Did farmers benefit after the companies arrived?
Editor's Note: In recent years, in developing modern agriculture, various regions have, through measures such as attracting investment and building industrial parks, brought in a large number of leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization. These enterprises have brought local capital, technology and equipment, and advanced production models and business concepts, while also bringing local orders and providing employment; some company bosses and managers have even become the entrepreneurial leaders and "local experts" in getting rich in the eyes of local farmers. Only by letting farmers make money alongside the enterprises and benefit from the industrial chain is this the true goal of our development of agricultural industrialization.
Leading enterprises in Guizhou drive farmers' income growth -
"Before, I earned 10,000 a year; now I can earn 70,000 to 80,000"
In recent years, Guizhou Province has continuously introduced the concept of modern and efficient agricultural development. More and more enterprises have entered the agricultural sector, leading the strong development of modern agriculture, and the channels for farmers to increase income have been greatly broadened.
Earning wages from working, and also learning skills from the enterprises
"The fastest change is income. Before, I earned only 10,000 a year; now, following the enterprise, I can earn 70,000 to 80,000." The person talking about the changes is Tang Shijiang, production director of the Yangchun Baixue Tea Company in Meitan County, Guizhou Province. From farmer to worker, to skilled tea maker, and then to management, he drives a car, lives in an apartment building, and his income has risen substantially. "Enterprises have narrowed the distance between farmers and city residents. Before, when spring tea came on the market, everyone would carry tea leaves on their shoulders and peddle them everywhere. Now there are more tea-making enterprises here, and farmers sell their tea leaves to the enterprises nearby," Tang Shijiang said.
Yao Maoju of Yangchang Village, Yahui Township, Danzhai County, works at the Zhejiang-Danzhai Edible and Medicinal Fungi Company at her doorstep, earning 1,800 yuan a month in wages while board and lodging are included. She said: "Shiitake mushrooms are very profitable. My family also has land. Once I learn the growing techniques, I plan to go back and grow them myself."
The person in charge of the company introduced that they plan to adopt a "company + farmer" approach within two years to form a base in Danzhai with an annual production scale of 10 million shiitake mushroom sticks and an annual output value of 50 million yuan. Within five years, the production base will cover every township in Danzhai, allowing more farmers to benefit while the enterprise develops. At present, nearly 100 farming households have signed contracts with the enterprise, received mushroom sticks and accepted technical guidance; last year, the average annual income per household reached more than 40,000 yuan.
Working as agricultural industrial workers, no longer having to leave home far behind
Industrial development has attracted more and more migrant workers to return home for employment. On the fields of Shenjiajie Village, Xiluo Township, Jinsha County, rows of steel frames for vegetable and flower greenhouses are laid out in sequence. Villager Yan Min is busy in the park's intelligent greenhouse. The 35-year-old Yan Min has stayed at the Taijin Ecological Sightseeing Agricultural Science and Technology Park for three years. She is an agricultural industrial worker in the park and also a local land transfer household.
"I went out to work in my twenties. Three years ago, when I came home for the New Year, I heard the park was hiring, so I signed up and entered the park, where I can earn more than 2,000 yuan a month. The park also trains us for free to learn new farming techniques." Yan Min is very satisfied with her current life.
It is understood that after the Taijin Ecological Sightseeing Agricultural Science and Technology Park is fully completed, it will establish four major parks for Taiwan characteristic vegetables, flowers, fruits and nursery stock, promote efficient agricultural production technologies in Guizhou Bijie and adjacent areas in many fields such as horticulture, seedlings, modern fruit industry, protected agriculture and leisure sightseeing agriculture, with a radiation promotion area of more than 20,000 mu, which can drive employment for more than 3,000 local people and help more than 100,000 people increase income and become prosperous.
What enterprises cannot do, other business entities step in to handle
Enterprises have driven rural industrial development and also promoted the adjustment of the industrial structure, becoming a new engine for rural development. However, how to organize the vast numbers of farmers cannot rely on the strength of enterprises alone; it also requires other new types of business entities, including farmers' professional cooperatives, to step up.
Yangxi Township in Yinjiang County has more than 20,000 mu of ecological tea gardens. Due to the lack of tea processing, sales and other links, tea farmers' income relied only on selling fresh tea leaves. For this reason, the township encouraged and supported technically skilled tea farmers to set up tea professional cooperatives. Today, many farming households that cannot directly connect with enterprises have indirectly realized joint operation with enterprises by joining cooperatives.
"Before, my annual income was only 20,000 yuan; now my income has reached more than 60,000 yuan!" said Liu Yun, a tea-growing household in Zengxin Village. This is largely thanks to the cooperative connecting them with enterprises in the middle to find sales channels, and enterprise orders are increasing year by year.
Recently, in Dachong Village, located in the core area of the Qingzhen City Green Vegetable Modern and Efficient Agriculture Demonstration Park, villagers were picking vegetables for the green vegetable base of Qingzhen Wanfeng Company. After packaging, these vegetables will be transported uniformly to supermarkets in Guiyang for sale.
