A Change in Farming Method Brings Farmers a New Way of Life
“The ‘happiness’ you want is blooming on Tianping Mountain.” “No need to go to the plateau - you can admire gesang flowers right at your doorstep!”... During this year's National Day holiday, WeChat posts titled “Take you to see the gesang flowers” were forwarded across many Shan City residents' social media feeds, and beautiful photos of these “happiness flowers” drew likes from many people.
Tianping Mountain is not on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but in Ersheng Town, Banan District, Chongqing. This place has pleasant scenery, a thousand-year-old ancient temple, and even more so, tea forests covering the hills and a ten-thousand-mu pear orchard. The newly added 500-mu gesang flower base has undoubtedly added even more color to the rural tourism here. “Banan's agriculture and tourism are getting more and more stylish!” As Banan District celebrates the 20th anniversary of its establishment, many netizens have expressed their sentiments by comparing the past with the present.
A total area of 1,825 sq km, with a rural area of 1,780 sq km; a total population of over 960,000, with an agricultural population of 510,000... This is the situation of Banan District: among the nine main urban districts of Chongqing, it has the largest rural area, the most complex “three rural issues” (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers), and the most prominent urban-rural dual structure. Against the backdrop of the central government's coordinated urban-rural development, how can Banan District solve these problems? A reporter conducted an investigation.
Industrialization Cultivates Specialties to Boost Agricultural Efficiency and Increase Farmers' Income
After more than 8 years of hard work, the red lemon from Spain has finally borne bright red fruit on the land of Banan.
Since 2005, Xiong Xiaomei has been growing red lemons on Yunzhuan Mountain in Banan District. “Having a harvest proves that the effort is worth it.” This former laid-off female worker was not satisfied with the nearly one million yuan in income that this year's 100,000 kg of red lemons brought her, so she set an even more ambitious development goal for herself——not only to grow red lemons well, but also to launch derivative products such as jam, preserved fruit, potted plants, and lemon leaf cookies, cultivating deeply and meticulously to grow bigger and stronger.
In Xianchi Village, Yudong Street, Banan District, the former barren hills have almost all been contracted to develop specialty agriculture. Besides laid-off workers like Xiong Xiaomei, there are also a large number of local villagers, returning migrant workers, and outside enterprises. More than 3,000 mu of barren hills have been transformed into orchards, growing a variety of fruit trees such as fragrant peaches, grapes, cherries, and mulberries. Good quality means no worries about sales - often the fruit is still hanging on the trees and has already been fully booked by urban customers.
In Ersheng Town, Banan District, the model of “company + industrial base + professional cooperative” is implemented. Tea farmers who used to work alone have now become cooperative members and earn a decent salary. Last year, Ersheng Tea Industry Company took out 5% of its annual profit for dividends. That day, tea farmer Qian Shiguo received more than 20,000 yuan in dividends. Old Qian, who has grown tea for seven or eight years, bluntly stated that he has witnessed the power of branding: “With a good brand, I now earn more than 100,000 yuan a year just from selling tea, and life is getting more and more promising!”
“Integrated urban-rural development first requires narrowing the income gap, and this must rely on strong industrial energy.” said Li Jianchun, Secretary of the Banan District Party Committee. Based on Banan's district conditions, the local government has grasped three principles in promoting agricultural industrialization: first, serve the main city and benefit from the main city; second, pay attention to regionalization in industrial layout; third, strive for a high degree of integration between the primary and tertiary industries. At present, the local agricultural industrialization plan covers more than 500,000 farmers in Banan District, accounting for more than 98% of the district's total agricultural population. The proportion of local farmers' income from agricultural industrialization to household income has reached 40.3%.
Land circulation and moderate-scale operation have increased agricultural efficiency and also increased farmers' income. Up to now, Banan District has circulated 323,800 mu of cultivated land, accounting for 34.69% of the household contracted cultivated land area. 247,900 mu of land has achieved moderate-scale operation. The district has developed more than 520,000 mu of high-quality fruits, vegetables, flowers, and nursery stock, driving 10,000 local farming households to increase their income by more than 200 million yuan.