Chu Guolin: Growing "poverty-alleviation flowers" on barren land
Between Zhanglin Town and Yangying Town in Zhenping County lies a large stretch of barren land that has long been the bane of grain farmers. In 2012, Zhenping County Linfeng Green Agricultural Products Development Co., Ltd., founded by Chu Guolin, settled here. Five years passed in the blink of an eye, and the once-barren farmland has been transformed into a 10,000-mu lotus base. The villagers who once said "farming doesn't pay" have seen their incomes rise, and delicate "poverty-alleviation flowers" have bloomed on the barren land.
Chu Guolin, now 46 years old, was born into a farming family in Yinying Village, Yangying Town. Because his family was poor, he joined the ranks of vegetable vendors after graduating from junior high school.
In the spring of 2001, Chu Guolin expanded from simply selling lotus roots to growing them. He contracted 3,000 mu of paddy fields in Hubei Province to cultivate lotus roots. From seed selection to fertilisation, from land preparation to field management, from harvesting to fresh-keeping and transport, he developed a real mastery of lotus root cultivation. At the same time, his lotus root sales network gradually expanded to Neixiang, Nanyang, Xixia and other places, with annual income reaching several million yuan.
"You've built such a big lotus root business elsewhere, why not come back to our hometown and help the folks here get rich too?" During a visit home, these words from the villagers deeply moved Chu Guolin. So he decided to return home and start a business.
In 2012, Chu Guolin returned home and founded Zhenping County Linfeng Green Agricultural Products Development Co., Ltd. To date, the company has transferred more than 10,000 mu of land, raised more than 90 million yuan in investment, and built the largest lotus root production base in the dry-farming region north of the Yangtze River. At present, the company's annual lotus root production capacity reaches more than 20,000 tonnes, with annual sales revenue of more than 52 million yuan. It has driven more than 2,000 surrounding farming households to take up lotus root production and absorbed more than 300 idle rural labourers into employment.
"By finding work at their doorstep through the company, farming households both increase their income and can look after the elderly and students at home, greatly enhancing the sense of happiness and security of rural families," Chu Guolin said. He will further extend the industrial chain, do a good job in the deep processing of lotus roots, lotus flowers and lotus leaves, and explore a path of comprehensive agricultural development led by agricultural production and integrating production and processing, eco-tourism, cultural creativity and other industries, achieving deep integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. In the battle of "targeted poverty alleviation," he will continue to give play to the radiating and driving role of a leading enterprise, bringing more tangible benefits to local farming households.