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Lingqiu County in north China’s Shanxi Province has made efforts to explore development of the organic agriculture for poverty alleviation.

Lingqiu’s efforts have been widely applauded by the attendees at the 7th International Forum of Organic Agriculture which kicked off on Sept. 12 in Datong City.

Hu Yuegao, professor at China Agricultural University, pointed out that the world is in the process of transition from industrial civilization to ecological civilization. The organic agriculture is a good way to achieve the goal of rural vitalization and promote such a transition.

Experts at the forum noted that organic agriculture can effectively solve food safety issues, improve resource utilization, and ultimately achieve sustainable agricultural development.

Located in the northeast of Shanxi Province, Lingqiu County under Datong City enjoys abundant natural resources, with a long history of agricultural production. It has a total population of 250,000, including 200,000 engaged in agricultural production.

In order to achieve both poverty alleviation and ecological protection, from 2013, Lingqiu County has taken organic agriculture as an effective way to promote ecological poverty alleviation.

Through organic agriculture and eco-tourism, 14,547 poor people in the county have been lifted out of poverty.

In recent years, Lingqiu has taken multiple measures to develop the organic agriculture and protect the local ecological environment.

It launched an organic agriculture park with a planned area of 1,185 square kilometers, involving 46,000 farmers in 208 villages. An organic agriculture demonstration zone covering an area of 146 square kilometers was also built in a township to vigorously develop the organic agriculture projects.

Meanwhile, Lingqiu has also adopted a development mode featuring the combination of organic agriculture, beautiful countryside, and eco-tourism. It has built six communities with the organic agriculture as the mainstay, which has become the new tourist attractions.

For example, Chehe Organic Community, one of the six communities, has received 420,000 tourists since its establishment in 2014. The community had a total investment of 380 million yuan (about 56.01 million U.S. dollars).

Up to now, the total output value of organic agriculture in Lingqiu accounts for about one third of its total agricultural output value. It has 20 leading agricultural industrialization enterprises.