Agricultural technology extension in Pingquan County helps new farmers grow and develop
??? "I no longer have to live the migrant worker's life of getting up earlier than the chickens, going to bed later than the dogs, eating worse than the pigs, and doing more work than the donkeys," Li Dongbo said with a chuckle.
Li Dongbo, born in 1992, is a member of the Wujia Huizhong Vegetable Industrial Park in Maolangou Township, Pingquan County, one of the 1,004 science and technology demonstration households in Pingquan County in 2016, and a new-type professional farmer cultivated in Pingquan County in 2014. He is also a bona fide family farm owner; his family of three owns two facility vegetable greenhouses with an annual income of more than 150,000 yuan.
A migrant worker transforms into a new farmer, escaping poverty and achieving prosperity
He was once like most people born in the 1990s, unwilling to be a farmer for life, and like many young people he drifted along in the ranks of migrant workers, hoping to leap out of the farm gate by working as a migrant, completely change his fate, and realize his dream of becoming a "city person." With the rapid development of all walks of life, for Li Dongbo, who lacked a specialized skill, the dream of selling hard labor to earn big money and buy an apartment to live a good life became very difficult to realize. But from the state's policies of supporting agriculture, benefiting farmers, and vigorously developing the "three rural issues," he formulated an agricultural dream for himself: to become a modern farmer through his own efforts, and to realize the dream of starting a business and prospering his family through developing modern agriculture. In 2014, he returned to his hometown and invested 190,000 yuan to build two solar greenhouses in the vegetable park in Wujia Village.
In 2014, Pingquan County was a national-level pilot county for cultivating new-type professional farmers. Li Dongbo seized this opportunity and enrolled in the facility vegetable teaching class opened by the Pingquan County Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School in Wujia Village, Maolangou Township. Through the training, he not only mastered facility vegetable cultivation techniques but also became a modern farmer with knowledge, business sense, good management skills, and the ability to use Internet Plus.
Agricultural technology extension helps new farmers innovate and start businesses
In 2016, Li Dongbo was selected by the Pingquan County Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau as a science and technology demonstration household specializing in facility vegetables.
He earnestly listened to the agricultural technology instructor's explanations on new facility vegetable varieties, new technologies, agricultural product quality and safety, and other knowledge, and exchanged views with him. Every time the instructor visited his home, he was working diligently in the greenhouse like a bee. "Although my body is a bit tired, my heart is sweet," Li Dongbo said.
In May, when the vegetables in the regular-season greenhouses were nearing the end of their cycle, Li Dongbo discussed with everyone else the idea of growing cucumbers in cold sheds, which also achieved relatively good returns, with each household increasing its income by nearly 30,000 yuan. Not only did he himself adopt new technologies and new varieties, but he also recommended them to surrounding farmers and encouraged farmers who had gone out to work or were unemployed to return home and build greenhouse facilities to start businesses. Driven by successful people such as Li Dongbo, Wujia Village built more than 100 new greenhouses in 2016. Facility vegetable income became the main source of income for local farmers.
There are many other science and technology demonstration households like Li Dongbo. Under their radiating influence, the ranks of farmers developing modern agriculture and innovating and starting businesses will grow larger and larger, and will ultimately push agricultural development to a new level.