In the cold winter, farmers dig "golden babies" out of the mud, earning at least 150 yuan a day; a poor household makes 20,000 yuan in a single season

It is the water chestnut harvest season. In Baihu Town, Lujiang County, Anhui Province, nationally famous as the "Hometown of Water Chestnuts," a team of more than 2,000 water chestnut carriers is busy at work, about 15% of them from poor households. This alone has increased the per-capita income of poor laborers by about 4,000 yuan, bringing more choices to local poor households.

According to reports, Baihu Town has already formed partnerships with markets in more than ten provinces and cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hebei, and its products are also exported to Europe, America and Southeast Asia. This year's total output is expected to reach more than 50,000 tonnes. The small water chestnut has entered a big market, and the water chestnut industry has increased the income of farmers in this water town by more than 100 million yuan.

Zhou Yuanli is the head of a specialized water chestnut planting cooperative in Baihu Town, selling more than 2,000 tonnes of water chestnuts externally each year. This year, he recruited more than 300 surplus rural laborers as water chestnut carriers, specifically responsible for harvesting, sorting, packaging and transport. "The daily wage is 150 to 200 yuan; the more you do, the more you earn," Zhou Yuanli said. His cooperative alone will pay out more than 600,000 yuan in labor costs this year, and the vast majority of this money will go to local poor household laborers.

After breakfast every day, Zhou Xiaohong, a villager from Xicheng Village in Baihu Town, and his wife come together to the water chestnut fields to help Zhou Yuanli harvest water chestnuts. They bend down and use their hands to dig the little water chestnuts out of the mud more than a chi deep. "Over one season, the two of us not only earn money but can also look after things at home," Zhou Xiaohong said.

Zhou Jianchang is a local poor household. His wife is paralyzed from the waist down, and his son is at university, so the family's only source of income is his work at the cooperative. Zhou Jianchang said he earns about 150 yuan a day, and over one season can increase his income by about 20,000 yuan, so this year he can throw off his "poverty cap."

It is understood that Baihu Town in Lujiang County has a history of more than 400 years of water chestnut cultivation, and the planting area has now grown to more than 20,000 mu, with a total output of more than 50,000 tonnes.

In order to make the water chestnut industry bigger and stronger, the local agricultural technology department provides farmers with one-stop services covering seed selection, cultivation and transplanting, improves varieties and expands the planting area, and upgrades field management from the previous extensive style to green, refined practices with controlled pesticide and fertilizer use.

At the same time, they also set up specialized water chestnut cooperatives, registered agricultural product trademarks, passed green food certification, and successfully realized industrialized operation of "company + base + farmer households."

Today these "golden babies" in the mud are leading the local people toward moderate prosperity!

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