Mulberry planting and silkworm rearing enrich a whole community: a woman Party secretary in Quyang Town, Jingxi, Guangxi has a winning formula

"Fourth-instar silkworms should be moved to the ground to be fed. Before moving the silkworms, spread a layer of lime on the ground surface. The silkworms must be placed evenly, better sparse than dense. Every morning before feeding mulberry leaves, spread lime first to disinfect the silkworm bodies and separate the sand; do not turn over the leftover leaves on the ground, and do not let the silkworms eat leftover leaves. If diseased silkworms are found, pick them up promptly, gather them in a lime jar for disinfection, and then bury them deep far away from the silkworm room." On September 8, in Paitian Tun, Pole Village, Quyang Town, Jingxi City, the author happened to see Nong Mengxiang teaching practical silkworm-rearing techniques to silkworm farmers who had come to learn in her own silkworm room.

Nong Mengxiang, 45 years old, female, a member of the Communist Party of China, is currently secretary of the Party branch of Pole Village, Quyang Town, Jingxi City. Her experience in planting mulberries and raising silkworms began in 2004. That year, the Quyang Town government mobilized the people to plant mulberries and raise silkworms. With a try-it-and-see attitude, Nong Mengxiang planted 1.5 mu of mulberry trees. Because the mulberry seedlings were planted late, the mulberry leaves did not grow lushly, and that year she could only raise 0.25 sheets of silkworms each time, with annual income from selling silkworm cocoons of only 800 yuan. "When I first raised silkworms, every time the silkworms were about to mount the cocooning frames, although there were only 0.25 sheets, I would call two or three relatives to help. Everyone placed the silkworms one by one onto the square cocooning frames, and we often worked until late at night before finishing." Speaking of her first experience raising silkworms, Nong Mengxiang still remembers it vividly. Learning while raising them and raising them while learning, as the number of rearing cycles increased, Nong Mengxiang mastered a complete set of practical techniques for planting mulberries and raising silkworms. Now, when the silkworms are about to mount the cocooning frames, she can manage one to two sheets of silkworms by herself.

The next year, Nong Mengxiang expanded her mulberry field by 10 mu, and that year her silkworm-rearing income reached more than 7,000 yuan. Just as she was continuously expanding the scale of silkworm rearing, in 2008 the global financial crisis broke out, the silkworm cocoon market was sluggish, and the vast majority of silkworm farmers backed off, cutting down mulberry trees one after another and switching to other crops. But Nong Mengxiang persisted, because she was optimistic about this industry. As cocoon prices kept recovering, Nong Mengxiang's mulberry field area also kept expanding. In 2013, she expanded her mulberry field by 5 mu, and in 2014 she expanded it by another 10 mu, bringing the total mulberry field area to 28 mu. In 2015, she raised 42 sheets of silkworms and earned 76,000 yuan. This year, as of August 31, she had already raised 31 sheets of silkworms and earned more than 50,000 yuan from selling silkworm cocoons. It is now just the beginning of autumn, and in autumn she can still raise two more batches of silkworms, about 10 sheets per batch. It is expected that her silkworm-rearing income this year will exceed 80,000 yuan.

Planting mulberries and raising silkworms thoroughly improved Nong Mengxiang's life. In recent years, with the money earned from selling silkworm cocoons, she successively bought a minivan and built a four-story villa-style small building with a floor area of 98 sq m.

Nong Mengxiang became rich by planting mulberries and raising silkworms, and became a local capable person and celebrity. Starting in 2011, nearby villagers came one after another, drawn by her reputation, to learn practical techniques for planting mulberries and raising silkworms; at the busiest times, two or three groups of people came in a single day. To the villagers who came to "seek advice," Nong Mengxiang never tired of teaching them everything she knew, until they had all learned it. Chen Wenji of Paitian Tun, Pole Village, had previously taken advantage of convenient transportation to run a kindergarten at home, enrolling about 30 students each semester. In 2014, after seeing that Nong Mengxiang's mulberry planting and silkworm rearing brought in more income than his kindergarten, he resolutely decided to stop running the kindergarten, switched to planting 16 mu of mulberry trees, and began raising silkworms. This year, he has already raised more than 20 sheets of silkworms and earned more than 30,000 yuan, more than he made running the kindergarten. Ma Li, a poor household in Paitian Tun, Pole Village, lost her spouse in middle age. She not only had to support her elderly mother-in-law but also had to raise two sons, and life was very difficult. Encouraged by Nong Mengxiang, in 2016 she planted 5 mu of mulberry trees. She has now raised 3.5 sheets of silkworms and earned more than 5,000 yuan, and it will not be long before she takes off the "poverty hat."

Driven by Nong Mengxiang, Quyang Town set off a new upsurge in planting mulberries and raising silkworms. In 2016, the town had 25 households planting mulberries, with an area of 1,580 mu. As of the end of August, the whole town had raised 1,600 sheets of silkworms and earned 2.56 million yuan.

Because Nong Mengxiang is approachable and willing to help others, she is deeply loved by the masses. At the same time, because she has a strong sense of responsibility and can endure hardship, the local government included her in training as a Party-member leader in becoming rich and a village-level reserve cadre. With the support of the organization's training and the villagers, in September 2014, Nong Mengxiang was elected secretary of the Party branch of Pole Village, Quyang Town.