Zhushan’s Ecological Poverty Alleviation.docVIP

Zhushan’s Ecological Poverty Alleviation 　　Poverty alleviation has recently be- come a topic of concern for people from all walks of life. The Chinese government has set the goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2020. To achieve this goal， participation from all of society， especially private businesses， is crucial， as demonstrated by the case of “Zhushan Ecological Farms” in Zhucheng City of Shandong Province. 　　Only 15 kilometers from downtown Zhucheng， Zhushan Mountain features an untouched natural environment， but struggles due to its weak economic foundation， limited income sources for villagers， and underdeveloped infrastructure. 　　Zhushan Mountain’s fate changed in 2013， when it was approved as a national forest park. Since then， the lives of those living at the foot of Zhushan Mountain have changed too. Building ecological farms， a model created by “Zhushan Ecological Agriculture”， has become the local carrier of targeted poverty alleviation. 　　The pioneer of Zhushan Ecological Agriculture is Liu Shugang， a farmer-entrepreneur from Zhucheng City. Liu started his business in real estate. However， Liu believed that ecological agriculture was a sector with great potential because after the basic needs of food and clothing have been met， Chinese people have greater demand for leisure tourism and healthy food. He therefore turned to Zhushan Mountain on the outskirts of Zhucheng City， a mountain with a pristine ecological environment that had not yet been tapped. Liu led his team in investing in ecological agriculture. 　　In 2013， Liu’s company signed a contract with Hongyi research team of the Institute of Botany under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The contract requires the application of Hongyi Ecological Farm’s advanced “Six Avoidances” rules， namely avoidance of chemical fertilizers， pesticides， herbicides， additives， agricultural films and transgenic technology， aiming to bring advanced technology and management to agricultural work on Zhushan Mou