This year is the fifth and crucial final year of the transition period between consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and effectively connecting with rural revitalization. After years of continuous assistance, the infrastructure and public services in poverty-stricken counties have continued to improve, and the per capita disposable income of rural residents has increased from 14051 yuan in 2021 to 17522 yuan in 2024, with a growth rate faster than the national average for rural residents for four consecutive years. Maintaining this good development trend and continuously enhancing the endogenous development momentum of poverty-stricken areas and poverty-stricken populations is the key. Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Plan for Accelerating the Construction of an Agricultural Strong Country (2024-2035)", emphasizing the need to "enhance the endogenous development momentum of poverty-stricken areas and poverty-stricken populations". The endogenous development driving force is the core engine that drives high-quality economic and social development. Cultivating and strengthening this driving force is not only a strategic task to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation and effectively connect with rural revitalization, but also an essential requirement for building an agricultural power and promoting common prosperity. The sustained increase in income of the poverty-stricken population is an important symbol of consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation. From the perspective of income structure, operating income and wage income are the main sources of income for poverty-stricken areas and people. To enhance the ability of poverty-stricken people to increase their income and become prosperous, we must firmly grasp the two key aspects of industry and employment, continuously stimulate, cultivate, and enhance the endogenous driving force of poverty-stricken areas and people, and promote a qualitative leap from "blood transfusion assistance" to "hematopoietic revitalization". During the 5-year transition period, various regions and departments will take increasing the income of poverty-stricken people as the main direction, promote various resources and assistance measures to focus on promoting industrial development and expanding employment, and make the foundation of poverty alleviation more stable. We need to come up with more ways to support the high-quality development of industries. Developing industries is the fundamental solution to cultivating endogenous development drivers in poverty-stricken areas. During the 5-year transition period, various regions will further adjust and optimize the industrial structure of the leading industries for assistance. The top ten leading industries, including herbivorous animal husbandry, fruits, vegetables, grain and oil, traditional Chinese medicine, pigs, tea, edible fungi, poultry, and potatoes, will stand out, driving a large number of people and achieving significant results. To further promote the quality and efficiency improvement of leading industries, we need to seize two major opportunities. One is to seize the empowerment of digital intelligence technology. Make good use of the digital technology advantages of large enterprises, encourage and promote the construction of digital villages and smart agriculture projects, and promote the improvement of quality and efficiency of leading industries through production efficiency optimization. The second is to make good use of the connecting funds. The Ministry of Finance has issued advance subsidies for the central government to promote rural revitalization in 2025, with a total national funding scale of 159.3 billion yuan. We should prioritize the development of integrated agriculture, rural areas, and rich agricultural industries as part of the central government's support for promoting comprehensive rural revitalization subsidies. We should make full use of the connecting funds, accelerate the filling of rural infrastructure gaps in poverty-stricken areas, and prioritize the layout of supporting facilities required for industrial development. Making the employment of poverty-stricken people a top priority. Actively expanding employment is an important way to enhance the endogenous development momentum of poverty-stricken people. Expanding employment opportunities for poverty-stricken populations should pay attention to implementing targeted policies based on regional and individual characteristics. On the one hand, for the weak labor force and labor force with local employment needs among the poverty-stricken population, it is necessary to use public welfare positions, employment assistance workshops, and other means to absorb the poverty-stricken population for local employment. Promote work for relief in rural engineering project construction, expand public welfare positions, and attract farmers to work and increase income at their doorstep. On the other hand, for the poverty-stricken employment population transferred within the county, efforts will be made to develop county-level industries that have obvious comparative advantages, strong driving capabilities, and large employment capacity. By utilizing digital technology, regional labor cooperation platforms will be established to cultivate regional labor brands and promote employment, job expansion, and income growth for poverty-stricken people. The combination of supporting aspirations and supporting wisdom is an important lever. Doing a good job in supporting aspirations and intelligence is related to the fundamental improvement and long-term development of the ability of poverty-stricken people to increase income and become prosperous. Only when there is a change in ideological understanding can the endogenous development motivation of poverty-stricken people be stimulated. The combination of supporting aspirations and supporting wisdom also requires using wisdom to guide aspirations and using aspirations to promote wisdom. The key to using intelligence to guide aspirations is to cultivate a group of leading and exemplary individuals with high technological literacy, a sense of responsibility, and affinity for wealth creation. They will lead and drive the transformation of production methods among the poverty-stricken population, and improve production and operation efficiency. In order to seize the opportunities of cultivating rural talents such as "leading geese" industry leaders and new professional farmers in poverty-stricken areas, it is necessary to strengthen school local cooperation, promote the cultivation of new farmers and new agricultural science talents, and create a group of new forces leading the development of industries in poverty-stricken areas. To this end, it is necessary to develop vocational education for poverty-stricken areas, encourage poverty-stricken people to actively participate in the development of modern rural industries such as agricultural product processing and circulation, rural leisure tourism, green agriculture, and ecological agriculture, activate and mobilize all talent capital and labor resources in poverty-stricken areas, achieve a positive interaction between talent leadership and public participation, enhance the ability and level of new agricultural management entities to connect and drive small farmers, and effectively improve the ability of poverty-stricken people to increase income and become prosperous. (outlook new era)

Author: Zhang Qi (Director and Professor of the Rural Revitalization and Development Research Center at Beijing Normal University)