Poverty alleviation transforms Sichuan's cliff village

Since 2022, the olive industry has generated nearly 300,000 yuan in income from labor services and land transfers, while each household growing navel oranges has earned an average additional income of about 2,000 yuan, he added.

In 2017, the local government built a 2.9-km-long and 2,556-step steel ladder to make traveling to and from the village safer. In recent years, the ladder has become the core of a tourism attraction.

The Sky Valley project, developed by Liangshan Culture and Tourism Group with a planned investment of 333 million yuan, has received 68,000 visits and 56 tour groups since the trial operation of its first phase in July last year, according to Su Jiefang, general manager of the group.

Su said that during the construction process, priority has been given to employing residents from the village and its surrounding areas, driving an increase in their collective income by 1.85 million yuan. The villagers also received land transfer and compensation fees totaling 11.53 million yuan.

Once the project is completed, the villagers will receive annual dividends of no less than 380,000 yuan, Su said.