China.org.cn | May 22, 2020
Farmers' Daily:
Concerning the epidemic's impact on the production and sales of products in impoverished areas, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and relevant government bodies have made deployments and arrangements specifically to boost consumption as a way of poverty alleviation. What are these specific measures? How well do these measures work?
Liu Yongfu:
Over the years, some local industries have been developed to help poverty alleviation, such as the production of apples, walnuts, and Chinese dates, which have come onto the market this year. Of course, there will be products associated with poverty alleviation every season, and these products must be sold. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of works have been carried out under the joint efforts among the National Development and Reform Commission, the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, as well as other government bodies concerning e-commerce and consumption to help poverty alleviation.
First, we have carried out the verification work of poverty alleviation products in Western China. What are poverty alleviation products? They refer to the products produced either by impoverished people, villages, and relevant cooperatives or by leading enterprises that help poverty alleviation. In short, poverty alleviation products are those which are associated with impoverished people and can also help lift people out of poverty. We've put effort into carrying out this verification. The verification is not a one-time thing. It will be constantly carried out all year round. So far, over 40,000 products have been verified, and the total value reached 390 billion yuan. We will continue to carry out the verification work in the future. As of now, the sales of these products reached 32.3 billion yuan.
As we all know, Hubei province is the worst-hit region of the epidemic this year. Our support for Hubei started in March with the improvement of the epidemic situation. Seven provinces in East China helped impoverished workers in Hubei go out for jobs. We've also helped Hubei sell its poverty alleviation products. According to the statistics from Hubei, the sales of well-known poverty alleviation products, such as crayfish, tea, and mushrooms, reached nearly 3 billion yuan. The working committee of the central and state organs has called on all units of the central and state organs to purchase the products overstocked in Hubei province. From mid-March, in less than two months, 99 government bodies have bought 186 million yuan of products. Each of them made a purchase of 1.87 million yuan on average. Therefore, first, we need to carry out verification of the poverty alleviation products. Second, we need to take various measures to consume these products.
Next, there are still several models regarding our work, such as government procurement and market trading. We can also encourage e-commerce companies to sell these products. Some social organizations are also working on public welfare projects in this field. In short, we will come up with various measures to help sell these high-quality products produced by impoverished people in impoverished areas.
The work in this field should be connected with the "rice bag" (i.e., grain supply) and "vegetable basket" (i.e., non-staple food supply) projects in cities of East China. These products from impoverished areas are of high quality, and sometimes people may find it difficult to buy these products. We need to step up our organizing efforts. Impoverished people are the producer, while people living in East China are the consumer. Thus, the sale and purchase of goods are not a burden, but a perfect match between them. We will continue our works in the next step. Of course, the quality must be ensured, and the price must stay reasonable. It is necessary to prevent seeking personal gain in the name of helping poverty alleviation. We've got a head start. Thank you.