Rural cooperatives are playing an increasing role in China's war on poverty.

The latest central government data suggest that more than 30 million Chinese live below the national poverty line, which is set at per capita annual income of 2,300 yuan ($345; 300 euros; ￡265), with the worst-hit areas being in the Tibet autonomous region, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan and Qinghai.

China is seeking to end extreme poverty by 2020.

Fujian, a province of 38.7 million people on the country's east coast, saw significant poverty reduction in its inland areas in the past year that many local officials and rural residents largely attribute to farm cooperatives. The province's north is relatively poorer than its south but claims it has few people left in absolute poverty today.

China Daily took part in a recent media group tour of villages and towns governed by the prefecture-level cities of Ningde and Nanping, each with a population of around 3 million.

Hundreds of rural cooperatives for small-scale enterprises related to grain, fruit, tea, vegetables, flowers, edible fungi, animal husbandry and seafood have been registered in recent times in Ningde, according to local officials. The purpose of such "household communes" - strictly organized collectives - is to help farm produce sell better.

The operations are mostly government-backed, but some are initiated by entrepreneurs themselves.

In this part of Fujian, as is the case with some other places in rural China, the lack of access to markets has traditionally contributed to poverty along with remote locations, disabilities and illnesses among people, natural calamities and uneven regional development over the decades.

"We want to develop industry and tourism in the countryside and boost agricultural e-commerce," says Lin Wenfang, deputy Party chief of Ningde.

In Ningde's small yet stunning village of Xiadang, through which a green river flows under an age-old wooden bridge, a cooperative has drawn 128 of the 300 or so resident families since it was formed in 2016. Other than providing fertilizers to the growers, the cooperative attempts to sell unprocessed tea of three main varieties: white, red and green.

Wang Guangchao, an elderly member of the cooperative, says a kilogram of tea fetches up to 20 yuan.

"We use a phone app to monitor tea growth in the gardens," he says, clarifying that younger members of the cooperative mostly use it.