“One Village, One Brand” Leading to Prosperity

The Practice of Poverty Eradication in the Shuangjin Village of Tujia People in Western Hunan Province

Towards a Solution

Under the guidance of the poverty eradication strategy of Longshan County of Western Hunan Province, the Shuangjin Village laid stress on the guidance of planning and full coverage of all poor households with characteristic advantageous industries. Short, medium and long-term plans were combined, new, characteristic and advantageous industries were planned scientifically, and the hematopoietic function of industries in poverty eradication was brought into full play. Each poor village had more than one pillar industry, forming the agricultural industrial pattern of “One Village, one Brand”. Each household took part in more than one income-earning project and at least one person from each poor family with working ability had a job and wage income.

“One Village, One Brand” played an active role in enhancing the degree of informatization of the market of agricultural products, expansion and reorganization of the market of agricultural products. The success and sustainable development of “One Village, One Brand” depended on the high degree of informatization of the market of agricultural products and channelization of sales of agricultural products. The success of Shuangjin Village shows that hard work would pay off. The most important point of “One Village, One Brand” was to determine which brand to develop. The selection of the “brand” had a uniqueness and it was closely associated with the market and stress was laid on making-benefit. Selenium-rich fragrant rice, sweet potato, Lily, medicinal materials, oil-tea camellia, navel orange and some others were made the characteristic products of “One Village, One Brand”. Cooperatives or consortia representing the wishes of the villagers were established, relevant institutions and marketing channels were integrated and the brand competitiveness was sharpened.

The lily industry of “One Village, One Brand”: For a long time, the local lily industry encountered the problems of variety degeneration, low product quality and poor deep processing. To solve these problems, the Shuangjin Village sought advice from the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Hunan Province and formulated plans for the development of the lily industry. Farmers’ cooperative organizations and industrial organizations were formed in order to improve the organizational degree of farmers. A lily planting association was established and project application to set up a national characteristic agricultural crop (lily) seed breeding base was submitted, aiming to solve the problem of lily variety degeneration, implement standardized production and deep-processing of green food, and promote the upgrading of the lily industry through whole industry chains. The lily planting industry became a pillar industry that helped villagers to get rid of poverty and become well-off.

The low cultural competence of farmers led to the backward production level in the countryside and hindered the innovation of the “One Village, One Brand” strategy. A low level of education and poor technical capability was a weak link for the development of “One Village, One Brand”. Therefore, it was necessary to improve the comprehensive ability of farmers in planting, processing and marketing and their overall quality. On the one hand, the local government organized a series of lectures on agricultural technologies, increased investment in professional technology and fostered excellent leading talents, hence enhancing the quality and professional technical ability of farmers. At the same time, the local government tried to change farmers’ outdated idea of waiting to be pulled out of poverty and improve the consciousness of self-development and self-progress. The improvement of the comprehensive quality of individual farmers helped drive the construction of human resources in poor areas and strengthen the capacity for self-development and self-revitalization.