Poverty alleviation remains a grassroots effort. Nowhere is this more true than in China's rural mountain regions, where many farmers are just starting to climb out of poverty. Fortunately, special new financing methods are in place to help farmers. CGTN's Wei Lynn Tang takes us to southwest China's Sichuan province, to see how funding accessibility is now easier than ever for some.

Grinding corn into grain to be fed to pigs, which will then be sold. Corn accounts for the bulk of the pigs' feeding costs. It used to be Liang Shangyuan's burden, having owed suppliers, leaving him unable to scale-up production. Three years ago, he found a way out -- through the village's financial co-operative, also known as a grassroots bank.

LIANG SHANGYUAN, FARMER WANGJIAYAN VILLAGE, SANTAI COUNTY, SICHUAN PROVINCE "If I don't earn at least 20-thousand yuan a year, I can't live well. I will still continue to raise pigs for as long as I can. But eventually I want to be self-reliant and not get the state involved."

Liang has borrowed money four times in the past three years -- only a few thousand yuan each time. He says his annual feed costs alone come to about 25-thousand. And he can only borrow more money once he has fully paid off his prior loan -- the modus operandi of the grassroots bank. The Wangjiayan Village financial co-op was set up in 2015 to help farmers meet their industrial production needs. It is funded by the government and farmers, who have a stake in the co-op.

LUO XIAOMING, DIRECTOR WANGJIAYAN VILLAGE COMMITTEE, SANTAI COUNTY, SICHUAN PROVINCE "Up to now, we have disbursed 360-thousand yuan in loans to help poor farming households. Farmers need not pay interest for the first three months, and interest thereafter comes at a discounted rate from the country's benchmark. Plus, no guarantee is needed. So far, we haven't had any case of bad loans, as we keep close tabs with the progress of their industrial production."

WEI LYNN TANG SANTAI COUNTY, SICHUAN PROVINCE "We've seen how a financial co-operative or 'grassroots bank' has managed to help solve working capital woes of individual farmers. But scale matters, when it comes to lifting a village – and even the county it is in – out of poverty. And this is where rural commercial banks come in."

In 2017, an industrial poverty alleviation loan product was rolled out in the Santai pilot reform zone, which covers parts of Santai county. Jointly launched with Santai Rural Commercial Bank, this product boasts lower interest rates, simpler procedures, and longer loan life cycles. But here -- the concept of leverage kicks-in. The commercial bank is able to lend ten times more from the reform zone's initial fund of 3 million yuan, supported by the state.

ZHAO YI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICE, MIANYANG CITY RURAL PILOT REFORM ZONE "We mainly focus on key advantageous industries in line with the industrial planning of our reform zone, such as branded roosters and pepper, as well as revitalizing our citrus industries. As of September 2018, we have invested 3 million yuan in the fund, and disbursed over 11 million in loans, to 10 professional cooperatives. This has reached over a thousand households and brought in an expected revenue of 200 million."

Zhao says there are no non-performing loans so far. Applications first go through the pilot reform zone's headquarters for review, before being put forth to the commercial bank for verification. The program only lends to rural cooperatives, and at least one chicken farmer has benefited.

WANG DUNXUE, DIRECTOR GENERAL PHOENIX FARMERS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY, SANTAI COUNTY, SICHUAN PROVINCE "We were allocated a million yuan from the poverty alleviation fund -- to be utilized in phases. This is mainly used to construct our chicken farms, spanning some 13 hectares. The government subsidizes the interest of this loan, thankfully, as we would not be able to kick-start this project on our own."

Whether it's as small a scale of an individual farmer, to medium-sized rural cooperatives, various financial methods are taking place to help ensure farmers can fully utilize their potential - be it in resources and will - to improve their livelihoods. And if anything, to ensure they don't fall back under China's poverty line. WLT, CGTN, Santai County in Sichuan province.