IFAD President visits homes of project participants, Anhui, China, 14-15 October 2002

Background and History

The People’s Republic of China, second in size to Russia and Canada, is slightly larger than the United States. It is divided into 31 administrative provinces, which are further subdivided into prefectures, cities and counties. The country is a vast collage of seacoast, fertile plains and valleys, rugged mountains and arid windswept deserts. Only 10-11% of its area is suited to sustained cultivation. Rangelands account for 33% of the total area and forests 12%. The five principal rivers are Songhuajiang(Sungari) and Liaohe in the north-east, the Huanghe (Yellow River) in the north, the Changjiang (Yangtze River) in the centre and the Xijiang (West River) in the south.

The Yangtze is the country’s longest river – over 5 000 kilometres – and the sixth longest in the world. It is manifestly the most important for agriculture and inland transportation, navigable by large ships for over 1 600 kilometres from where it enters the East China Sea at Shanghai. The Yellow River is more than 4 300 kilometres in length. Rising out of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, it makes a great loop around the Ordos Desert north of the ancient Tang Dynasty capital of Chang’an (now Xian), and eventually empties into the Bo-Hai Gulf off Shandong Province. Navigable for most of its length only by small boats, it is known as “China’s Sorrow” because of its disastrous floods. From its great loop, for millennia it has picked up the fine loess soil of north China and carried it south and east in suspension, depositing so much that, in its southern reaches, the river banks are actually above ground level. When banks or dikes give way, floodwater spreads destruction far and wide.

The country is divided into two distinct regions, agriculturally as well as historically, by the Qinling mountain range, which extends over 3 700 kilometres west to east, starting from the massive Kunlun chain in Tibet. In the north, where winters tend to be long, dry and cold, the major crops are millet and wheat. Only in some regions can more than one harvest a year be realized. South of the Qinling range, the climate is milder, the growing season longer and rains are more frequent. Thus two or even three harvests of the principal crops – rice, tea and mulberries for silkworms – are possible.

In the sixth century BC, during the Zhou Dynasty that also produced Confucius, the sage Lao Tzu wrote the Dae De Jing, a poetic and philosophical expression of the Chinese desire to live in harmony with nature, a desire that infused the works of generations of poets and landscape painters. Nature’s bounty was a precious gift to be nurtured – and those who worked the land were to be prized. Throughout most of China’s long history, the peasant farmer was assigned a social position, in theory at least, inferior only to that of the scholar/civil servant, a position well above the merchant trader, although, in practice, farmers were systematically exploited by the ruling class. With the 1949 revolution, farmers – both men and women – began to be given not just lip service, but real support.

Vast and diverse in area, China is in many ways an embodiment of the problems and challenges facing small farmers and pastoralists throughout the developing world. Population pressures strain the productive capacity of farmland; increasing numbers of livestock compete for fodder on fragile rangelands; flood-prone areas and deteriorating irrigation systems cause waterlogging and salinization; and encroaching deserts threaten formerly productive land. In order to assist the government in its efforts to address these and other problems of rural development, since 1980 the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has financed 16 projects in the country, valued at over USD 1 billion, of which IFAD has provided USD 400 million. All the projects assist the most vulnerable rural groups, whether they be in poor provinces or in deprived pockets in otherwise prosperous regions, in becoming more productive, increasing their incomes and thus improving their standard of living. Farmers have developed new skills, and as a result they are qualified to receive microcredit to develop farm activities or initiate income-generating activities.

Over the past two decades, the efforts of the Chinese Government to stimulate economic growth have focused on stimulating the productivity of its vast rural population. With agriculture and rural development as national priorities, the impact on rural economies has been impressive. Agricultural productivity has soared, along with that of off-farm enterprises. Household incomes have increased significantly and, with this, nutrition and living standards also. Rural women have played a major role in this economic boom. As new income-generating opportunities have opened up – spurred in large part by the nation’s move towards a market economy and buttressed by legislation that recognizes women as equal to men in economic, social and political spheres – rural women have entered the previously male-dominated marketplace in increasing numbers and in a broadening range of both farm and off-farm activities. As their contribution to household income and rural economies has risen, their social status has improved, allowing them greater voice in family matters and in their own destinies.

IFAD Projects in China

IFAD projects in China respond to the priority needs expressed by farmers. Participatory approaches are used to identify these priorities, which include: (a) rural infrastructure such as village access roads, drinking water and irrigation, (b) higher productivity of food crops and livestock, (c) better health and education services, and (d) above all, income-generating activities. Better education for children and increased income are invariably at the top of the list of priority needs. The major objective is to allow their children to leave farming behind and to find better income opportunities in the non-farm sector.

