Tree co-ops help Shanxi villagers earn more

Shanxi farmer Jia Yinming depended on a small plot of land to earn money for decades and remained mired in poverty.

Living in a tatty adobe house in Huili village, Lanxian county, he became a "leftover man" who no woman wanted to marry.

The 70-year-old eventually found happiness, however, thanks to a campaign in the province to combine poverty relief with afforestation in areas with fragile ecosystems.

"Life has been much better. I have moved into a new house," he said, adding that he had bought some home appliances he had never used before, including an induction cooker, a refrigerator and a washing machine. Moreover, he got married at age 66.

Jia's life began to change in 2016, when he joined the Lindecai poverty-relief cooperative－its name means "forest brings fortune". It is one of almost 3,400 cooperatives that have been established in Shanxi as part of the province's endeavors to promote both poverty alleviation and ecosystem conservation.

Offered contracts for afforestation services by the government, the cooperatives need to ensure 60 percent of members are from poor families and that 45 percent of the afforestation funds they receive are paid as wages to members, according to Shanxi provincial authorities.

Involved in weed control and planting, Jia can earn over 2,000 yuan ($307) a month from Lindecai.

"Though it's sometimes a little bit tiring, I am happy with the work," he said, adding that he is too old to be a migrant worker.

Ma Lanzhu, the head of Lindecai, said the cooperative had members from 48 households when it was established in 2016.

"All but three of the households were impoverished," he said. "At the time, the average age of all members stood at 60."

Lindecai was the first co-op covered by Shanxi's program to pilot government purchasing of afforestation services from village organizations, Ma, 72, said. Its members have been planting sea buckthorn introduced from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

"Once the plants mature, the cooperative can sell its fruit, making the tree a stable, long-term source of income for all members," he said.

According to Shanxi provincial authorities, as of early this year, afforestation cooperatives across the province had planted 547,200 hectares of trees. The ecosystem conservation efforts have helped increase the average annual incomes of over 700,000 formerly impoverished people to 16,000 yuan.

Measures have also been rolled out to help consolidate poverty alleviation achievements. As of last year, there were 42,000 forest rangers in the 58 counties that had shaken off poverty, and almost 32,000 of them were once impoverished. On average, these rangers can now make as much as 7,300 yuan a year.

In Dongkouzi village, also in Lanxian county, members of the Senshengcai cooperative have taken measures to tap the potential of the almost 370 hectares of sea buckthorn they have planted to forge ahead toward prosperity.

"All parts of sea buckthorn trees are valuable. It's the only plant in which its roots, stem, leaves, flowers and fruit can all work as herbs," said Zheng Xiao'er, head of Senshengcai.

About 7.5 metric tons of fruits can now be harvested from every hectare of trees, and he expects the yield could reach 15 tons in two years, which would mean the co-op could earn at least 8,000 yuan a hectare.

The co-op has built a 200-square-meter refrigerated warehouse that can hold 300 tons of fruit. It has also attracted investment to build six production lines to make different varieties of juice, tea, oil and sugar-free gum.

Their annual output value could reach 150 million yuan, Zheng said.