First, the current rural poverty factors
At the beginning of 2004, the author was fortunate to be one of 6,000 cadres sent by Anhui Province to work in poor and backward villages, and served as the first secretary of the village party branch in Qiling Village, shuidong town, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City. Before and after I took office, as a selected cadre, I conducted a survey of poor rural households. These farmers find it difficult to get rid of poverty and become rich. There are roughly the following ten reasons:
I. Natural and man-made disasters
Natural disasters and flight disasters are the main factors of rural population's absolute poverty and returning to poverty. At present, the poverty-stricken population in China is mainly distributed in remote areas with rather harsh natural conditions, extremely inconvenient transportation and frequent natural disasters. Because agriculture is highly dependent on climate, drought, flood, hail, frost, hurricane and debris flow may all cause crop yield reduction and food failure, and even destroy villages. In addition, accidents such as car accidents and safety accidents have caused the disability of farmers' family members and the death of the main labor force, leaving a good family in trouble.
Second, children go to school.
With the acceleration of educational industrialization, tuition fees are becoming more and more expensive, which has become a heavy burden for most farmers. China has basically popularized nine-year compulsory education, but the cost of high school and university education is unbearable for ordinary peasant families. Farmers have to support a college student, and family life is often seriously affected from the beginning of school to even a few years before graduation. If farmers can't receive high-level education, they will accumulate poverty on a larger scale and in a deeper degree, and fall into a situation where the family income is low-there is no money to invest in education-the children's education level is low-the children's employment opportunities are few-the children's income is low-and the new generation of low-income people can't extricate themselves. If poor families have several children to go to school, it will be a big expense for low-income families, leading to family poverty. If a child is admitted to a university, in today's education system reform, a college student's tuition and living expenses add up to at least 10 thousand yuan a year, which is even more unbearable for a poor family. You have to borrow money to go to college. Then, the lives of these families must be poor. It can be said that a college student can lead a middle-income rural family to poverty. Because of this, a considerable number of children of farmers have stopped before the ever-increasing educational threshold, and the phenomenon of dropping out of school in rural areas has become more and more serious.
Third, disease.
Farmers' income is originally small, and farmers have to spend money to see a doctor. One year is not a small expense. If the illness is bigger, the average peasant family can't afford it, especially the poor family can't afford it. Farmers usually do not pay attention to disease prevention. If the farmer's family members have more diseases, it will bring more poverty to the poor families. Once seriously ill, the whole family and even the whole family will face heavy economic pressure. The main labor force of family members is decomposed due to overwork, and the whole family will immediately fall into poverty. It is common for poor households to get sick and have no money for treatment in rural areas, and there is often a situation that "minor illness drags on, serious illness drags on, and they can't carry it to the death". In addition, the disability of family achievement is also the root cause of family poverty.
Fourth, there are many people and few places.
Land is the lifeblood of farmers, and farmers cannot survive without cultivated land. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the reform was first promoted in rural areas, and the household contract responsibility system was fully implemented. Its universal significance lies in the separation of land ownership and management rights, the re-establishment of the basic position of family management and the restoration of farmers' autonomy in production and management. Farmers' enthusiasm for production has been greatly mobilized, and the output of major agricultural products such as grain and cotton has increased rapidly, and farmers' income has continued to increase substantially. Many families in rural areas have been lifted out of poverty, and the remaining poor households are basically poor households that are difficult to get rid of poverty. Most of them are located in remote mountainous areas. Some of them have inconvenient transportation, poor natural conditions, less cultivated land and water resources or poor quality of cultivated land, which are important reasons for poverty. For example, the per capita arable land in the village I sent is only 0.76 mu, which is lower than the "United Nations population survival guarantee line of 0.8 mu of arable land". With so little arable land and poor cultural quality of farmers in poor areas, it is impossible to adjust the agricultural structure in time, and the income from planting is naturally less.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) has low cultural quality.
China has a population of more than 654.38+0.2 billion, with farmers accounting for the vast majority, while the overall cultural quality of the majority of farmers is seriously low. The lack of culture will inevitably lead to the backwardness of ideas, which is the root of poverty. Farmers in many poor areas are not used to the commodity economy. They are always based on agriculture, preferring to keep the land barren rather than venture out to run industry and commerce. Many farmers are resigned to their fate, negative and pessimistic, lacking confidence and courage, and pinning their hopes on "God" for good weather; Relying on state support, the idea of "waiting for help" is very serious, so it is natural to eat relief and get subsidies; Conservative concept, unwilling to accept new technology, willing to suffer. Low educational level and lack of scientific knowledge not only lead to low productivity, but also lead to the proliferation of ignorant and superstitious activities, adding many unstable factors to society. There are also some farmers who have low ambitions, are afraid of hardship in farming and fatigue in working, stay in the countryside and do not work hard, contracting weeds in the fields, and no one harvests mature crops. The family is so poor that it is a big debtor in the village. Although I have reached the age of "standing", I wander around all day and cause trouble everywhere.
