NW China’s Xinjiang pursues suitable development path, helps locals become better off

“My family earned a net income of 40,000 yuan ($5,876) last year by selling goose eggs and geese alone,” said Ainiwaer Maimaitiming, a villager in Hotan prefecture of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

“I would also pay dividends to 20 households which hold shares in my business and provide jobs for villagers from three impoverished households,” Maimaitiming added.

Raising geese under walnut trees can also help these trees grow better, according to Maimaitiming, who referred to the walnut trees flourishing in the yard of his house. He is one of the foregoers of Yukimiric Alka village in Langan township, Yutian county of Hotan prefecture in pursuing a better life through new ways.

Alleviating poverty by developing industries has been regarded as the fundamental strategy for ensuring steady progress in the efforts to eradicate poverty.

In an effort to guarantee sustained and stable income increase for impoverished people, Yutian county has intensified efforts to develop goose industry.

Last year, it introduced leading companies into the locality, adopted a development model that combines enterprises, cooperatives, poor households, and farmer households, and built an industrial chain covering various links ranging from goose breeding to meat processing.

The county is trying to increase the added value of local goose products through deep processing and brand building.

While exploring new ways of increasing income, various areas of Xinjiang have made many traditional skills powerful drivers of poverty alleviation, such as baking Nang, a kind of crusty pancake in Xinjiang.

In recent years, Nang-related industries have been springing up quickly and thriving all over the region.

By the end of 2019, more than 50,000 local households had got rid of poverty by making Nang.

“I’ve been working in the industry for more than a year and I can make 4,200 yuan a month,” said Wufuerjiang Kasimu, a villager in Baren township, Jiashi county, Kashgar prefecture of Xinjiang, who shook off poverty by making Nang last year.

Adobe Nang baking pits and individual workshops have been replaced by unified and centralized production shops, which makes it easier to guarantee the sanitary conditions and quality of products, said Pang Xueqin, deputy head of Jiashi county.

In a local Nang cultural industrial park covering an area of 30,000 square meters, villagers have developed more than 120 kinds of Nang, including rose sauce-flavored Nang, according to Pang, adding that the industrial park could produce an average of 500,000 products per day and sell 300,000 Nangs averagely within one day.

The industrial park has provided jobs for 1,200 people, among whom 696 are from poor households, Pang pointed out.

Meanwhile, local people in Xinjiang have found new ways for the sale of their products. By exploring such new marketing channels as e-commerce and live-streaming platforms, more and more farmers and herdsmen in various parts of Xinjiang have managed to sell special agricultural products to more regions.

Aibeidula Wumuer, a post-95s Uygur man, has been engaged in selling local fruits in Xinjiang via live-streaming shows, including Turpan’s grapes, Hami’s melons and Korla’s pears.

The young man from Putao township, Gaochang district, Turpan city of Xinjiang is actually a minor celebrity in the locality. He has more than 100,000 followers on short-video platforms, which makes it easier for him to promote the sales of local fruits.

“Growing fruits well is not enough. You need to be able to sell them too,” Wumuer said.

Many people hear that Xinjiang is known for its fruits, yet most of them have never seen the vineland or learned about how raisins are made, according to Wumuer, who has decided to show customers the vineland via live-streaming and thus greatly stimulated the number of orders.

Wumuer runs an e-commerce company, which has more than ten employees, including six professional liver-streaming hosts.

“Our goal for this year’s turnover is 15 million yuan,” said Wumuer, who is confident that his company can reach the goal and help increase income for more local people.

With the upgrading and transformation of traditional industries as well as the rapid development of emerging industries, Xinjiang has constantly optimized its economic structure.

The continuous high-quality economic development of Xinjiang is bound to bring higher incomes and better life to local people.