Productive farming practices in the remote and mountainous project villages of south-western Anhui focus on appropriate resource-conservation technologies, with minimum use of fertilizer and pesticides. These technologies are efficient and simple to use. They include sound practices for soil and water conservation, land rehabilitation and nutrient conservation: intercropping, crop rotation, use of crop residues, composting, animal manure, nitrogen-fixing crops and green manure. In recent years, organic farming has become part of the package.

Farmer training and demonstrations on farmers’ fields are used to introduce these techniques. To make the training more effective, a large-scale functional literacy programme and support to school dropouts are included. Training needs are supported mainly through the food-for-training programme of the World Food Programme (WFP).

IFAD’s target group comprises small farmers with an average of 2-4 mu of arable land and another 4-6 mu of hilly land. Mechanization and modern high-input technology is not appropriate here. Labour intensive, low-input farming techniques, using a combination of chemical and organic resources, have proven their efficiency through productivity increases.

Farmers sell their backyard-grown bamboo

In Tong Shui village of Fu Zi Ling township in Huo Shan county, a bamboo-processing factory provides a steady income for many villages. The village is in Anhui province, which is situated in southeast China and is host to the famous Yellow Mountains. The region has limited arable land and faces acute food shortages for almost half the year. The rural people in this mountainous area must find ways to generate income in order to buy food during shortages. Only growing bamboo and tea does not guarantee a steady supply of food.

The project’s microfinance scheme gave each farmer the opportunity to apply for a loan of about CNY 2500 (USD 150). With the money they were able to improve the quality of bamboo and tea they were growing. The bamboo was then sold to bamboo-processing plants. The plants now hire the farmers as workers, enabling farmers to earn on average an additional CNY 500 per month.

Liu Dahua and his wife Zhang Ligun sell the bamboo they grow in their backyard to the bamboo processing plant. They are pleased with the change in the quality of their lives brought about by the project. Liu says “ Although we work hard, ten hours a day, our life is much better. We can buy more food for the family, and can support our grown-up children. I have a bicycle and we ride to work together. We are also saving money to build a house next year.”

Some 30 households are benefiting from working in the bamboo factory. Usually the local variety of bamboo is most popular. Before the project began, some participants had only worked on their homesteads growing bamboo on a small scale. Now they are earning money by selling bamboo to the factory and working there too. Today Liu and Zhang earn CNY 500 each per month in addition to the income form bamboo sales. Liu says, “My husband helps with cooking at home and we work together to feed the pigs. The washing is of course left to me.” They want their grandchildren to have higher education and to work in Beijing. Liu has never been out of her township and has only had three years of schooling. With their new-found freedom as owners of a bicycle, they ride together to work, which is two and a half kilometres away. The manager of the bamboo factory, Gao Ke, 42, is optimistic. He says, “The workers receive good training. Sometimes they are set to other factories to learn. Specialists are also invited from time to time to train the workers.”

The farmers themselves say that this microfinance scheme is a unique example of rural development, because it takes households into account and connects them to markets at home and abroad.

Anhui Province

The President of IFAD, Mr Lennart Båge, visited the Southwest Anhui Integrated Agriculture Development Project, in Anhui Province, on 14-15 October 2002. He met with officials in the Project Management Unit and visited the homes of a number of project participants. The President wanted to see for himself how the project has changed the lives of local people. The five-year project was approved in 1997 at a total cost of USD 51 million, with a WFP contribution of USD 2.3 million (14 000 million tonnes of food). It has helped farmers increase household food security by developing the land (through soil and water conservation, terracing and irrigation), introducing more productive farming practices and facilitating access to small loans for income-generating activities. The project seeks to reach over 123 000 families (500 000 people), representing 90-95% of the total population of this particularly poor province. Recognizing that women have greater difficulty in overcoming their poverty than men, it has established a special credit line. By the end of its five-year lifespan, the project is expected to have provided technical training to about 70 000 women and literacy training to 30 000.

Training for Women

Chenfen village lies at the foot of a range of hills, in the mountainous southwest county of Taihu in Anhui. The road that leads to the village is a good dirt road and runs along a creek full of water.

Hu S1ongmei’s house is a traditional Chinese farmhouse – a centre room, one room to the left and one to the right. The first floor is uses to store food. The family has some old chairs and a centre table, but no television or radio. In the neighbourhood, there are two new white-tiled houses, the style being uses everywhere in rural China as a sign of new prosperity. Hu has passed her thirties. She comes from Genshu village, also in Jiutian township. She met her husband in Chenfan during the spring festival. They have been married for 12 years and have two daughters, Yu Yuxia, 12 and Yu Xin, 10. Both attend school.

