Stronger Organizations Help Villagers Get Rich (Frontline Investigation)

This year's No. 1 Central Document proposed to “further strengthen Party building work in farmers' cooperatives, professional technical associations, and other such organizations, and innovate and improve organizational setups.” Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia uses the “1+3” Party organization setup model to boost the healthy development of farmers' professional cooperatives, accelerate the pace of farmers getting rich, enhance the cohesion and combat effectiveness of grassroots Party organizations, and achieve interactive win-win results. How does Chifeng City promote both to advance side by side and resonate at the same frequency? The reporter conducted an on-site visit.

Fruit trees sway in the wind across the hillsides, and bright red apples dot the mountain fields with boundless vitality…… This is the scene the reporter saw in early autumn in Qihetang Village, Linxi County, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia——the Jihong 123 apple, locally called the “Inner Mongolia wild fruit,” has become Qihetang Village's specialty industry and main source of income.

In recent years, Chifeng City has broken away from the previous single model of setting up Party organizations according to administrative divisions, and has actively explored grassroots Party organization setup models in rural and pastoral areas based mainly on industry classification. Qihetang Village's original village Party branch was upgraded to a village Party general branch, under which it is divided into two Party branches by industry, one of which is the Qihetang Village Jiufoshan Wild Fruit Planting Cooperative Party Branch. Under the leadership of this branch, Qihetang's fruit orchards have grown to more than 6,000 mu, and this single item generates an annual income of more than 8 million yuan, becoming a microcosm of Chifeng City's efforts to strengthen industry-based Party organization building and drive farmers to prosperity.

Building Party Branches on the Industrial Chain

138 village-level Party organizations have founded or led the establishment of more than 370 cooperatives, attracting and organizing more than 40,000 farmers into employment

Chifeng City is a major agricultural city. With the deepening of reform and the development of the market economy, the former household-by-household “small production” found it hard to adapt to the ever-changing “big market,” and rural cooperative organizations sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain.

However, the development of cooperatives has been uneven. Some cooperatives had disorderly production and poor management, and some even became tools for obtaining loans and projects. Most cooperatives need strong guidance, standardization, and support. On the other hand, some grassroots Party organizations lacked ideas for getting rich and the ability to lead others to prosperity. “No money, no business, no foundation; the masses pay no attention, and the branch is useless.” Zhang Lin, Party branch secretary of Yingtao Mohe Village in Xinchengzi Town, described the situation of a few years ago in this way.

“Boldly breaking the traditional Party organization setup model and exploring and promoting the ‘1+3’ Party organization setup model is Chifeng City's active attempt to conform to the new situation of rural development and farmers' new expectations for prosperity, and to build a new pattern of regional Party building in rural areas.” said Yue Zhijun, member of the Standing Committee of the Chifeng Municipal Party Committee and head of the Organization Department.

Chifeng City establishes Party branches in cooperatives that meet the conditions and are willing to do so, sets up Party small groups around industries, cultivates capable Party members, and upgrades village branches with cooperative Party branches to Party general branches, forming the “1+3” model of “village Party general branch + cooperative Party branch + industrial chain Party small group + capable Party members.”

“A common cause, common pursuits, and common interests give the Party branch built on the industrial chain strong cohesion.” said Jiang Honghai, Party branch secretary of the Jiufoshan Wild Fruit Cooperative in Qihetang Village. Since the branch was established, it has attracted more than 300 fruit-growing households from the village and surrounding villages to join the cooperative. Fruit production and sales have achieved seamless connection, and it has become the “dragon head” leading the development of the local fruit industry.

Linxi County was the first in Chifeng City to implement the “1+3” Party organization setup model. Up to now, the county's 138 village-level Party organizations have founded or led the establishment of more than 370 cooperatives in total. Through cooperatives as a vehicle, they have attracted and organized more than 40,000 farmers, accounting for 56% of the number of people directly engaged in agricultural and pastoral production.

Gathering Capable People on the Industrial Chain

Train Party members in cooperatives into skilled income earners, and train skilled income earners into Party members

“When I worked alone before, I didn't feel any different from ordinary people, but now I feel the role of being a Party member is growing greater, and I have inexhaustible energy all over.” Song Yufa, a Party member of the Dongwang Planting Cooperative in Dayingzi Township, is responsible for field management work and works more than 10 hours a day during the busy farming season. “Actually, Party members don't lack the desire to play a role; they just lack a platform.” said Hu Jingjun, Party secretary of Dayingzi Township.

By establishing Party organizations in farmers' cooperatives and carrying out Party building activities on the industrial chain, the “1+3” model pushes rural Party members from the “small stage” of household-by-household development onto the “big arena” of leading the masses to prosperity, and rural Party members have found a new platform to play their role.

