The Story of Chen Ying, a Leader in Farmers' Online Entrepreneurship
??? Chen Ying, Party Branch Secretary of Hongqi Village, Helan County, Ningxia:
??? Leading Farmers to Start Businesses Online
Reporter Xu Ling
"Ever since Secretary Chen led us in starting businesses online, my family's income increased by more than 10,000 yuan last year!" Zhang Xueren, a villager from Xinping Village, Xigang Township, Helan County, Ningxia, told the reporter from Economic Daily.
College-graduate village officials have education, understand management, and dare to think and act boldly, making them quite popular among farmers. Chen Ying, a 32-year-old from Ningxia, is just such a college-graduate village official. She led the villagers in online entrepreneurship, setting them on the path to prosperity.
"In 2011, after graduating from Ningxia University with a major in plant nutrition, I resolved to take root in rural areas and use what I had learned to accomplish something." Chen Ying speaks crisply and decisively. To realize her dream, she passed the village official exam with excellent results and went to Xinping Village, Xigang Township, Helan County, to serve as assistant to the village Party branch secretary. Xigang Township is a famous protected agriculture base in Ningxia, and Chen Ying thought she might be able to use this platform to accomplish something. She found the village Party branch secretary and said, "I have mastered many new planting techniques and new processes. Would it be all right if I busied myself in the village in the morning and led the farmers in entrepreneurship in the afternoon?" The village Party branch secretary was overjoyed and readily agreed.
Chen Ying took out tens of thousands of yuan in savings and bought 4 vegetable greenhouses, planting them with entirely new varieties: colored tomatoes, melons, and large peppers. Not only did she plant them herself, she also motivated more than 100 farming households in the village to learn to grow them. "These vegetable varieties can sell for 1 yuan more per jin. When the first crop comes in, I'll help you sell it. If you make a profit, it's yours; if you lose money, it's on me!" Seeing this female village official dare to make such a promise, the villagers followed her in planting these new vegetable varieties, and after a year, the per capita income of these more than 100 households increased by over 2,000 yuan.
"Secretary Chen, what other new technologies are there? We'll follow you!" The villagers' enthusiasm ran high. But Chen Ying had other plans. The year before last, the county organized Chen Ying and other township officials to go to rural Zhejiang for a study tour, and this trip broadened Chen Ying's thinking. She decided to lead the villagers in starting businesses online.
Actions followed words. In 2015, Chen Ying formed a team composed of university teachers, classmates, and farming households to venture into internet agriculture.
The "Parent-Child Farm" was officially launched. The village expanded its vegetable greenhouses to 14, raised 4 million yuan in funds, allocated 1,600 sq m of land, and planted varieties such as cherries and strawberries that visitors could enter the greenhouses to pick, while also opening a handmade craft workshop, a fast-food restaurant, and a farmhouse restaurant nearby. Products were sold online, and customers were booked online. Since the beginning of spring, online orders had been continuous, and on weekends there were more and more parent-child visitors. They even received a large order for 400 people during the May Day holiday.
The "WeChat vegetable delivery" business was booming. Through market research, Chen Ying and her team found that Helan County had more than 300 hot pot restaurants and malatang shops, which needed large quantities of leafy vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, and spinach every day. In the past, these businesses had to hire 1 person and send a vehicle to go specially to the wholesale market to purchase supplies. But if WeChat vegetable delivery were implemented, vegetables delivered directly from farmers would cost only 2 yuan per kg, nearly half cheaper than the previous price. Since leafy vegetables take only about 50 days to grow, with a short cycle, large profit margins, and relatively stable economic returns, the farmers were highly enthusiastic. "At the beginning of last year, we delivered vegetables for 18 businesses on the WeChat platform, and everyone was very enthusiastic," Chen Ying said. This year, they will put the operation into full swing for more than 200 shops across the county, with net profit expected to reach 20 million yuan, and more than 200 farming households each increasing their income by about 5,000 yuan.
The "community economy" has boundless prospects. As urban residents' living standards improve, the high-end consumer group keeps growing, and more and more people require single-item delivery. For example, many high-end consumers ask to be able to eat fresh strawberries, melons, grapes, and other fresh fruits and vegetables picked from greenhouses in time and delivered to their door through one phone call, one text message, or WeChat. Last year, Chen Ying's team made a profit of 300,000 yuan in the community economy, and this year the profit will exceed 1 million yuan.
"Secretary Chen taught us to use mobile phones and computers to make money. Business is getting bigger and bigger, and we're making more and more money!" villager Zhang Xueren said. "This village official already went to Hongqi Village last year to serve as Party branch secretary, but wherever she goes, we old neighbors follow..."