Hu keeps three pigs in a concrete stall. She purchased the pigs through a loan from the IFAD project, and so far she has been able to keep up with the repayments. She alson tends to their 13 chickens. Her husband, Yu Zanggui, five years older, farms their 2 mu of rice and 1 mu of rapeseed. Yields of their last harvest increased due to a new hybrid-rice variety introduced in 2000. Hu participated in a training programme on hybrid rice and afterwards decided to buy the seeds.

In 2000, she also participated in literacy courses and can now read and write. She smiles when she mentions that she can now read her children’s schoolbooks, which are the only reading material she has. She is not sure whether other people respect her more since she has received these different types of training, but she certainly feels stronger. She hopes that her new knowledge and skills will enable her to increase her income so that she can give her daughters a good education.

Zha Sihöng, project officer in the Project Management Unit, assisted the President during the visit. She says, “I am indeed a beneficiary of the project. In the beginning, when the project started, I didn’t speak English, but today I can and I have also increased my management skills”. Zha was born in the mountains and lived on the top of a mountain until the age of 15. “I left the mountain to go for graduation. Life was hard in the mountains, but it was an interesting life. I used to go up and down the Yan Wo mountain four times a day. I was younger then and it was OK – every morning I came down and went back up at noon for lunch, and came down again to return back up after school at 5.00 p.m. The mountain is 170 m high.”

In Huoshan County, 200 km north of Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, the President visited the home of farmer Wang Xiping, 37, in Shuan Long Village, Dan Long Si Township

Although they are a family of four, Wang’s wife, Chu De Xiao, 37, was away in the field during the President’s visit. They have two children, 8 and 6.

Wang Xiping, who grows paddy, had an income from sales of 300-400 yuan per year before the project. After, his income increased to 900 yuan. He has borrowed money principally for fish cultivation and pig raising. He told the President that he is confident about repaying the loan, for which he did not have to provide collateral. Given his increased income, in the future he would like to invest in draught animals. He would also like to increase his income further through investment in livestock and income-producing tree plantation.

The President and Wang talked about how his family copes. His children attend primary school, and he and his wife begin work early each day. He says proudly that the house they live in is their own. The other villagers helped him build it and it took four years to complete. During the winter months, they heat the house with firewood. The family owns a black-and-white television.

Duo Pan’ao Village, Da Hua Ping township

Farmer Wang Quan Jin, 38, told the President that he owns an old machine for processing tea and sells the tea in the market. He also sells tea leaves to the local factory. He now has an income of nearly 1000 yuan per year because of the project. His wife, Du Hua, 35, helps him in the field. They have two children, 6 and 4.

He would now like to grow fruit and plant income-producing trees. In the meantime, he has begun growing mulberry trees, and he hopes that his income will soon increase from the sale of cocoons and mulberry leaves.

He informed the President that he has a black-and-white television and the often family watches. When asked about his children’s schooling, he said that he encourages his children to go to school, since he can afford the school fee of 300 yuan. The village is a much better place to live in now, as there is a road, a tea-processing factory and a clinic.

He would like to do more; he would like to grow organic food, as the returns would be higher. He learned about this from television. According to him, the village is a healthy place to live in – the mountain air is fresh, and there are amenities available, including water.

In response to a question by the President, he said that after paying back his loan, he would like to buy a tractor or car. From television he has learned that cars are very expensive and could cost about 40 000 yuan; he hopes to be able to generate enough cash income to buy the car of his dreams.

Farmer Zhang Zong Yi, 42, borrowed money to cultivate mushrooms. He also grows herbs for medicines and sells them to the local collection stations. When asked how his family has benefited, he replied that in general the village has become a better place to live, with increased facilities. His is a family of five, with his wife, Chen Ye Fang, 42; two children, and his mother, Xu Qiying, 70.

According to him, the highest returns are from paddy, tea, chestnuts, bamboo and mushrooms. The price of tea is stable, whereas the price of the other commodities fluctuates. He told the President that in this area there is no government control of prices, which are determined by the market. He buys all his inputs from the local market. There is an extension office in the village, overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture.The agents have given him guidance on when to plant seedlings and how to care for them.

When the President asked him about his right to the land on which he works, he said that he had signed a 30-year contract with the Government for paddy land. For dryland, where income-producing trees are planted, the agreement is for 50 years. Xu pays an agriculture tax, which is assessed on the basis of the land area he cultivates. The tax is always the same, even when there is a fluctuation in production. The government reduces the tax only as a result of natural calamities.

The house he lives in is his own property. The village has a school and a clinic. Most households now have television. They sponsor a bus to transport goods to market. He would like to see better communications, roads for the village, higher crop production and the planting of more income-producing trees.

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