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How Agritourism Benefits People in Rural China


As China continues its efforts to lift its citizens out of poverty, initiatives have been established to help those living in rural communities. The government has created the twelfth Five Year Plan that aims to alleviate poverty and focuses on people in rural China, who are more susceptible to poverty than those who live in metropolitan parts of the country.

The plan states that China plans to “lift all of its poor out of poverty by 2020,” by mainly focusing on people living in the nation’s 128,000 poor villages and 832 counties. The plan further encourages the development of competitive industries in areas that include agriculture and tourism to help pursue the goal of alleviating poverty by 2020.

Beyond the government’s efforts to support citizens in rural communities, migrants from these communities, who previously moved to metropolitan cities for better opportunities, are moving back to their hometowns and villages to set up businesses to help progress these areas.

A cause for this shift is attributed to favorable policies implemented to help progress the lives of people in rural China. The Chinese government has created policies that focus on improving rural infrastructure, providing subsidies, streamlining registration procedures, improving financial services and setting up entrepreneurial parks.

In recent years, approximately seven million returnee migrants have established agriculture-based enterprises in their hometowns and villages. Estimates state that the number of returnee migrants is increasing by 10 percent each year. As a result, The Ministry of Agriculture states that at least eight new jobs on average have been created for people in rural China when businesses are set up by returnee migrants.

What is Agritourism?

One industry that has been proven effective in alleviating poverty in rural China is the agritourism industry, which has seen increased interest by both developing and developed countries with large agriculture industries. Agritourism can be defined as the act of tourists visiting a farm or ranch for leisure, recreation or educational purposes.

The increased interest in agritourism can be attributed to tourists’ increased understanding of environmental protection and a heightened interest in improving the quality of life for those who live in rural China. The urban economy in China has also contributed to this popularity with its growing economy and raised awareness of healthy living, which has increased the demand for organic products and rural tourism.

The Results of Agritourism

The past six years have brought success to the agritourism industry and have helped bridge the economic gap between the urban economy and rural economy in China.

In 2012, there were roughly 1.7 million leisure farming and agritourism businesses that were created and helped create employment for 6.9 percent of the total rural labor force. These enterprises brought in an annual revenue of over 240 billion yuan from the 800 million tourists who visited rural China.

In 2016, the number of tourists increased to 2.1 billion people, who brought in and estimated 570 billion yuan that helped 6.72 million households in rural China.

Needed Improvements to the Agritourism Business Model

Even though agritourism has proven successful for millions of citizens, there are still sectors in the agritourism industry that need improvement.

There have been numerous issues that have arisen concerning agritourism and how to sustain the industry, so it can become a more reliable avenue to help alleviate poverty in China. These issues include problems with sanitation practices, lack of program planning and lack of reliable research and monitoring systems.

Also, with rural residents offering tourists “rural-style themed” food and accommodations, these practices have hindered further development of the agritourism industry. Solutions proposed have been to encourage the government to “help logistically and practically by integrating education resources in vocational institutions and by providing tailored training services for the new farmers.”

With efforts underway to improve the livelihoods of China’s rural residents, and with agritourism having already been proven as a successful industry, only time will tell whether this industry can be enough to lift people in rural China out of poverty for good by 2020.

– Lois Charm

Photo: Flickr

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Five Ways China Beats Poverty

Five Ways China Beats Poverty
China has made remarkable progress in solving its poverty problems. Between 1986 and 2016, China’s GDP increased from $300.758 million to $11.199 trillion. In 2017, the world’s GDP growth was 2.49 percent, but China’s GDP grew by 6.7 percent. This significant growth is closely related to China’s effective poverty policies. In 2016 alone, the Chinese government lifted 12.4 million people out of poverty.

Five Ways China Beats Poverty

  1. Target individuals in need
    Targeting individuals is one of the ways China beats poverty. In 2012, the first year of President Xi Jinping’s first term, he declared the Chinese poverty issue to be the top task of his presidency. He called it “the baseline task for building a moderately prosperous society,” which will be achieved by 2020.The main approach to achieve this goal is the Minimum Living Allowance Guarantee, or Dibao. Dibao is a program that guarantees every household meets the minimum income level set by local governments. For example, the minimum income level set by the Beijing government was around $162, and the rural minimum income level was $123.Even though this program is controversial because of governmental corruption, it does improve the quality of life in extremely poor households. Between 2013 and 2016, more than 10 million rural people were lifted out of poverty every year, which aids in reaching President Xi’s goal: eliminate poverty by 2020.
  2. Enact comprehensive social development programs
    The second way China beats poverty is by enacting social programs. The Chinese government has implemented many social development programs since 2000, such as nine-year compulsory education. The nine-year Compulsory Education Law was exacted in 1986 with the goal of minimizing illiteracy.Another outstanding social program is the New Rural Social Pension Insurance (NRSP), which was announced in 2009. It was implemented in all counties in 2012, and more than 80 million peasants were covered by this program. This policy stipulates that individuals over 60 years of age can receive pension benefits. The amount is around 10 percent of the average annual income of rural areas in China.This policy targets a wide range of citizens and improves retirement rates, especially for women. The amount given by NRSP is limited, but it has a substantial effect on rural people’s quality of life.
  3. Merge small family fields into cooperatives
    One of President Xi’s strategies to solve poverty in rural areas is merging small family lands into cooperatives. This system pools land by peasants voluntarily giving up their ownership of free land development and becoming shareholders. The peasants then plant commercial crops such as tea to gain more profits. Some local companies invest in these lands and bring more financial benefits to rural areas. This policy solves the problem of deficiency of scattered development and generates a cohesive effect.
  4. Relocate peasants
    Another way China beats poverty is by relocating rural people. People who live in geologically hazardous areas that are prone to landslides and earthquakes, or in remote areas, will be relocated. Approximately 9.81 million people are set to move between 2016 and 2020. This program helps people who are trapped in remote and poor mountain areas and provides them with an opportunity to learn about new ideas and advanced technology.
  5. Develop tourism in villages
    The Chinese government develops tourism in villages by offering experiences based on the community. Visitors can live in local houses and participate in rural activities such as farming and cooking in primary kitchens. One successful example of this program is Lijiang, an old town in Yunnan province. About 15 million visitors come to this town, which generates more than $3 billion in profits every year.

These are five ways China beats poverty, and through these methods the country has seen remarkable progress. Other countries with similar situations can adopt some of these strategies to help solve their own poverty issues.

– Judy Lu

Photo: Flickr