In China， when beef is mentioned， people normally think of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north， where the lush extensive prairies provide the best feed for cattle. Conversely， when Chongqing， a municipality in southwest China， is mentioned， spicy hotpot is one of the fi rst things that come to mind. It is difficult to relate beef cattle to mountainous Chongqing whose red soil is not conducive to growing grass.
　　Yet Fengdu， a county in Chongqing， has become a core area for rearing beef cattle， forming a full industrial chain that has integrated feed production， ecological breeding， deep processing， research and development， and marketing. The local government envisions that by 2020， the number of cattle heads raised in Fengdu will reach 400，000 and the output value of the entire industry will surpass 50 billion yuan（$7.13 billion）， making Fengdu the capital of beef cattle in China.
　　The vision goes on to show that south China， even though it has no extensive grassland， can develop the beef cattle industry， making it a key to poverty relief.
　　In 2002， Fengdu was designated a nationallevel poverty-stricken county. Its inhospitable terrain was a major reason.
　　Despite the odds， in 2017， the county was offi cially removed from the list of poor counties thanks to the beef cattle industry， as the backbone agricultural industry.

A migrant returns

　　Xu Huahong runs a family farm with 23 beef cattle heads. The farm is right next to his house. There is a new car parked in front of the house. In the backyard， huangzhucao， a local fodder grass for the cattle， grows luxuriantly. Under the shade of the plants， hens are enjoying their lunch.
　　Xu was once a migrant worker earning around 30，000 yuan （$4，273） per year. “In 2014， I began to raise cattle and my yearly income exceeded 40，000 yuan （$5，697），” the 57-yearold told Beijing Review. Beef cattle farming is a long-term project and Xu thinks his income will go up even further.
　　He attributes his modest success to the local government’s assistance. He received free trainings to raise cattle， free vaccinations for the animals and subsidized loans.
　　Xu’s initial capital came from a 50，000-yuan（$7，121） loan from the government and some money he borrowed from his relatives. “I’ve paid off my relatives and begun to pay back the government，” he said. 　　In 2008， the local government began to implement preferential policies and measures to develop the beef cattle industry. It now offers subsidies for organic fertilizer production and insurance for the cattle. There is also a mechanism to take care of the waste generated by the animals and protect the environment. Cattle farmers have to make a cash deposit and those who pass the standard for treating the waste get their money back with a reward.
　　Xu has developed an eco-friendly system on his family farm. He grows the fodder in the field， feeds the cattle with it， treats the waste they generate and fertilizes the fi eld using the organic fertilizer made from the waste.
　　Fan Chun， Deputy Director of the Fengdu Beef Cattle Industry Development and Service Center， said there are over 1，000 family farms in the county like Xu’s， with about 20-30 cattle heads each. There are also smaller farms owned by individuals and large-scale farms.

A full chain

　　The Chongqing Hondo Agriculture Group（Hondo） is one of the leading beef cattle enterprises in Fengdu. It runs several large-scale farms and has more than 100，000 cattle heads.
　　Zhu Gangquan， founder and General Manager of Hondo， used to be a middle school teacher who taught biology and English. Then he went to Wuhan， a city in central China， to become an entrepreneur， selling information technology （IT） products. In 2009， hearing about the preferential policies in Fengdu to develop the beef cattle industry， Zhu decided to go back and establish Hondo.
　　He received an investment of 3 billion yuan（$427.2 million） from the company whose IT products he sold. And his beef cattle business grew， despite challenges such as lack of water and environmental protection issues. Today， Hondo provides jobs to over 1，000 people in Fengdu， paying each employee 4，000 yuan（$570） per month.
　　“Poor families can participate in every link of our industrial chain. They can sell their homegrown forage grass to us， grow their cattle and sell the meat to us， become our employees or participate in the cold-chain logistics，” Zhu said.“The beef cattle industry has become a silver bullet for our poverty alleviation.”
　　According to offi cial statistics， more than 20 percent of the families in Fengdu are engaged in the industry， which contributes 18 percent to the increase in farmers’ incomes.
　　In 2016， the State Council， China’s cabinet， issued the 13th Five-Year Plan （2016-20）， which said poverty can be addressed through developing industries with local characteristics and every poor county should have its unique products. 　　“From a national perspective， the beef cattle industry is conducive to the supply-side structural reform of agriculture as farmers no longer have to stick to farming. Instead they can rent out their fi elds while getting jobs in my company to earn a double income，” Zhu said.“This year， Chongqing has contributed one 10th of China’s total beef imports， which is an amazing number. It makes Chongqing an example of an inland area opening up”
　　Currently， Hondo is tapping market potential all over China. It has bases in different parts of the world to purchase premium beef and beef cattle. It plans to extend its industrial chain and make its initial public offering early next year.

　　Nevertheless， Zhu also sees bottlenecks for the growth of the industry. Financing is still a diffi cult issue for enterprises as they lack collateral. Besides， the national productivity for the beef cattle industry is low and the strategic reserves of beef in south China are insuffi cient. An imbalance between beef production and consumption is also an issue.

E-commerce boost

　　E-commerce， an integral part of the 13th FiveYear Plan for poverty alleviation， plays a big role in Fengdu’s beef cattle industry as well. The county’s rural e-commerce public service and logistics center was established in 2017 as part of a national e-commerce project for rural areas covering 737 national-level poverty-stricken counties.
　　Hondo’s market share in the fresh food category on five e-commerce platforms including JD.com and Tmall accounts for 50 percent， which partly mirrors e-commerce’s contribution to the development of the beef cattle industry in Fengdu.
　　In addition， Youniumalls.com， China’s first e-commerce platform for the beef cattle industry， opened on October 31. Established by a private enterprise in Chongqing and a stateowned enterprise in Fengdu， it aims to realize online transactions in live cattle and byproducts to boost the poverty alleviation drive through consumption and e-commerce.
　　More than 500 cattle farmers have registered with the platform and the volume of transactions so far has reached 10 million yuan（$1.42 million）.
　　Xiong Huajiang， General Manager of Juswin， a private stakeholder， said farmers， especially individual beef cattle raisers， will benefit the most as the platform provides them with a channel for sales. By integrating logistics， insurance and transportation， it can reduce their purchase costs by 10-15 percent while increasing profits by 5 percent. It will also improve transaction efficiency and allow guarantee transactions for users with a good credit record， which will solve their financing and cash fl ow troubles.
　　“Moreover， the platform will track the information of all the beef cattle in the future to provide big data services，” Xiong said. “It will help to solve the imbalance between production and consumption as the data will tell farmers how much beef cattle they should raise to meet the market demand.”