In recent years, Hechi city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has made great efforts to promote work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, supported by financial sectors. It has also improved financial services by offering strong support, which has greatly contributed to the economic and social development of the rural areas.

Hechi strives to optimize the financial service system in rural areas. At present, the number of small and medium-sized rural financial institutions has amounted to 201 in Hechi, and agriculture-related loans have amounted to 17.015 billion yuan ($2.75 billion). 98.05 percent of Hechi’s administrative villages have been available for Guishengtong self-checkout terminals.

Hechi strives to increase support to economic and social development in rural areas. The balance of infrastructure construction loans in rural areas stood at 3.595 billion yuan last year. Meanwhile, the loan balance of peasant specialized cooperatives, supported by the financial institutions, amounted to 84.87 million yuan, which has benefited 203 peasant specialized cooperatives in seven towns.

Hechi strives to guide financial institutions to develop financial products relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Up to November 2014, the loan balance relating to the forest rights, the land contractual management rights and the land using rights in the small and medium-sized rural financial institutions has amounted to 525 million yuan. The start-up loan for women reached 222 million yuan, and the loan for youth accounted for 14.13 million yuan.

Hechi also strives to increasingly broaden the coverage of agricultural insurance. A total area of 277,500 mu (18,500 hectares) lands planting rice and sugar cane in Hechi has been insured. A total of 6.05 million mu policy-type forests have been covered insurance. The total amount of policy-oriented agricultural insurance is about 2.915 billion yuan.

Edited by Feng Lu and Brian Salter