Six, super family planning
Among the population problems in China, the population problems in poor areas are more prominent. Even if the production in poverty-stricken areas has made great progress, it is difficult to get rid of the hat of poverty if the population cannot be effectively controlled. In our survey, because the social pension system is still not perfect, family pension is still the main thing, which makes some people in poor rural areas regard "having a son" as the top priority in their lives, and do not hesitate to hide from Tibet all day and avoid family planning. Many children are not "blessed", but "heavily in debt", which increases the family burden. Families who have just solved the problem of food and clothing, because they have no intention to operate production, have poor fields and rely on odd jobs and relatives and friends to help them live. In addition, the large number of children and high expenses lead to poverty, and because of violating the national family planning policy, excessive birth and abandonment of baby girls incur fines of varying amounts, and they are trapped in an increasingly poor predicament. A small number of poor families are influenced by traditional concepts such as carrying on the family line, and do not consider prenatal and postpartum care. The worse the population quality, the more dementia. For example, there have been several cases of dementia in the dispatching village of our hospital, which led to poverty.
Seven, the poverty caused by construction.
Some peasant families are not rich, but they always like to "slap the face and fill the fat" and build buildings. Some extremely poor families have to build houses because of their survival problems. Family income is low, and after building a house, the family will be poorer. In addition to extreme poverty outdoors, some people who are already poor are returning to poverty. First, these families are out of poverty, and they may have borrowed some debts when building houses. Later, due to various reasons, their income declined, the debts they borrowed needed to be repaid, and their living standards declined. In the survey, this group of people therefore attributed poverty to building a house.
Eight, low market awareness
Under the condition of market economy, the agricultural products produced by farmers can only be converted into monetary income through circulation except for their own consumption. With the continuous development of the market economy, the vast number of farmers have opened up a way to get rich, and some farmers have followed suit when they see that others have made a fortune on a certain project. Who knows that when the products are sold, their products have long been "unattended" in the market, and even the investment is difficult to recover. In recent years, agricultural production has continued to develop and agricultural products are abundant, forming a buyer's market for agricultural products. Therefore, although the price index has declined, the cost of agricultural production and operation has not declined, but has soared, resulting in a continuous decline in the efficiency of agricultural production and operation and even a productive loss for farmers. In recent years, the prices of agricultural and sideline products have fallen sharply, which has caused many poor households who have just got rid of poverty to return to poverty. At the same time, the countryside is relatively closed and the information channels are narrow. Many farmers have not yet realized the huge opportunities and challenges contained in the market, and it is difficult to grasp the development opportunities brought by the market economy in time. There is blindness in the selection of crop varieties, planting methods and product structure adjustment, and there is often a rush, which leads to the ups and downs of agricultural products prices, and some of them lose their money and get into trouble. In terms of sales, due to the lack of effective market information guidance, the degree of organization in circulation is low and there are few circulation channels. Even if a good harvest is obtained, it is difficult to realize the product value, resulting in a high yield but no harvest.
Nine, return to poverty because of marriage
It is a common problem for young people in poor areas to find wives. Because poverty-stricken areas are generally located in remote areas and the transportation is inconvenient, young women are generally reluctant to marry here. In order to marry their sons, some farmers do not hesitate to meet the increasing demands of women for bride price, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands. What's more, simply buying a daughter-in-law from a trafficker, a marriage without emotional foundation is not solid, and the result is often that people go to money. Therefore, although farmers in poor areas are frugal in getting married, it is inevitable for their sons to borrow from the east and borrow from the west when they get married. When this family marries a new person, their living standard will fall below the poverty line again.
X. Poverty caused by other reasons
At present, the growing human sentiment in rural areas also seriously restricts the economic development of poor rural areas. Get married, have children, move to a new house, go to school, join the army, celebrate birthdays, have funerals, do feng shui, etc. These all need to be "brought together". Influenced by traditional ideas such as "human feelings are greater than debts", some poor farmers are burdened with heavy human feelings and are overwhelmed. Some people engage in feudal superstition and lavish spending on holidays, resulting in heavy debts and falling into the quagmire of poverty. In addition, the cultural life in rural areas is generally poor, and gambling has become an open "entertainment program" in many villages. As soon as some farmers have free time, they get together to "build a square city", while some farmers are trapped in "casinos" and lose everything.