"I transferred 6 mu of land to the company and can get 4,200 yuan in rent each year; the company also hired me to work in the base, with a monthly wage of 2,000 yuan." Lei Yousong, a villager of Dachong Village, said that the enterprise's vegetable industry in the village has given us substantial and stable income.
It is reported that Wanfeng Company adopts the operating model of "company + base + farmer", using the company's 500-mu planting base for demonstration, and providing farmers with technical services and production materials, driving farmers to grow 1,000 mu of vegetables, with the vegetables purchased uniformly by the company. In this way, villagers can obtain rent from land transfer and also wage income from working in the park, and the channels for increasing income have been greatly broadened.
Xu Jianru is a company boss, but she is even more the "dendrobium expert" in farmers' hearts -
"Following the 'Iron Lady,' we can make money"
"What should I do? Once winter comes, dendrobium is prone to frost damage." Xu Qizhong, who grows the Chinese medicinal herb Dendrobium officinale, kept running to Xu Jianru's home whenever he encountered a problem because he did not understand the techniques. After hearing Xu Qizhong finish pouring out his "troubles," Xu Jianru went to the greenhouse to inspect the seedlings without another word, explaining the key technical points while demonstrating on the spot. Because measures were taken in time, a few days later the dendrobium seedlings were all safe and sound. This let Xu Qizhong breathe a long sigh of relief and admire Xu Jianru, this "Iron Lady," even more.
Xu Jianru is not an expert in Dendrobium officinale, but the boss of Zhejiang Hangzhou Jiuxian Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and is very well known in Jiande City, Zhejiang.
While running the company, because she has grown dendrobium for many years, Xu Jianru has also become a widely known "local expert," driving many farming households to learn cultivation from the company. Especially after the Jiande City Dendrobium officinale Scientific Research Institute was established at the company's base last year, Xu Jianru has had to receive several groups of farmers every day.
In 2005, Lianhua Township in Jiande City began rectifying livestock and poultry pollution. As a large chicken farmer, Xu Jianru began to switch to growing Dendrobium officinale.
With the expansion of planting scale, in 2009 Xu Jianru established a company and introduced "Shenglan No. 8" dendrobium, mainly for fresh consumption. Once this new product was launched, it was deeply favored by consumers, and the market door opened smoothly. However, just as farmers were first tasting the benefits, in 2010 Xu Jianru sold the 60-mu dendrobium base she had painstakingly operated for many years.
Xu Jianru's exit made many people in Lianhua Township who were interested in growing Dendrobium officinale very anxious. Township leaders and many farmers came to her door one after another. With everyone's encouragement and support, in 2012 Xu Jianru found another piece of land and, using the model of "company + cooperative + farmer," established the Jiuxian Dendrobium officinale Professional Cooperative, with farmers joining with land shares, while Xu Jianru's company was fully responsible for management, planting and sales.
After returning again, Xu Jianru was determined to make a big effort, and first invested heavily in facilities. In order to accurately control temperature and humidity, the more than 50-mu base installed multi-span greenhouses and network equipment, introduced intelligent operation, solved problems such as irrigation, improved the quality of Dendrobium officinale, and achieved an output value of more than 200,000 yuan per mu.
Today, Xu Jianru devotes herself wholeheartedly to growing Dendrobium officinale and has become a "local expert" providing free technical services. Her company even finds sales channels for farmers all over the country. This year, in order to accelerate the transformation of local large livestock and poultry farmers, Lianhua Township plans to promote the development model of "cooperative + base + farmer," with Xu Jianru's company taking the lead.
In Lianhua Township's transformation entrepreneurship park, the reporter saw that rows of brand-new steel-frame greenhouses had begun to take shape. It is understood that the first phase of the entrepreneurship park covers an area of 50 mu and will be led by the Jiuxian Cooperative, with 56 farming households joining with land or capital to grow Chinese medicinal herbs such as Dendrobium officinale; the second-phase base will be built with government funds, transferring 60 mu of land to farmers, with the Jiuxian Cooperative providing technical guidance, implementing the "four unifications" of seedlings, technology, management and sales, and adopting the cooperation model of "enterprise + base + farmer," leasing back to livestock and poultry exit farmers to engage in planting.
Under the company's demonstration and leadership, more farmers in Lianhua Township began to switch to growing Dendrobium officinale. And the dendrobium base that Xu Jianru has devoted herself to building will also begin generating income next year. Regarding the road to increasing income in the future, the farmers all say with full confidence: "Following Xu Jianru, this 'Iron Lady,' we can make money."
Enterprises guide and demonstrate, tea farmers in Fuding City, Fujian -
"With new farming techniques, income is very different"
In many villages and towns of Fuding City, Fujian Province, planting tea trees and growing jasmine flowers are the main sources of income for local farmers. Traditional tea-growing and tea-making methods have always restricted the path of local tea farmers and flower farmers to increase income. But when Fuzhou Dingshou Tea Company arrived, from teaching farmers how to grow tea trees to demonstrating to farmers how to adopt new farming techniques, the bottleneck to increasing income was broken through in one stroke.
