China Three Gorges helps migrant villagers

China Three Gorges Corporation, the operator of the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity, has donated three million yuan ($435,800) in a seed fund since 2012, helping alleviate poverty in 10 migrant villages in Yibin in Sichuan province.

Cooperating with the Yibin Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the 10 villages have generated a profit of 1.39 million yuan in the past few years, through planting and livestock breeding, production and processing, with 66 families being lifted out of poverty.

Construction on the world's largest hydropower project, located near Yichang in Central China's Hubei province, began in 1993 and finished in 2009. More than 1.3 million residents have been relocated to make way for the Three Gorges Project.

The construction of Xiangjiaba hydroelectric power station has forced many people to emigrate into the surrounding regions, including 24,000 settled in Pingshan county. The poorer households in those migrant villages faced problems in finding work when they first settled in their new homes in new towns built nearby to house them.

Cao Yi, a migrant who was settled around Xiangjiaba Dam, China's third-largest hydropower station operated by the corporation, has applied for an annual seed fund of 10,000 yuan since 2012 for his vineyard.

He has invested 30,000 yuan in the vineyard and by 2014 had generated revenue of 60,000 yuan.

He said: "Seed funds account for one-third of the initial total investment, solving the pressing need of capital shortage at that time."

Du Shangyun, a resident of Pingshan county, in Yibin, has applied for 10,000 yuan to plant ginger. Investing 150,000 yuan, he has obtained a net income of 450,000 yuan after one year.

He said: "The profit reached 30,000 yuan with every investment of 10,000. I'm planning to continue applying for the seed fund to expand production, as the market is good."

Cao Daxu, head of Fubing village in Yibin, said the seed fund had promoted the economic development of the village.

If it were not for the dam project, villagers' lives would be confined deep in the mountains, in a state of poverty, he said.

Zeng Yuanzhi, president of the Foundation for Poverty Alleviation at the Yibin Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said the fund has helped some of the region's villagers out of poverty, but there is still more work to do to alleviate poverty.

Xu He contributed to this story.

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn