Microlending offers lifeline to Sichuan's agricultural enterprises

The family of Huang Mingzhi, a farmer in Wangcang county of Guangyuan, Sichuan province, was hard hit by poverty after his eldest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.

To improve his family's financial health, Huang transferred the management rights of 0.2 hectare of farmland to Wangcang-based Sichuan Mumen Tea Co Ltd, a company specialized in tea growing, production and sales, at a price of 3,000 yuan ($427) per hectare a year and received a payment of 80 to 100 yuan per day for fertilizing and removing weeds from the company's tea plantation.

His annual household income has now increased to more than 30,000 yuan, compared with 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a few years ago. It includes revenue from tea growing, pig farming, transfer of farmland management rights, working at the plantation, and running a small business.