Neixiang county's credit cooperative has allocated 145 million yuan ($21.74 million) in financial support towards social welfare and to help local households develop farming.

Some 2,174 households in the county are affected by poverty and the cooperative is seeking to enable them to boost their incomes by providing finance to start their own businesses.

The cooperative has set up 642 self-service bank machines and 45 benefit payment service stations. Some 18,000 local have registered for accounts with the cooperative so far.