Yingzhong Village, Liuchang Township, Xifeng County: Black Grapes Light the Road to Prosperity
The grapes have a sugar content of 16.3%, and the picking season runs from July to November. Nine grape varieties - Summer Black, Rainwater Red, Wujiang Red, Purple Jade Seedless, Purple Wenke and others - take turns in succession, making it a grape festival for half the year. On June 14, the author walked into the grape planting base in Yingzhong Village, Liuchang Township, Xifeng County. Over 900 mu of grapes stretch along the road; in the vineyard, sturdy grape vines climb up the mud posts, and palm-like grape leaves cluster together as they grow. Bunch after bunch of grape clusters greedily suck up the sunlight, perfectly interpreting Yingzhong Village's bitter past and its present sweetness.
From Learning Experience to Real "Gold"
Although it is only 3 km from the township seat, Yingzhong Village in the past rarely made use of this locational advantage. Poor soil and little rain during droughts were the biggest obstacles to the village's development. Before 2012, corn and rice were still the dominant crops here. Of the village's more than 300 households, everyone would rush out after the Spring Festival. "In an era and a village without industry, how could we dare talk about development?" recalled Zheng Chaoquan, Party secretary of Yingzhong Village.
In 2012, the call to adjust the agricultural industrial structure was sounded once again in Liuchang Township, and Yingzhong Village caught this "shuttle bus." After returning from an inspection trip to Pingba in Anshun and after on-site surveys by technicians from the agricultural department, Yingzhong Village planted grapes in the village. "Growing fruit crops was rare in our village, and our enthusiasm was very high, but because the grape seedlings selected were all of a single type, the soil was poor, and added to that was heavy rain that year, the village's grapes were destroyed in one blow," Li Kaixiang of the Lijiawan group in Yingzhong Village told the author.
The heavens did not favor the timing, and the land did not lend its advantages. For Yingzhong Village's development, this was undoubtedly adding frost to snow. Seeing that Yingzhong Village, which had just been about to get started, was about to "die young," Zheng Chaoquan felt heartache, but even more than that, he felt unwillingness. After the township made connections and coordinated in many ways, the grape seedling company replaced the seedlings with several different grape varieties. At the same time, farmers were advised to carry their own farm manure to the fields to increase soil fertility, and the village organized farmers to attend grape planting technical training during the slack farming season.
In July 2015, "Wujiang Red" grapes in Yingzhong Village, Liuchang Township, had their first bumper harvest. At the tasting event held at the time, Wujiang Red, Summer Black, Rainwater Red and many other varieties, as well as naturally pollution-free grapes, attracted tourists who came to taste them. After experts from Guizhou University, the Guizhou Provincial Forestry Department, the Guiyang Municipal Agricultural Committee and other higher-level departments measured and accepted the yield, they concluded that the first-crop Summer Black grapes had an average single-cluster weight of 0.5 kg and a sugar content of 16.3%, equivalent to a yield of 1254.9 kg per mu. Calculated at the current market price of 12 yuan/kg, the output value per mu was 15058.8 yuan. The first-crop Early Red Honey (Rainwater Red) grapes had an average single-cluster weight of 0.4 kg and a sugar content of 14.1%, equivalent to a yield of 959.34 kg per mu. Calculated at the current market price of 10 yuan/kg, the output value per mu was 9593.4 yuan. From the vine to the mouth, Yingzhong Village's grapes underwent a transformation from learning experience to real "gold."
Escaping Poverty and Becoming Prosperous Is Even More Our Own Business
When mentioning the capable leaders in the village's grape industry who helped people become prosperous, Zheng Chaoquan could not help but think of Huang Yonghua of the Xiazha group and Li Kaixiang of the Lijiawan group.
Under the blazing sun, Huang Yonghua was busy without stop in his own vineyard with his wife. Huang Yonghua told the author that after returning home for the Spring Festival in 2011, at the age of 43 he resolved to develop the grape industry together with the village. Starting in February 2012, Huang Yonghua not only planted all of his own land with grapes, but also transferred land in the village to himself. Up to now, his family has planted more than 20 mu of grapes.
"The biggest advantages of the village's grapes are that there are many varieties, the picking period is long, they are seedless, the skin is crisp, they have a purple-black luster, and they can be stored for a long time," Huang Yonghua said when discussing the grapes' advantages. For nearly half a year, one can eat grapes and celebrate the grape festival in Yingzhong Village. Last year, his Summer Black grapes had just begun to bear fruit, and there were already more than 400 jin of grapes, with an income of more than 2,000 yuan. This year, nearly 6 mu of grapes are bearing fruit, with an estimated yield of more than 10,000 jin and an income of more than 60,000 yuan. Without realizing it, he had embarked on the road to prosperity.
