili (right one), member of the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial Committee and then Minister of the United Front Work Department, unveiled the sign for the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation.

Zou Jiali, chairman of the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation, pointed out that the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation has opened up a new path for joint poverty alleviation by private enterprises. Everyone gathered under the banner of the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation to "contribute money, efforts, and ideas" to contribute to Hebei's poverty alleviation and poverty eradication cause.

Capital evolution of traditional farms

After its establishment, the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation quickly completed investments in the Yangyuan County, Zhangjiakou cashmere goat breeding poverty alleviation project and the Yunquan Animal Husbandry project in Longhua County, Chengde. The foundation incorporated the development model of industrialized operation and capitalized operation into the projects, attracting more impoverished people to participate.

Yangyuan County, Zhangjiakou City, is a key provincial-level poverty-stricken county in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It has poor land, a single industry, conservative residents' ideas, relatively backward infrastructure, and an especially weak industrial base.

Under the guidance of the Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation, combining the actual situation of deeply impoverished areas, after repeated investigations and careful feasibility studies, adopted the model of "jointly leading industrial leading enterprises to incubate poverty alleviation projects." It decided to vigorously develop the cashmere goat breeding industry in Dong Baimayang Village, promoting the construction of pilot projects for poverty alleviation through industry, comprehensively improving the execution capabilities of the assisted, expanding the industry chain of poverty alleviation projects, and expanding the coverage of poverty alleviation projects.

Liu Jingsong, chairman of the Hebei Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, led the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation to inspect the fattening cattle breeding and fermented feed production demonstration project at Longhua Yunquan Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd.

The project has currently invested 9 million yuan and entrusted a professional breeding company to build a sheep farm with an area of about 50,000 square meters and a capacity of 2,000 sheep. The foundation jointly established a breeding cooperative with impoverished households and jointly established a project company with a professional breeding company. The project innovatively adopted the model of "foundation + enterprise + cooperative + farmer": The Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation invests, entrusts a professional breeding company to build, and after the sheep farm is completed, the project company operates it through leasing; the project company distributes dividends to the cooperative every year, and the cooperative distributes dividends to the foundation and the contracted impoverished households according to the share ratio.

Cashmere goat breeding project built in Dong Baimayang Village, Yangyuan County.

Although Longhua County is only 280 kilometers away from Beijing, it is a provincial-level poverty-stricken county and a key county for national poverty alleviation. Longhua County was listed as a national commodity cattle production base as early as 1978, but its economic development is lagging behind, and its ecological environment is relatively fragile. The traditional regional dominant industry, animal husbandry, has not seen improvement for many years, and even shows signs of decline.

Based on this, the United Front Work Department of the Hebei Provincial Committee and the Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce introduced Qianxuhe Group, the initiating member unit of the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation, to establish Longhua Yunquan Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. in April 2018 to carry out a fattening cattle breeding and fermented feed production demonstration project. The poverty alleviation project covers an area of 82 mu, with a building area of 48,000 square meters, a capacity of 2,200 fattening cattle, an annual output of 6,600 finished beef cattle, and an established poverty alleviation and poverty eradication linkage mechanism with 281 registered impoverished households. It annually purchases 15,000 tons of silage and digests corn stalks from 5,000 mu of land, capable of helping 3,000 farmers increase their income and become wealthy.

After preliminary investigation and research, in November 2018, the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation completed due diligence and assessment, investing 5 million yuan in the project to support the development of the project company and establish a benefit linkage mechanism with local impoverished villages. The foundation's dividends and income are used for poverty alleviation and assistance in local impoverished villages.

Zou Jiali pointed out that through supporting industries, base work, land transfer, and equity dividends, "changing blood transfusion to blood creation" guarantees the income of impoverished households and promotes the poverty alleviation and enrichment of impoverished people.

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated poverty alleviation

On the eve of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation contacted vocational schools in Yangyuan and Ulan counties under the jurisdiction of Zhangjiakou to jointly establish "Zhongji Ice and Snow Classes." The project plans to recruit hundreds of students from deeply impoverished villages to receive professional ice and snow education, cultivating top-level professional service personnel for international winter ice and snow sports projects. This project is currently underway and has received warm welcome from the locals.

Many impoverished people in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei poverty belt have the desire to escape poverty and become wealthy, but they lack the means of livelihood.

The Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation leverages its own advantages and cooperates with more than ten private enterprises under the foundation to provide "targeted and order-based" skills training for impoverished people.

The Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation works closely with professional companies, research institutes, and vocational schools to conduct targeted employment training and recruitment, providing "order-based" skills training for eligible people in deeply impoverished villages and marginal impoverished households in marginal impoverished villages. This emphasizes the "blood-creating" ability of employment poverty alleviation and guarantees employment for impoverished people. This work is currently underway.

Zhangjiakou Sange Di Zhen Central Primary School assistance project.

In terms of public welfare poverty alleviation, the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation, together with more than ten enterprises, carries out various public welfare poverty alleviation activities.

Zou Jiali said: "Giving things is the simplest and most direct approach, but it's not a solution. Giving things and money, those things and money will always run out one day. Poverty alleviation cannot simply be about 'giving' without any other support. The focus of poverty alleviation is on 'supporting', 'supporting industries, supporting employment, supporting education, and supporting public welfare'. After 'supporting', we must enable poor counties and impoverished people to 'walk, run, and leap'; only then will it work."

He frankly stated that the Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation is relatively new, and many things are still being explored step by step. Whether it's industry poverty alleviation, education poverty alleviation, employment poverty alleviation, or public welfare poverty alleviation, it all revolves around cultivating the ability to 'create one's own blood supply'. The Zhongji Poverty Alleviation Foundation is still young and needs the participation of more private entrepreneurs and social organizations in the future to do more meaningful things for the country and society.