Better roads lead Guizhou farmers to a better life
- By Zhang Jiaqi
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 12, 2019
By the end of 2018, all rural units comprising over 30 households in Anshun city, Guizhou province, were connected by cement or asphalt roads, benefiting people in these rural areas in many ways, said Chen Xunhua, a deputy to China's National People's Congress (NPC) and the mayor of Anshun, on March 9.
With all counties connected by highways in 2015 and all villages connected with passenger transport in 2017, Guizhou province decided in August 2017 to construct cement or asphalt roads to connect all rural units with over 30 households. Anshun has now achieved that goal, after constructing 2,864 kilometers of new roads.
According to Chen, before the roads were constructed, villagers had to cope with very dusty or muddy conditions; now, the roads not only facilitate transportation, but also boost agricultural development, improving the lives of farmers there.
Tangyue is one of the villages in the city that has directly benefitted from the road construction.
According to Zuo Wenxue, an NPC deputy and Party secretary of Tangyue village, in the past, moving bricks into the village to build a house required 15 people to temporarily pave the road in advance with coal slag. Now, with better roads, vehicles can easily reach each household, and moreover, heavy rain won't slow vehicles down on the muddy roads or ruin villagers' shoes.
"The roads facilitate transportation and improve the living environment, bringing transformative changes to the village," Zuo said.
After a flood swept through the village and washed out the crops in 2014, Zuo established cooperatives and led the villagers to plant more commercial crops, as well as established new construction and transport companies. With about 28 kilometers of roads constructed in the village from 2014 to the end of 2018 under the support of local government, vehicles are able to easily bring in constructing materials and carry away agricultural products. As a result, the per capita income in Tangyou village surged from less than 4,000 yuan (about US$595.08) in 2014 to 14,140 yuan (US$2103.60) in 2018.
According to Chen, after transportation was improved, Anshun city also saw a boost in rural tourism. Last year, Anshun welcomed 39.09 million tourists to its rural areas, which generated a revenue of 28.3 billion yuan (about US$4.21 billion) and helped lift 19,000 people out of poverty.
According to this year's government work report, the Chinese government will continue to prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas and strengthen synergy between poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, so as to ensure that the poverty alleviation goals are achieved on time and rural living standards reach the level of moderate prosperity in all respects.
Looking forward, Chen said Anshun city will enhance e-commerce logistics in rural areas, develop sales channels for agricultural products, promote rural tourism and extend public services to further benefit its people.
According to the plan, all rural units comprising over 30 households in the entire province of Guizhou will be fully connected by cement or asphalt roads by the end of 2019.