Building standardized planting bases, optimizing product structure, strictly enforcing picking standards, innovating scenting techniques, improving product quality and safety, expanding brand influence... Every link Dingshou Company implements has brought new changes to local farmers.
The company first guided farmers to switch to a new tree variety - Fuding Dabaicha. In the Dingshou tea base in Bailin Township, more than 2,000 mu of new-variety tea trees are growing vigorously. Previously, "Fuyun No. 6" was mainly grown here. Although its leaves were large and yield high, it easily faded after scenting and its aroma was also poor. Later, the company guided farmers to switch to Fuding Dabaicha, which has strong disease resistance, plump leaves, and easily absorbs the aroma of jasmine flowers, selling for five to six hundred yuan more per jin of scented tea. Farmers who tasted the benefits began to actively switch to the new variety and expand the planting scale.
The company also guided tea farmers to learn new farming techniques, requiring them to pick flowers individually and absolutely not to strip them off in handfuls, and not to include stems or old leaves, thereby ensuring the quality of the finished scented tea. The enterprise's guidance and demonstration let tea farmers appreciate the charm of modern agriculture. They said: "Switch to new varieties, learn new farming techniques, and income is very different!"
"Enterprise + farmer" alone is far from enough
From agricultural product cultivation and breeding to trading and purchasing, and then to processing and sales, enterprises, as an important link in the agricultural industrial chain, help farmers find buyers for the agricultural products in their hands. At the same time, for the next step of entering the market and becoming terminal consumer goods, enterprises responsible for sales, transportation, processing and other links all play an important role. The practice of bringing in enterprises through investment attraction has already become mainstream in various regions.
Indeed, the agricultural business model of selling from a basket and fighting alone has long been criticized by us. Only by finding large buyers can the agricultural products in farmers' hands be sold in large quantities and in a timely manner. Among these, enterprises are the large purchasers. If there is a processing enterprise at the doorstep, farmers can not only sell agricultural products directly to the enterprise, but also enter the factory to work for wages, and at the same time transfer land to the enterprise for transfer fees... Because of the arrival of enterprises, the farmers' former single income channel has become multiple channels.
Therefore, in recent years, attracting enterprises to settle through investment promotion has become a common approach for many places to upgrade the agricultural industrial economy; the business model of "enterprise + farmer" has become a common method for many places to increase farmers' income; the new concept of "work with the enterprise, revolve around the base" has taken deep root in farmers' minds. Because both localities and farmers have tasted the benefits from enterprises, "enterprise + farmer" has become a rather popular business development model in various places and deserves our encouragement and promotion.
However, "enterprise + farmer" alone is far from enough. A simple "enterprise + farmer" cannot take care of everything. Excessive reliance on a single business model may make the road of agricultural operation narrower and narrower. Therefore, we also need to further enrich the other links in this industrial chain. When farmers cannot directly connect with enterprises, when the agricultural products in farmers' hands cannot find sales channels... what should be done? This requires the "intervention" of other business entities.
The central government vigorously promotes the construction of a new agricultural management system, and a large number of new business entities such as leading enterprises, farmers' professional cooperatives, industry associations and family farms have emerged and grown competitively. In particular, farmers' professional cooperative organizations, which hold the advantage in numbers, have advanced by leaps and bounds. In addition to playing a role in organizing farmers and serving farmers, cooperatives also build bridges between enterprises and farmers, seeking "sources of goods" for enterprises and "buyers" for farmers.
The strong alliance between cooperatives and enterprises gives individual farming households sales channels and orders, saving farmers considerable worry and effort. Moreover, while finding sales channels, cooperatives also guide farmers to carry out standardized cultivation and breeding according to enterprise needs, provide farmers with pre-production, in-production and post-production services, improve farmers' degree of organization and the competitiveness of agricultural products, and solve the problem of disconnect between enterprises and farming households.
As a result, industrial chains with different combinations such as "enterprise + cooperative + farmer" and "enterprise + association + base + farmer" have emerged as the times require, jointly enriching the connotation of agricultural industrialization and stimulating the vitality of the entire agricultural industry. The improvement and maturity of the industrial chain also plays a positive role in links such as unifying brands, applying new technologies, introducing new varieties, and promoting agricultural machinery and standardized production, overcoming the drawbacks of farmers' decentralized operation, improving the competitiveness of agricultural products, and ultimately increasing farmers' income.
In promoting the development of agricultural industrialization, various regions cannot merely "bet on" the arrival of one or two enterprises, because enterprise operation carries risks. Various regions should adapt measures to local conditions, and at the same time support the development of other business entities such as cooperatives, family farms and large growers, and establish the idea of cultivating diverse entities and implementing diversified operations. This is not only leaving oneself a way out and more choices, but also an inevitable trend in developing modern agriculture.