Foreign news

Donkey business helps Xinjiang village get rid of poverty, improve livelihood

Published

5 years ago

July 6, 2020

Pishan, 1,600 kilometers away from Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is a county with harsh environment in the autonomous region’s Hotan prefecture.

The per capita area of cultivated land in the county is only around 500 square meters, and the county is bothered by an average annual precipitation of less than 40 mm and dust storms that occur over 200 days each year. Besides, the county, troubled by scarce resources, is also underdeveloped industry-wise.

Donkeys have been an important livestock for the county during the past decades, just like they were for other regions in southern Xinjiang, as they not only carry people and cargos on their backs, but also play an important role in farming activities.

However, the role of donkeys has been undergoing changes in the recent years – they are now contributing to poverty alleviation and improving livelihood in Pishan.

A 27-year-old man named Mamat Wulam is a witness to these changes. When he was a child, his grandfather had a donkey that shouldered heavy duties. It carried his family and cargos, and also helped his family apply fertilizers in the farmland. Mamat and his grandfather had to take good care of the donkey to ensure it could stay healthy in busy farming seasons.

However, donkeys in Mamat’s village became fewer around 2008, as they were no longer an important tool for transportation when people’s livelihood was improved under the incentive of government’s policies. Young men in the village started riding motorcycles, while businessmen were driving pickups. Sedans were also common in the village, too. Besides, new technologies and machineries had tremendously improved farming efficiency, reducing the demand for manual labor and donkeys in the farmland.

Nevertheless, the donkeys had a “comeback” a couple of years later when the local government distributed a donkey to each impoverished household for poverty alleviation. Because most of the villagers only knew free-range raising, the village committee sent them to town for training, and Mamat also took part in it.

In less than a week, he learnt how to feed and milk the donkey in a science-based manner, as well as the usage of donkey milk. “Donkey raising is huge, and it’s not just about tying the animal to a random tree,” Mamat said.

Learning the way of donkey raising, Mamat came to realize that he could make a fortune out of it. Five months later, he volunteered to lead a donkey raising cooperative established by the village committee to encourage the business.

The cooperative was officially established in October, 2017, and it was named the “Prosperity Cooperative” by Mamat. The place for the cooperative was offered by the village committee, and a 450-square meter shed was built with a poverty alleviation fund offered by the county. The cooperative was joined by 22 impoverished households that contributed 22 donkeys.

With sharp business acumen, Mamat found the market had a large demand for donkey milk, and a donkey milk processing company just introduced to the county offered him an outlet. Therefore, he placed his major focus on milk production.

“Milk is a major source of revenue for the cooperative,” Mamat told People’s Daily, adding that a part of the revenue would be distributed to cooperative members and used to purchase fodders, and the rest is his income. The donkey milk business had successfully lifted Mamat and his family out of poverty at the end of 2019.

Mamat is very optimistic about the future development of the cooperative. He never worries about the sales of the donkey milk, and plus there is a new donkey trade market in the county where donkeys are sold at a fair price.

“I don’t worry about techniques either,” he said, as experts visit his village regularly to offer technical guidance. He told People’s Daily that his earnings will be used to buy new donkeys, and he must keep the techniques updated as he expands his business.

At present, Mamat’s parents, who once opposed him to raise donkeys, have become the largest supporters of him. His mother now milks the donkey every morning and reminds Mamat and his father to prepare fodders. “I will go to our neighboring village to teach the villagers raise donkeys a couple of days later,” she said proudly.

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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