The village's pace-setting goose leads the way to wealth, guiding fellow villagers to increase their incomes together

On June 12, Maimaiti (first from left) led members of the irrigation canal patrol team on an inspection of the river channel to safeguard farmland irrigation.

**Daily News (Reported by Xia Qing and Han Liang with photos) On the early morning of June 12, a sudden ringing of the telephone broke the silence. Maimaiti Kadeer, who was eating breakfast, finished the call, put down his bowl and chopsticks and said to his wife: "Brother Li's drip irrigation tape is leaking, I have to go take a look right away." With that, he hurried out the door.

The Brother Li that Maimaiti referred to is Li Ruyin, a farmer in Team One of Puhui Ranch in Korla City. Puhui Ranch was founded in 1957 and has three production teams in total. Maimaiti is the joint Party branch secretary of Team One and Team Three of the ranch, and also the team leader of these two teams.

Li Ruyin's family came to Puhui Ranch from their hometown in Sichuan in the 1990s. In 2006, Li Ruyin took out his savings from many years and contracted 200 mu of ranch land to grow cotton. Due to lack of experience and the impact of wind disasters for several consecutive years, by the end of 2009 Li Ruyin was more than 500,000 yuan in debt and suddenly fell into a difficult situation.

"Just when I didn't know what to do, Brother Maimaiti came to my home many times, helped me analyze the problems, gave me ideas and ways to solve them, and strengthened my confidence to continue growing cotton," Li Ruyin recalled. In the spring of 2010, following Maimaiti's suggestion, Li Ruyin planted 50,000 windbreak trees around the cotton fields. Today, the windbreak forest is lush and green, becoming a green barrier protecting the cotton fields. Li Ruyin also lives the life of a modern farmer with a house in the city, land in the countryside and a car for travel. "If it weren't for Brother Maimaiti's warm help back then, I wouldn't have the good life I have today," Li Ruyin said.

Maimaiti is also a widely known breeding expert in the area. Zhang Xiyuan is a major grower in Team Three. In 2014, he invested more than 1 million yuan to develop the breeding industry. Due to lack of experience, the slaughter rate of cattle and sheep was low in the first two years. Maimaiti taught Zhang Xiyuan breeding experience hand by hand. Today Zhang Xiyuan has become a well-known major breeding household in the area.

Maimaiti, who began serving as Team One leader in 2010, organized Party members, cadres and people who had become wealthy first in the team to set up several voluntary service teams, including the irrigation canal patrol team, the cotton planting pest and disease prevention team, and the fragrant pear grafting and care team. Whenever any household had a problem, service team members would come to solve it on the spot as soon as possible. After also serving as Team Three leader in the second half of 2010, Maimaiti, based on the team's characteristic of focusing on livestock breeding, set up a livestock breeding and reproduction service team.

Eighty percent of farming households at Puhui Ranch rely mainly on growing cotton. How to keep cotton farmers' incomes growing continuously? Promoting high-quality, high-yield and efficient cotton planting technology became Maimaiti's "magic weapon" for solving the problem. In recent years, Maimaiti has on the one hand guided cotton farmers to plant high-quality cotton varieties suitable for local growth, and on the other hand strengthened pre-production, mid-production and post-production field management services for cotton farmers. Now, the local average cotton yield per unit area has increased from 340 kg in 2013 to nearly 400 kg. Wu Xingbin, a cotton farmer in Team Three, said: "In 2016, the cotton I planted reached a yield of 420 kg per unit area, increasing income by more than 400 yuan per mu. This is all thanks to Team Leader Mai's technical guidance."

Nowadays, under Maimaiti's leadership, the farmers and herdsmen of all ethnic groups in the team rely on science and technology to vigorously develop cotton and fragrant pear planting and cattle and sheep fattening. In 7 years, the per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen in the two teams increased from less than 10,000 yuan to more than 16,000 yuan now, and Team One and Team Three of Puhui Ranch have also become model village teams in Korla City, well known for ethnic unity and civilized prosperity.

On June 12, Zhang Xiyuan (left) asked Yushan Mijiti, a skilled breeding worker in Team One, for advice on breeding techniques.

On June 11, farmers and herdsmen from Team One and Team Three of Puhui Ranch held a tug-of-war competition.

On June 12, Maimaiti (right) and Li Ruyin were inspecting and repairing drip irrigation facilities.