by:M. Wakilur Rahman

(PhD Research Fellow, Northwest A&F University, China and Faculty Member, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh)

Imagine! You are a foreigner, visited 20 villages in three state designated poor counties of China. You have had shake hands over 300 poor farmers! Definitely, it is an exciting experience I have had ever in my life. My research work has taken me to the poor villages of China. The inspiration came in mind to accomplish dual purposes. First, to understand the success of poverty reduction and rural development in China and secondly to let Chinese people concern about the success of grass root orientated development in Bangladesh.

China could be a role model and miracle in rural development and poverty reduction. People are enthusiastic to know the success path of China’s development and I am not the exception as a citizen of developing country, Bangladesh. Chinese development partners are also enthusiastic to know about the success of NGO-MFIs development approach toward women empowerment and rural development. Bangladesh has really made a tangible progress in empowering women and rural development through grass root participations. Anyway, I am not going details about the development process of China and Bangladesh rather I would like to keep focus on my experiences with Chinese poor farmers.

In 2010, I had an opportunity to conduct field survey in three state designated poor counties namely Pucheng, Chunhua and Xixiang of Shaanxi. I visited couple of villages of each county and discussed with several farmers. I adopted qualitative methods to have quick information about Chinese poor villages and the farmers.  Honestly speaking I was so impressed to see the friendly cooperation of Chinese farmers. Since then I was looking forward to have a chance to know in-depth about Chinese farmers and their livelihood.

Finally, I had an opportunity to have more interaction with Chinese farmers in 2011. I met about 360 farmers among 20 villages in the three poor counties of Shaanxi Province. Most of the visited villages are surrounded by mountains. Interestingly, all villages have access to electricity, access to supply of water, connected with highway, and most of the roads within the villages are made by concrete. I was queries to know whether they have load-shedding of power supply, the answer was- they never heard such kind of words in their life. I visited couple of villages which are 370 kilometer far away from the capital (Xi’an) of Shaanxi province. Xi’an (the capital of Shaanxi) was the ancient capital of China. It took only four and half hours by bus to reach the villages although I had to cross the Hua Mountain (Hua Shan). China has three Holly Mountains, Hua is one of them. On the way, I had to spend roughly two hours inside the tunnel. I was so surprised to see the tunnel architecture that was built so far 30 years before. This is a two way tunnels, build with captivating the natural beauty of the Hua Mountain. In fact, it is an example how China developing their infrastructure toward achieving the goal of rural development and poverty reduction. I had observed some significant development indicators in the villages. Among others- agricultural mechanization, village and township based industries, transport and communication and significant inflow of remittance to the villages. Presently, Chinese villages are the residence of elderly people. Young generation lives in the cities and towns for studying and working.

Noticeably, I didn’t only receive the friendly cooperation by the villagers but also received their hospitality while conducting the field investigation. Some of my Chinese friends also went with me to conduct the survey. Whenever we visit a village, we try to meet with the village leaders. Village leaders and NGO personals help us to find the sample farmers. Not to mention some village leaders spent whole day with us. When we enter into farmer houses, they serve us green tea and some fresh fruits collected from their fields. Even, sometimes I had to take some fruits with me as I could not refuse them. We did interview farmers one by one and what I never forgot to shake hands each and every farmers. I still remember their smiling faces! This is a memorable experience of my study life in China.