Ma Lianying, a capable woman of Sibao in Liancheng, gets rich by growing fruit
On February 21, the author visited Ma Lianying, a deputy to the 17th People's Congress of Liancheng County and a "capable woman who got rich by growing fruit with science and technology," together with Luo Yibin, chairman of the People's Congress of Sibao Town. At Qianshang Orchard, Ma Lianying was teaching her companion Jiang Manqing the technique of flower thinning for Furong plums (left in the photo).
"Sister Lianying taught herself advanced scientific fruit-growing techniques and selflessly passed them on to more than 10 sisters," Jiang Manqing praised Ma Lianying directly.
"This year's Central Document No. 1 emphasizes vigorously cultivating and strengthening local skilled talents and ensuring farmers' continued income growth. I am a deputy to the 16th and 17th People's Congresses of Liancheng County. Promoting practical science and technology and leading villagers to get rich together by growing fruit with science and technology is my duty and responsibility," Ma Lianying said modestly.
Ma Lianying lives in Shangjian Village, Sibao Town, and is the town's number-one large fruit-growing household. To date, she has a total fruit tree area of more than 450 mu, including Furong plums, oil nectarines, and honey peaches. Last year, more than 110 mu of orchard came into production, creating a total output value of more than 1.68 million yuan in fresh fruit. Over the past nearly 10 years, she has received a cumulative total of more than 80,000 visits from peers consulting about fruit-growing techniques and tourists experiencing fruit picking. She is praised by the local people as Sibao Town's "capable woman of getting rich through science and technology."
When talking about how to "strengthen and expand" the development of the fruit industry, Ma Lianying said cheerfully that only the sweat of arduous entrepreneurship can grow the sweet fruit of getting rich through science and technology. When she married her husband Wu Debiao in 1989, Sibao's 10,000 mu of honey peaches were famous inside and outside the province. That year, all the farmers in Sibao were saying, "To get rich, go up the mountain and plant fruit trees." The young couple also went up the mountain and planted nearly 10 mu of peach, plum, nectarine, and other fruit trees, but their hard work could only maintain the family's livelihood. In 2002, with the support of her husband Wu Debiao, Ma Lianying boldly contracted more than 150 mu of Qianshang Orchard in the township. Due to severe neglect in the early period, pests and diseases had almost caused the fruit trees to deteriorate. That year, with the help of relatives and friends and loans from many sources, a total of more than 400,000 yuan was invested to improve the orchard soil. The couple invited technicians to work with them and spent nearly 1,000 workdays performing major surgery on the fruit trees damaged by pests and diseases, adopting a series of measures such as deep plowing, heavy pruning, increased application of organic fertilizer, top grafting to change varieties, and renewing varieties, restoring vitality to the old orchard. The following year, the average yield of fresh fruit per mu exceeded one ton, a leap forward.
To help more villagers in the village who lacked skills truly get rich by growing fruit with science and technology, in 2013, with the support of her husband Wu Debiao, Ma Lianying joined the village and township family planning associations and took the initiative to serve as head of a family planning central household group. In this way, she organized family planning households, poor households, and scattered fruit-growing households in the village and registered and established the "Liancheng County Sibao Lianying Fruit Industry Planting Professional Cooperative." On July 7 of the same year, with the support of the county and township Party committees and governments, Ma Lianying successfully held the first "Peach and Plum Picking Festival in the Hometown of Woodblock Printing" at Qianshang Orchard, attracting batch after batch of guests from inside and outside the province to go directly to the orchard to experience the joy of picking fruit. From then on, it changed at once the old outbound sales situation in which Sibao fruit was sent out for sale, and also laid the foundation for online sales of Sibao's 10,000 mu of fruit. To date, the total number of members from Shangjian and Huangkeng villages has reached more than 160. Villagers such as Jiang Manqing and Wu Chunshou also have large orchards in the place called "Qianshang," just like Ma Lianying. Last year, villagers such as Wu Guoshou and Yang Jinwang were included as targets of targeted poverty alleviation by the Sibao Lianying Fruit Industry Planting Professional Cooperative, and they newly planted 15 mu and 20 mu of Furong plums respectively, with trial production and income possible next year.
The fruit market is ever-changing, and people's requirements for fruit quality are getting higher and higher. The Party Central Committee has proposed targeted poverty alleviation; Central Document No. 1 proposes vigorously cultivating and strengthening local skilled talents and ensuring farmers' continued income growth. Therefore, I must use advanced technology to lead local skilled talents in their own "blood-making" and help villagers truly escape poverty and become rich by relying on science and technology, Ma Lianying said full of confidence. "I will take the lead in 'eating crab' and continue to increase capital investment, updating and promoting demonstration new varieties with high yield, high quality, high price, and more income year by year. A strong shoulder bears the moral duty!"
The peach blossoms, plum blossoms, and oil nectarine blossoms in Qianshang Orchard are competing to bloom in the spring breeze, looking forward to another year of high yield and increased income for Ma Lianying's orchard.