Juncao Technology Lifts Farmers Out of Poverty in Northwestern China

Minning Town is a Chinese TV drama spotlighting a real-life poverty alleviation project in northwestern China from the 1990s. The show, which scored a superlative 9.4 out of 10 based on over 100,000 reviews on Douban, China’s equivalent of IMDb, is based on the true story of how a unique mode of poverty alleviation cooperation was formed between the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the coastal province of Fujian. 

Over the past two decades, more than 60,000 villagers in Ningxia, under the guidance of China’s poverty alleviation policy and with assistance from Fujian, have triumphed over poverty after their relocation to Minning Township from Xihaigu. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to ensure people who relocated to Minning had a stable life and a route to prosperity. Endorsed by Xi, Juncao technology was included in Fujian-Ningxia poverty alleviation cooperation. Experts from Fujian were sent to Xihaigu to teach local villagers Juncao technology.

Within 10 years, there were 17,500 Juncao farmers across the region, each adding more than $700 to their annual income. Meanwhile, the rise of the Juncao industry put in motion the local agricultural circular economy. The per-capita yearly disposable income of residents in Minning rose by more than 20 times to 13,970 yuan ($2,013) from 1997 to 2019. 

For more information, please contact WFP China COE (wfpcn.coe@wfp.org)