“In order to better give play to the role of rural Party members, they are divided according to their strengths into entrepreneurship-oriented, management-oriented, market-operation-oriented, and demonstration-leading types, and are assigned to corresponding Party small groups, responsible for one or several specific tasks.” said Zhang Haixuan, member of the Standing Committee of the Linxi County Party Committee and head of the Organization Department.

Li Zengjun and Wu Guangjun, two Party members of the Urban Pastoral Cooperative Party Branch in Linxi Town, Linxi County, are specifically responsible for vegetable preservation and market connections. In the first half of this year alone, they increased income for the cooperative and other farmers by more than 400,000 yuan.

Around the needs of industrial development, Linxi County has also actively implemented the “two-way training” activity, namely “training Party members in cooperatives into skilled income earners, and training skilled income earners into Party members,” greatly enhancing the cohesion and combat effectiveness of Party organizations. At present, a total of 85 prosperity leaders in the county have joined the Party, 136 Party members have become cooperative backbones, 31 Party member prosperity leaders have become cooperative board chairmen and Party organization secretaries, and 23 cooperative heads concurrently serve as village Party organization secretaries and village committee directors.

A latest questionnaire survey in Linxi County shows that among rural non-post-holding Party members who “feel they have played a positive role in rural economic and social development,” 76% are cooperative Party members. In 2013, 67% of the county's rural Party membership applicants came from cooperatives.

Letting Farmers Get Rich on the Industrial Chain

Optimizing the allocation of agricultural resources and achieving increased production and efficiency

Walking into Tongbu Village, Tongbu Town, what catches the eye most is the more than 1,000 vegetable greenhouses beside the road. Ren Yu, board chairman and Party branch secretary of the Shuangying Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, told the reporter that at present the cooperative has 320 member households, with land contributed as shares reaching 12,260 mu, and last year the per capita income of members reached 14,300 yuan.

“Previously my family planted 22 mu of land, and even with working as a tractor driver, the annual income was at most more than 30,000 yuan. Now we have transferred all the land to the cooperative. The cooperative gives us 400 yuan rent per mu, and 1,100 yuan dividend per mu each year. Plus the tractor contributed as shares, and my son and daughter-in-law working in the cooperative, we can earn nearly 100,000 yuan a year. When nearby villagers heard that our returns are very high, they also asked to join the cooperative one after another.” Villager Shi Zhanmin spoke endlessly in praise when talking about the cooperative.

With the active promotion of the “1+3” Party organization setup model, a large number of efficient and standardized cooperatives have been established and put into operation, breaking the household-by-household production model and the patch-by-patch land pattern, optimizing the allocation of agricultural resources, and achieving increased production and efficiency.

Li Pengxin, member of the Standing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Party Committee and head of the Organization Department, believes that the reason the “1+3” Party organization setup model has obvious effects and is supported by the people lies in grasping the two core issues of the vehicle and the setup model, achieving a win-win for grassroots Party building and rural development.

According to statistics, in 2013 Linxi County transferred 240,000 mu of land through cooperatives, and by eliminating the ridges between contracted plots, added 9% more land. Large-scale land operation raised the level of mechanized operation. The per-laborer area of managed land increased from 10 mu before the model was implemented to 45 mu. The labor force freed from the land broadened income-increasing channels through working elsewhere, working in cooperatives, and other means. In 2013, farmers who contributed land as shares received dividends of up to 1,856 yuan per mu, and the income of participating households (dividends + commissions) reached as high as 180,000 yuan.

Opening Up Development Space through Grassroots Innovation (Reporter's Notes)

During interviews, the reporter deeply felt that although farmers' cooperatives are a small vehicle, when combined with the building of Party grassroots organizations, they can become a substantial and excellent article.

The practice of Chifeng City shows that by seizing the opportunity of developing farmers' cooperatives and integrating Party organizations into cooperatives in a timely manner, making them leaders, promoters, and practitioners of the rural cooperative economy, Party organizations can truly become the core force driving the construction of a new countryside.

Cooperatives are economic entities established according to law with enterprise legal person status. Village-level Party organizations must handle their relationship with cooperative Party organizations well, promoting each other and developing together. Cooperative Party organizations provide village-level Party organizations with a platform to play a role, and village-level Party organizations provide cooperative Party organizations with support and momentum. Second, they must handle the relationship between cooperative Party organizations and cooperative boards of directors well. They must not only strengthen the Party organization's leadership and guidance over cooperatives, but also pay attention to acting according to rules, actively serving without overstepping authority to intervene, and jointly promoting the scientific development of farmers' professional cooperatives.