At present, although the proportion of farmers wandering in poverty is not large in rural areas, it has brought some negative effects to the healthy development of rural economy, especially to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and realize the goal of a well-off society in an all-round way, which should arouse the full attention and concern of party and government leaders at all levels in rural areas, especially grassroots cadres. How to help poor farmers get rid of poverty and become rich? The author thinks that we should pay attention to positive guidance, help poor farmers to enhance their confidence in getting rich through labor, establish a correct outlook on life, consumption and fertility, get rid of the stereotypes such as blind comparison, extravagance and waste, persist in diligence and thrift, and blaze a path to get rich. At the same time, we should give them the necessary support from the aspects of policy, information, technology and capital, and urge them to embark on the road to prosperity as soon as possible. First of all, we should start with the construction of village groups. As the saying goes, "rich or not, look at the branches." The advanced nature and fighting capacity of rural party organizations in the new period, and the exemplary leading role of party member, are important manifestations of individuals' ability to get rich, and can also lead the masses to get rich. At present, what farmers lack most is information about structural adjustment, and what they need most is that cadres themselves participate in agricultural structural adjustment. The cadres of the two committees of the village branch are familiar with the countryside, have certain experience in agricultural production and management, and have more contact with production and marketing information, so they should become a new force to participate in agricultural structural adjustment. Organizations at all levels should encourage cadres of the two committees of the village branch to participate in agricultural development and guide and help farmers adjust their industrial structure. The cadres of the two committees of the village branch should change from being used to arranging agricultural production and guiding agricultural structural adjustment to participating in agricultural structural adjustment and leading farmers to increase their income. Secondly, helping the poor does not help the lazy. Because we are helping the poor, not helping the poor, let alone rewarding the poor. We should not encourage the lazy thoughts of a few people and make them more and more lazy. Give money to things, solve urgent needs, treat the symptoms rather than cure the problem; Helping others to support their wishes and activate their inner vitality is the fundamental solution. How to help people cure diseases? First, the spirit of helping others, that is, cultivating the spirit of self-reliance and self-reliance to get rid of poverty and become rich; The second is to help scientific and technological talents and skilled craftsmen make rural talents stand out, and then use this as a demonstration to drive everyone to get rich; Third, it is important to teach people to fish, not simply to send fish. The ancients said, "It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish." Only by teaching farmers the skills and methods to get rich can we fundamentally solve the problem of getting rich, guide them to turn hardship into hard and skilled work, and finally get rid of poverty. Third, it is better to get rid of poverty than to transform poverty. The most important asset owned by the rural poor is their own labor force, which is their comparative advantage. For the rural poor, apart from their own labor, they have almost no other assets that can be used to generate income. We can only make their labor force relatively scarce in rural areas, so it has relatively high value. Otherwise, it is impossible to improve the income and status of the rural poor, that is, to transfer some rural poor people to cities and towns or non-agricultural industries through "people-oriented", so as to reduce the total rural population, while the local land and resources remain unchanged, but the "per capita income" can be increased accordingly. At the same time, when agricultural labor force becomes non-agricultural labor force, they will change from the supply side of agricultural products to the demand side of agricultural products, which will make the supply curve of agricultural products move inward and the demand curve move outward, the price of agricultural products will rise accordingly, and the marginal output value and wages of agricultural labor force will also rise accordingly, so that the income of rural workers will continue to rise under the condition of decreasing rural labor force. Of course, in order to reduce the rural population and labor force, the floating labor force must be able to find jobs in cities and towns, otherwise, it will only turn the rural poor into the unemployed poor in cities. Fourth, education is fundamental to poverty eradication. In practical work, education should be divided into two categories: one is the basic education of minors, who are the future and hope of rural areas, and must unconditionally do a good job in rural compulsory education. The second is the re-education of the existing rural labor force. Re-education should focus on practical technical training that is not difficult, and it should be used now. In rural cultural construction, the future work should focus on supporting software. Fifth, in order to eliminate the social roots of poverty as soon as possible, we should put medical and health work in a more important position, strengthen the research and exploration of rural medical insurance and rural cooperative medical system, find a suitable breakthrough, and gradually form and improve the rural medical security mechanism. At present, biogas technology is very mature. Biogas construction has extremely high economic, ecological and social benefits, and can be used as a specific poverty alleviation project, so it can be quickly popularized.