Besides large growers like Huang Yonghua, the village also has many careful cultivators with less than 1 mu, and Li Kaixiang is a representative of them. In 2012, he adapted measures to local conditions and planted grapes on his own 7 fen of land. Because he selected good varieties and his management techniques were up to standard, last year he also achieved a bumper harvest of more than 2,000 jin worth 14,000 yuan. Now he is already the village's local expert in grape planting and constantly trains villagers in various new planting techniques. "Escaping poverty and becoming prosperous is also we ordinary people's own business. Using one's own specialty to help everyone plant grapes well and lead more people to prosperity is the only way to deserve the title of 'local expert,'" Li Kaixiang said.
"Having relied on the mountains to make a living for so many years, I never dreamed that this poor land could help me escape poverty and become prosperous." This is the shared sentiment of Huang Yonghua and Li Kaixiang. In Yingzhong Village today, the villagers have mastered planting techniques. Many farming households in the village with labor and land are "bosses" of grape planting. They have contact phone numbers for sales, and combined with the grapes' unique advantages, demand exceeds supply not long after the grapes ripen.
The grapes say nothing, yet a path forms beneath them. Today the grapes are quietly changing Yingzhong Village. In 2015, 98% of the villagers in Yingzhong Village participated in the adjustment of the industrial structure, and grape planting has now reached 965 mu. Last year, the township's "Wujiang Red" grape output reached more than 60,000 jin, realizing an output value of more than 300,000 yuan, of which Yingzhong Village accounted for more than 200,000. The per capita net income of farmers increased from 6,500 yuan in 2014 to more than 10,000 yuan today.
The Well Diggers Behind the Grapes
"Seeing the villagers increase their income and become prosperous makes me happy!" There was no excitement of former days, only silent dedication and support. Zheng Chaoquan, Party secretary of Yingzhong Village, said that after the village's grapes went through life-and-death hardships, what he has always wanted to thank are the closely united Party members and cadres in the village and the masses who silently supported them.
Giving play to the Party organization's role as a fighting fortress and using Party building to promote the development of the grape industry - this is the fundamental reason for Yingzhong Village's changes and development. Yingzhong Village currently has 33 Party members, its Party branch is soundly built, and village affairs are disclosed in a timely and transparent manner. After the grape planting suffered disaster, in order to strengthen the masses' confidence, the village immediately convened a branch meeting and a Party member meeting, mobilizing all Party members in the village to go door to door and do work one by one. "The Party member meeting was held dozens of times, and the mass meeting was held more than ten times," Zheng Chaoquan said. He could not betray the masses' trust. To make the masses believe, he took the lead in planting 3 mu of grapes on his own land, and afterward Party members in the village also took the lead in planting them. In today's vineyards, the "Party Member Demonstration Household" signs from that time are still displayed.
Under Zheng Chaoquan's leadership, in recent years the Party branch of Yingzhong Village has repeatedly been rated as an advanced unit in grassroots Party organization construction, an advanced Party organization in striving for excellence, and a "Five Good" grassroots Party organization by Guizhou Province, Guiyang City and Xifeng County. "But honors ultimately belong to the past. The village is now preparing to establish the 'Wujiang Red' cooperative, and at the same time transfer the land of farming households without labor, adopting the method of farmers holding shares, so that more villagers can increase their income and become prosperous," Zheng Chaoquan said. In addition, they will strive for policy support and, in combination with the grape picking period, develop an industry plus tourism economy in the village and develop rural inns. According to statistics, there are now already 2 houses in the village that can be directly converted into inns.
The economy is growing, and the masses are becoming prosperous. The development of the grape industry has enabled Yingzhong Village to catch the era's express bus of beautiful countryside construction. On June 4 this year, the beautiful countryside construction plan for Yingzhong Village passed review. The Xiazha group of Yingzhong Village was formally designated as a 2016 Xifeng County-level "enhanced-type" demonstration site for beautiful countryside construction, and project funding of 5.5495 million yuan was secured. With the spring breeze of the times rushing toward them, Yingzhong Village is about to write new changes in agricultural industry, housing style, rural appearance, local culture, infrastructure and ecological greening.