-- Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation Visits Nanjiang Village Sustainable Livelihood Development Project

On March 22, 2023, at the invitation of HPP, Mr. Gao Chong, Senior Program Director of Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation, visited Nanjiang Village in Lizi Township, Fengdu County, Chongqing, together with the HPP program team, Fengdu County Rural Revitalization Bureau and the First Secretary of Hejiaba Village to understand the sustainable livelihood development project of Nanjiang Village. During the visited, accompanied by the project team, Director Gao Chong visited the ‘Civilized Points Supermarket’, attended the cooperative dividend distribution meeting, talked with villagers in their homes, and also held a meeting with the leaders of Nanjiang Village Committee and Fengdu County Rural Revitalization Bureau in turn.

Through the visits and exchanges, Director Gao Chong felt the support for the project and further understood the specific activities and results achieved by the project in the local area.

(I)Observe the development of organic rice cultivation and fruit tree industry suitable for local development

The project distributes high-quality rice seeds to villagers, and farmers learn to master the skills of ecological three-dimensional agriculture by attending the training on green rice cultivation techniques organized by the project and using sustainable development methods such as ecological organic fertilizer and duck farming in rice fields during the cultivation process. At the same time, the project also introduces fruit tree seedlings suitable for local cultivation according to villagers' wishes, and explores the development of industries suitable for local cultivation to increase farmers' income.

（II）The joy of seeing cooperative members receive their dividends

The project supports the collective development of the village and the establishment of a cooperative to lead the villagers to plant rice that meets the green rice standard every year. The cooperative created the "Zhailitou" ecological and organic rice brand and sells the rice at a unit price of 24 yuan per kilogram after unified processing. A portion of the sales profit is distributed to the members as dividends.

In 2023, the cooperative earned a surplus of 39,262 yuan on the previous year's harvest sales, of which the proportion of villagers' dividends was 18%, and a total of 22 villagers received 7,067.16 yuan. The farmer with the most dividends was Zhou Deng Shu, who sold 3,000 pounds of rice to the cooperative for 9,000 yuan, and received 1,012.50 yuan on top in dividends.

(III)Listen to feedback from local cadres and the public

At the project exchange meeting, Ao Jiangsha, the Village chief of Nanjiang Village, said : he felt the biggest impact of the HPP sustainable livelihood development project on the village was the villagers' participation in the improvement of the village's habitat and the great improvement of community governance. "Through the long-term cleanliness and hygiene evaluation activities and the ‘civilized behavior points exchange supermarket’, this long-term effective mechanism has made the village cleaner and the villagers have made great progress in self-governance, which enabled Nanjiang Village to win the second place in the county-wide cleanliness and hygiene evaluation.

 Xie Bin, the First Development Secretary of Nanjiang Village, also expressed his feelings: "At the beginning, I was not supportive or sometimes objected to this sustainable livelihood development project of HPP. But when I talked with the villagers during the household work and observed the activities carried out by the project and the changes brought to the village, I found that the goals of the project and the work of the village development team were the same. So I took the initiative to join and cooperate with them, so that the resulting whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

The project implementation method has been recognized and supported by the local people and cadres. People have expressed that the various project activities have not only developed the villagers' own potential, but also increased their family income and mobilized the villagers to actively participate in the construction of rural revitalization.

In addition, on the recommendation of Fengdu County Rural Revitalization Bureau, we also visited the leaders of Sanyuan Township Government, and we shared and introduced to each other about the organization, projects and local rural development facts.

In particular, when addressing the impact of the implementation of the Nanjiang Village Sustainable Livelihood Development Project in and around the local area, Zhang Tao, the First Development Secretary from Sanyuan Town Hejiaba Village, stated: “The model of "New Farmer + Village Collective Economy + Family" is in line with the current Fengdu policy of rural development. I hope this project can also come to Hejiaba Village, and I believe it will bring great changes to Hejiaba Village.”

At present, various places continue to promote agricultural and rural reform and comprehensively push forward the effective implementation of the key work of rural revitalization. Gao Chong expressed Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation's interest into the sustainable livelihood development project model in the local area to help community development and promote rural construction.

The sustainable livelihood development project, after years of exploration and practice, is able to improve people's livelihood capacity, develop industries, increase farmers' income, and gradually realize effective connection with the rural construction policy. In the future, we will continue to explore the road of "sustainable livelihood development" to revitalize the countryside.

Project introduction: 

The sustainable livelihood development project is implemented in Nanjiang Village, Fengdu County, Chongqing. The International Humana People to People Movement (Switzerland) Chongqing Representative Office implements the project in cooperation with Fengdu County Poverty Alleviation and Development Office. Starting from February 1, 2020, the project cycle is three years. Through the establishment of farmer mutual aid groups and core groups, the project distributes high-quality rice seeds to villagers to carry out an ecological rice pilot, plants fruit trees, raises free-land chickens, organizes training for villagers, establishes a sales brand and direct marketing cooperative and internet marketing platform, so as to help villagers develop appropriate industries and drive economic income growth. While fundamentally promoting rural development, the project also focuses on improving the awareness of rural women, mobilizing their enthusiasm, doing a good job in household sanitation, and promoting the construction of living ecological environment. At the same time, we should develop productions with women as the main force and encourage them to actively participate in the construction of productive activities at home and in rural areas. 

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.