A team from the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Areas of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee visited Central China's Hunan province from Oct 14 to 17 to survey local work on consolidating and expanding achievements in poverty alleviation. The team was led by Hu Chunhua, vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

The team visited fields, villages and specialized industrial bases in the cities of Loudi, Huaihua and Zhangjiajie, where they engaged in extensive discussions with local officials and residents who have just shaken off poverty, gathering detailed insights into rural industrial development, village governance, employment training and the incomes of formerly impoverished groups.

The team noted that Hunan province has made solid progress in advancing rural vitalization, and has achieved significant results in stabilizing agricultural production and consolidating poverty alleviation outcomes.

They highlighted the need to further improve the dynamic monitoring of any trends indicating a return to poverty and associated support measures, and fully tap relevant policies. Efforts should be made to foster local leading industries with distinctive advantages, address weak links in agricultural technology, infrastructure and marketing, and continuously extend industrial and value chains to broaden farmers' income sources, they noted. 

In addition, the team stressed that focus should be put on building up the internal drive for development, and that reform and innovation should be leveraged to build the development momentum in previously impoverished areas, while need-oriented training should be offered to enhance local people's skills so that poverty alleviation achievements are more robust and sustainable.