With the coming of spring, farming gets underway. On land owned by the Fengdeng Farmers' Professional Cooperative in Xin'an village in Baiyin, Gansu province, more than 30 residents have begun planting wheat and flax.

Su Junhe, who is in charge of the cooperative, is busy in the fields, trying his best to manage the work.

"We have established a cooperative relationship with the provincial agricultural science institute and the provincial seed administration. We are planning to plant 400 acres of potatoes, 150 acres of wheat and 100 acres of flax and soybeans this year, with an estimated income of over 1.8 million yuan ($255,207) by the end of 2020," he said.

Xin'an, which lies 26.7 km from Baiyin, is poor. The land is mountainous and roads are inconvenient. Su's family is one of the poor households, living a hard life.

With the help of a targeted policy, Su rose out of poverty in 2015. With a 50,000 yuan poverty alleviation loan, he started his own business, setting up a potato planting base and the Baiyin Fengdeng Farmers' Professional Cooperative in the village.

He also has a bigger goal - making everyone rich, or at least well-off. In 2018, the cooperative joined the poverty alleviation work that drove poor households out of poverty by transferring land and providing employment.

Over the years, the cooperative has also received free technical assistance from agricultural technicians at Baiyin Agricultural Science Institute, the seed administration bureau and the Baiyin district agriculture and shepherd bureau. The potatoes grown by the cooperative are large, smooth and well-shaped, low in water content, high in starch and tolerant of storage and lengthy transportation.

At present, the cooperative has transferred more than 60 hectares of land to 150 farming households and providing jobs for more than 20 poor households in the village. Each has achieved stability above the poverty line.

Now, Su wants to develop the business further. Since the cooperative became a provincial model agricultural cooperative and the original potato seeds it produced obtained the certification of pollution-free products in 2018, Su has more confidence.

His story is a good example of industrial poverty alleviation in Baiyin district. In recent years, the district has taken industrial poverty alleviation as a fundamental strategy, vigorously implemented the concept of "One township, one industry; one village, one product" by relying on leading enterprises and farmers' professional cooperatives, to drive poor households out of poverty.

For example, the Baiyin district Xingsheng Farmers' Professional Cooperative has set up 30 solar greenhouses, and planted more than 13 hectares of apples.

The cooperative has a total of 12 long-term employees and around 30 temporary workers. Per capita annual income can reach about 15,000 yuan.

At the demonstration site of modern agricultural science and technology in Baiyin district, the potted flowers in the greenhouse of are in full bloom, exuding the smell of spring. The site has 22 enterprises and specialized farmers' cooperatives that involve planting, breeding, processing and marketing. They support 13,000 people from 3,500 households, of which 220 households - or 657 people - are listed as poor.