Tohtiniyaz Tohtitumur, 27, is the foreman of a cold storage at the Litian Xiangnong Food Company in Luopu, a county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China (ZHAO WEI)

At the age of 27, Tohtiniyaz Tohtitumur gave himself a gift he had never thought he could have.

It was a silver Hyundai. A second-hand car, it cost him 20,000 yuan ($2,954), a year’s salary for him. He had saved resolutely for this for the one and a half years he has been working at a cold storage, starting out as a meat packer.

"I earn 3,350 yuan ($495) per month at the Litian Xiangnong Food Company in Luopu, [a county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China.] I get three free meals a day at the company and spend little except on necessary living costs. I saved money and bought the car because I want to take my parents traveling," Tohtiniyaz said.

There are 375 more workers like him in the company, half of them from poverty-stricken families. Now they have a stable job and comfortable income.

Tohtiniyaz with his second-hand Hyundai, which cost him a year’s salary (ZHAO WEI)

The Litian Xiangnong Food Company was established in 2018 as a poverty alleviation initiative. It brought technology from Jiangsu Province in east China and built an incubation base that produces 12 million ducklings annually. It has created an entire industrial chain integrating duck breeding, slaughtering, processing the meat, and sales.

Xu Wei, head of the company, told Beijing Review, they have built eight collectives for large-scale operation. They breed the ducks in 11 bases in six townships, complete with disease prevention and technical services.

By the end of October, the company plans to create 800 local jobs altogether. It is an opportunity for young farmers and the jobless, who are provided training.

Up to now, the company has collected more than 4.5 million ducks from the collectives, paying more than 13 million yuan ($1.9 million) in dividends.

Tohtiniyaz is a foreman now and he plans to stay on.

In his car, there are two toy bears, a gift from his girlfriend. "When I save 50,000 yuan ($7,390), I will ask her to marry me," he said, blushing behind his mask.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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