She Huahai returns to his hometown to start a business and leads his fellow villagers to prosperity together
????She Huahai (first from left) distributing land rent to villagers of Huabao Village, Qingmu Town, Enyang District, Bazhong City. (File photo)
She Huahai, vice chairman of the Federation of Industry and Commerce of Enyang District, Bazhong City, Sichuan Province, is not tall, has dark skin, always has a cigarette in hand, and walks with big, brisk strides. As early as the 1990s, She Huahai was already a well-known "rich man" in Huabao Village, Qingmu Town, his hometown. By doing small businesses in general merchandise and daily necessities away from home, She Huahai bought a house and a car and lived a very comfortable life.
In 2013, She Huahai decided to stop doing business. He planned to return to Huabao Village and lead his fellow villagers to make something of the "land." "Huabao Village is my hometown. In the year I returned, the village had a total of 1,928 people, with nearly 1,000 working elsewhere. It had a total of 1,688 mu of land, and nearly 70% of the area was abandoned." She Huahai told reporters the reason he returned to his hometown to start a business.
When he first returned, She Huahai heard two completely different voices. The elderly in the village told him: "We have dealt with the land all our lives and have lived hard lives all our lives. You still want to bring everyone prosperity through the land?" People of She Huahai's generation said to him, "Living a good life by yourself is no great skill. If you have real ability, come back and lead your fellow villagers to prosperity together."
Resourceful, diligent, and willing to work hard, She Huahai led the people to dig out the roots of poverty, move out of poor dwellings, and change their poor livelihoods by establishing a forest farm and a specialized cooperative for planting and breeding. Three years later, the per capita net income of Huabao Village rose from less than 2,000 yuan per person per year to 7,500 yuan per person per year, completely achieving poverty alleviation.
In 2013, the "Guangcai Program Bazhong Tour and Sichuan Merchants' Revolutionary Old Area Tour" event was held in Bazhong City, Sichuan Province. Through the matchmaking of the Bazhong City Federation of Industry and Commerce, Sichuan Yufan Industrial Co., Ltd. was established in Enyang District.
Transferring land and planting seedlings. She Huahai founded the Lutai Landscape Forest Farm in Enyang District, Bazhong City. After more than a year, he successively built more than 1,000 mu of flower landscape seedling bases in 7 villages including Huabao, Lutai, and Qilong in Qingmu Town. "Seedlings can basically achieve bulk sales after 5 years. If we can sell 10,000 seedlings each year at 1,000 yuan each, the annual output value of the forest farm can reach tens of millions of yuan." She Huahai said with full confidence.
Now, the area where Lutai Landscape Forest Farm is located has been connected by cement roads, and ditches and reservoirs have been built in sequence. Amid the green mountains and clear waters, the environment is very pleasant. "When I first took a fancy to this forest land, there were no supporting facilities around it at all, and all the roads were dirt roads. To get rich, build roads first. Helping my fellow villagers improve the infrastructure is also seeking benefits for everyone." She Huahai told reporters that over the past 3 years he had invested 5 million yuan in Lutai Landscape Forest Farm for purchasing seedlings and improving infrastructure.
Once the forest farm was established, the surrounding villagers were able to find work nearby. "Now everyone can work at the forest farm and earn 60 yuan a day. Villagers rent their land to the forest farm and can also get an income of 500 yuan per mu per year." She Huahai said.
The fellow villagers who did not believe that relying on the land could bring prosperity changed their minds one after another a year after Lutai Landscape Forest Farm was founded. Li Ming, a 70-year-old man from Lutai Village, and village party secretary Liu Zili found She Huahai. "I just want to invite him to our village to develop some industry and mobilize the enthusiasm of the villagers." Li Ming said.
At the end of 2013, in a village committee election attended by 1,400 villagers, She Huahai was elected village director of Huabao Village with nearly all the votes.
Targeted poverty alleviation, with the core in industry. At the beginning of his tenure, She Huahai and the two village committees of Huabao Village grasped the root causes of the village's poverty and, in batches and by category, formulated the "Huabao Village 2015-2020 Plan Outline" from aspects such as infrastructure construction, industrial development, and relocation, establishing a development plan centered on modern sightseeing agriculture.
Relying on the existing resources of Lutai Landscape Forest Farm, She Huahai introduced Guoke Modern Agriculture Co., Ltd. and established the "four priorities" principle under which poor households enjoy priority in policies, priority in equity dividends, priority in work arrangements, and priority in relocation housing for poverty alleviation. More than 1,200 mu of land were transferred and improved for planting high-quality grapes, driving more than 680 laborers from 3 villages including Huabao, Lutai, and Huangjue to find work nearby, achieving an average annual income increase of more than 3,000 yuan per person.
"In August this year, our village held the first grape-picking festival, receiving more than 30,000 tourists per day, selling more than 120 tons of grapes, with sales reaching more than 4.8 million yuan, achieving an average income increase of more than 800 yuan per person." She Huahai said.
Huabao Village used to have barren land and many left-behind elderly people and children. Today's Huabao Village has cement roads connecting one farmhouse courtyard after another. The village primary school has bright and clean windows, the health station has a tidy environment, and the day care center is filled with laughter and chatter. In 2015, nearly 100 young people in the village "flowed back."
"Through the Guangcai Program, my enterprise became connected with my hometown, and it was precisely this connection that gave me the idea to return home and start a business. In recent years, through the Bazhong City Federation of Industry and Commerce, we have found experts in planting and breeding to spread knowledge among the villagers, and have also found more channels to sell agricultural products. Such days are full of hope." Seeing the satisfied smiles of the villagers, She Huahai is full of confidence in the future.