Camel milk making poor farmer richer

Abduainy Axim, a farmer who lives in a small village in Moyu county called Jahabad, Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, is known as "prince camel" for his ability to scout out the best camels at the village bazaar.

It is not his natural aptitude that makes him so good at what he does, but the experience he has accumulated in practice.

Abduainy was one of the poorest farmers in his village until the county's poverty alleviation team offered him an interest-free loan in 2016.

"That loan brought hope to my family, and after some research, I found that camel milk is not only high in nutritional value but also is becoming more popular among consumers," he said.

With the help of the team, Abduainy received a 50,000 yuan ($7,186) interest-free loan from the bank and bought five camels with the money.

Those five camels have multiplied to become 16 that produce 10 kilograms of milk daily. With a market price of 50 yuan per kilogram, Abduainy can earn as much 15,000 yuan monthly.

Abduainy paid off the loan within two years and built a new 85-square-meter, earthquake-proof house for his family in 2019.

"Abduainy became famous in the county for raising camels," said Nigmat Tursun, Party chief of Jahabad village. "Villagers are surprised at his achievement. He is willing to share his experiences, so if somebody wants to buy a camel at the bazaar, they ask Abduainy first for his suggestion."

Naturally, Abduainy is pleased about how his life has improved.

"Now, the net income of my family can reach 40,000 yuan a year only by keeping camels, and with 0.26 hectares of farmland, we can have around 50,000 yuan on hand per year," he said. "My life is getting better, and I hope everyone here can find a way to change their lives."

Moyu has seen dramatic improvement in recent years.

A total of 237 county villages have been removed from the poverty list over the past six years, and over 240,000 people below the poverty line have improved their lives. Incidences of poverty were down to 7.1 percent last year from 31.8 percent in 2017.

Mahpirat Mahmatraim, a farmer in Kumushkul village in Moyu, has a part-time job at a local agricultural cooperative, where he is responsible for sorting fruits into parcels during the offseason.

"I can have a stable income of 1,500 yuan per month as a worker, and it is lucky that I work somewhere not far away from my home so I can take care of my family and my farmland at the same time," Mahpirat said.

The cooperative where he works belongs to a local entrepreneur named Mahmatimin Abdukhalik, who made his fortune selling dried fruits in Shanghai many years ago. Mahmatimin established the cooperative with six friends after he returned home four years ago.

To further promote poverty alleviation and vitalize characteristic rural industries, the local government invested 22.6 million yuan and allotted 4 hectares of land to the cooperative in 2018.

As the cooperative has become more successful, Mahmatimin is now able to sell his featured products, including walnuts and jujubes, to Urumqi, capital of the region, as well as Shanghai and Hebei province.

In 2019, the cooperative had 1,700 workers, 950 of whom were from poverty-stricken families.

"I have four people in my family, and we were only depending on a little income to live on from our farmland, so I am really grateful to the cooperative as I can earn 1,600 yuan every month," said Gulnisa Kader, a 31-year-old woman who changed her life by working at the cooperative. "Now I am more confident about the future."