New Hope Group: Initiating the “Glorious Cause” to help Liangshan get rid of poverty

Company profile
 
New Hope Group was founded in 1982. It is one of the largest feed producers in China and a leader in Chinese farming and animal husbandry. Leveraging its resources and expertise, New Hope Group has constantly branched out into new industries and sectors, from feed production to agriculture technology, food processing, channel construction, facility building and financial service, as well as focused on investing and operating emerging innovative companies that have growth potentials.
 
New Hope Group now has more than 600 subsidiaries in 30 countries, nearly 70,000 employees and annual revenues of over 100 billion Yuan. 
 
Challenges
 
Sichuan Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, located in the southwest of Sichuan Province, gathers the largest Yi ethnic group in China and the most ethnic minorities in Sichuan. As one of the targeted poverty elimination regions in China, as of July 2017, there were 1,618 impoverished villages in the autonomous prefecture, of which 166 were extremely poor villages, with a poverty population of 528,800 and a poverty incidence rate of 11.9%.
 
The development of New Hope Group begins in rural areas. Rural areas are not only the source of food raw materials, but also the main market of agricultural products for New Hope Group. How to promote industrial development and increase farmers' income during the company’s development, maximize the professional advantages of New Hope Group to promote the development of China's rural economy and end poverty is the responsibility and challenge of New Hope Group.
 
Solutions
 
In April 1994, 10 private entrepreneurs, including Liu Yonghao, Chairman of New Hope Group, issued the initiative Let us Join in the Glory Cause of Poverty Alleviation, calling on private entrepreneurs across the country to develop projects and explore resources in old, ethnic, border and poor areas to contribute to the promotion of common prosperity. The glory business starts from it, and it also opened up New Hope Group’s engagement in poverty alleviation in Liangshan area of Sichuan for 23 years.
 
Building Glorious Cause factories to promote employment
 
In 1994, New Hope Group invested 15 million yuan to build the first “Glorious Cause” factory in Liangshan area of Sichuan – Xichang Hope Feed Company. It is committed to the development of modern agriculture, producing high-quality “Hope” brand and “Jufei” brand of feeds for pig, chicken, duck and other animals to promote local economic development. The company mainly recruits local employees to promote local residents' employment and income.
 
Practicing poverty alleviate by supporting education to cut off the intergenerational transmission of poverty
 
The New Hope Group is to carry out education to poverty alleviation as the basis for improving and stabilizing poverty alleviation work. Basing on the goal of improving the basic cultural quality of the poor, we will aim at the weakest areas of education and develop education in Liangshan area. In 1998, Xichang Hope Feed Company successively invested in the construction of two “Glorious Hope” primary schools and established the “Glorious Hope” primary education fund.
 
Mining characteristic industries to create a new model for accurate poverty alleviation by pig breeding
 
In March 2016, New Hope Group successfully piloted the first intensive pig breeding project in Yuejin Village, Heboluo Township, Xide County, in order to implement the requirements for targeted poverty alleviation, further promoting the Glory Cause to take root in the Liangshan area. The project adopts the “1+1+1+N” (Government + Leading Enterprises + Family Farms + N Households) model.
 
Inspired by the experience summary of the Yuejin Village model in Xide County, New Hope Group created the Zhaojue County model of “Local Government + Chengdu Branch of the People's Bank of China + New Hope Liuhe + Village Collective + 64 poor households in Tekoujiagu Village” in Tekoujiagu Village, Zhaojue County. The model includes: poverty alleviation planning: building one pig farm to produce 5,000 pigs for slaughter each year (the first year will provide 2,500 heads/time in two times). It is jointly invested by New Hope Liuhe, village collective organizations (subsidized by the Zhaojue County Government and assisted by the Chengdu Branch of the People's Bank of China), and poor households(mainly relying on poverty alleviation loans).
 
Management : New Hope Liuhe provides piglets, feed and technical staff for full-cycle technical training and technical support,and the sale of live pigs. The company also takes on a series of risks such as the risk of epidemics, market risk in the process of pig breeding and sales, and pays the maintenance fee.
 
In August 2017, New Hope Group and the Liangshan Government signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement for 600,000 High-efficiency Pig Breeding Project within the Liangshan Prefecture Targeted Industry Poverty Alleviation Planning. The project plans to invest 2 billion yuan and will continue to increase the investment in poverty alleviation by developing industry in Liangshan.
 
Achievement
 
New Hope Group continues to contribute to the socio-economic development of the Liangshan by combining its own professional strengths with the needs of local community development.
 
Social benefit
 
Realizing the income growth of farmers. 85% of the employees of Xichang Hope Feed Company are local residents. Xichang Hope Feed Company drives more than 26,000 farmers to increase their income by more than 200 million yuan every year. It is one of the important forces for the development of modern agriculture and the promotion of local farmers' income and employment in Liangshan.
 
Promoting the local education development. According to statistics, the establishment of the New Hope "Glorious Hope" primary schools and education fund has helped nearly a thousand out-of-school children return to school, which effectively increases the enrollment rate of children in Liangshan, enhancing the ability of the poor to develop themselves, and cutting off the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
 
Forming a long-term mechanism for targeted poverty alleviation and poverty elimination. The targeted poverty alleviation model for pig breeding accurately integrates poor households from one village and even several villages into a cooperative platform for modern pig breeding, allowing poor households to enjoy sustained equity gains and avoid trapping into poverty. A mechanism for co-investing, co-managing and sharing of poor households and cooperation platforms is also set up, enhancing the confidence of enterprises in poverty alleviation and promoting the healthy and sustainable development of cooperation platforms. This model also brings considerable sustained benefits to the village collective economy and enhances the prestige of the village Party organizations at the grassroots level, achieving a all-win situation of targeted poverty alleviation and elimination. In March 2017, the first batch of 500 fattening pigs came out of Yuejin Village, Heboluo Township, Xide County, which has helped more than 10 households to get out of poverty.
 
Promoting the continued development of the Glorious Cause. Beginning with poverty alleviation in Liangshan, the New Hope Group plays its driving role to continuously promote the flourishing development of the glory cause in ethnic areas. In the past 23 years, the New Hope Group has invested more than 5 billion yuan in the undeveloped areas. In combination with aquaculture and agro-processing industries, more than 150 Glorious Cause poverty alleviation factories have been built in poverty-stricken areas in 14 provinces across the country, providing more than 60,000 jobs.
 
Economic benefit
 
Since Xichang Hope Feed Company was put into production, it has won the title of “No. 1 Industrial Enterprise in Xichang” for several consecutive years. For more than 20 years, it has been a “consumer trustworthy enterprise” and an advanced quality management company. At present, Xichang Hope Feed Company has annual sales of more than 70 million yuan. While helping the local economy and social development, the company also creates a more eco-friendly environment for the brand's further development in China’s market.
 
Prospect
 
In the future, the New Hope Group will continue to deepen the poverty alleviation efforts in the Liangshan area and focus on the actual implementation of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement for 600,000 High-efficiency Pig Breeding Project within the Liangshan Prefecture Targeted Industry Poverty Alleviation Planning. While continuing to expand and innovate in targeted poverty alleviation model, the New Hope Group will continue to unite and advocate the engagement of private enterprises in poverty alleviation in ethnic areas, and vigorously promote the "Glorious Cause in Liangshan" activities, playing a demonstration role and giving full paly to the power of the Glorious Cause.