Li Jiliang Leads Villagers to Prosperity Through Specialty Industries
Although there is still one month left before the end of the year, the villagers of Laozhuang Village, Wenbao Township, Longde County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, at the foot of Liupan Mountain, have received good news: in 2016, the village planted 1,750 mu of various Chinese medicinal herbs, averaging 7.8 mu per household, with household income reaching more than 10,000 yuan.
There are countless paths to prosperity; it all depends on which one suits you. Li Jiliang, who has served as village Party secretary for 9 years, explained it this way: under his leadership and efforts, Laozhuang Village has gradually embarked on a path of development relying on specialty industries, moving toward a new life of village economic development, neat and beautiful village surroundings, and happy, comfortable and prosperous villagers.
????Pursuing Industrial Economy
Laozhuang Village at the foot of Liupan Mountain is a typical dryland farming area in a mountainous region. To help poor villagers increase their income through multiple channels and live a happy life as soon as possible, in 2007, after discussion, Li Jiliang, who had seen the wider world, took up the post of village Party branch secretary and set his sights on local specialty economic development. After careful consideration, he believed that large-scale cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs was a golden road for villagers to escape poverty and become prosperous.
In order to encourage everyone to grow Chinese medicinal herbs, he led several large-scale growers from the village to travel all over nearby counties and townships, learning from the advanced experience of Longxi County in developing the Chinese medicinal herb industry, helping villagers obtain herb seeds, providing technical guidance, and finding sales channels. Starting in 2009, he took the lead in planting 300 mu of Chinese medicinal herbs in the village, dispelling villagers' doubts about whether growing Chinese medicinal herbs would actually be profitable. That year, seeing that growing 1 mu of herbs brought in more than 800 yuan in income, several times that of growing grain, the villagers saw hope in growing Chinese medicinal herbs and began planting them on their own initiative.
?Pursuing Livelihood and Benefiting Villagers
"Our ancestors lived on the mountain for generations, and I never thought that one day our fellow villagers would move down from this mountain and even live a life like city people." Grandma Liang Xiuying of Group 2 of Laozhuang Village said cheerfully.
Before 2007, villager Li Duixian's family of three lived in a mud-brick house where "when it rains heavily outside, it drips lightly inside." At that time, their child was in school, and Li Duixian himself was in poor health and could not do heavy physical labor, so the family lived in great hardship. Now, Li Duixian's family not only lives in a new house but has also become a prosperous household in the village by raising cattle.
Today, entering Laozhuang Village, the neatly arranged new countryside construction site appears before us. This is Li Jiliang's greatest achievement in infrastructure construction since becoming village Party branch secretary. At the end of 2013, Secretary Li wanted to build a new village on the open flat land below the mountain in Laozhuang Village and move the villagers from the mountain down to live there. The villagers all thought this was a fantasy. But Secretary Li persisted. He went many times to the township Party committee, government, land resources, water conservancy and other departments, and firmly secured the project for a centralized resettlement site for 50 dilapidated houses. In order to resolve the land exchange issue for the centralized site construction, he convened a villagers' representative meeting to propose the matter, led the team members to spread the word household by household, held a general village meeting to vote on the land exchange matter, and publicized the results of the land exchange. Every step and every issue was presented to the villagers in a fair, clear and transparent manner. After the new countryside was completed, village greening, new drainage canals, tap water, solar water heaters and everything else were all fully available.
Giving the people a good living environment and a nice place to relax in their spare time -- this idea was firmly engraved in Li Jiliang's mind. In 2015, with the help of the city and county "whole-village advancement" project, a cultural activity square integrating Party building, ecology and leisure was built in the village. The square includes fitness equipment, a leisure corridor, sound equipment, street lamps and so on, just like a small city park.
?Putting the People First in Every Matter
In March 2015, the construction of the centralized dilapidated house renovation site entered the preliminary preparation stage. After the site was determined, land exchange became a tough "hard bone" to gnaw. To exchange flat land for mountain land -- villager Li Jinping simply could not accept it. Villagers' representatives and Li Jiliang went to his home 5 times to explain national land policy and carefully listen to Li Jinping's opinions. Finally, an agreement was reached, dispelling Li Jinping's doubts and allowing the dilapidated house renovation to proceed smoothly.
In order to effectively help villagers solve prominent problems in life and production, he arranged for the village "two committees" and mass representatives to be on duty at the village committee every day, and printed a form for receiving and handling issues reported by the masses. Problems reported by the masses were recorded and resolved promptly, and those that could not be resolved were reported to the township Party committee in a timely manner. When the masses saw that village officials were doing their utmost to help them, their hearts were at peace, their mood was smooth, their complaints were fewer, and there were no more petition visits.
Li Jiliang led the members of the village "two committees" to effectively carry out all the work of the village, and many tasks were affirmed by relevant higher-level departments. Laozhuang Village has repeatedly received commendations and awards from the county Party committee, county government, and the Party committee and government of Wenbao Township. For 3 consecutive years, it was awarded the title of "Five-Good Civilized Village" by the county Party committee and county government, and was awarded honorary titles such as "First Prize in Comprehensive Assessment" and "Advanced Collective in Labor Export" by the township Party committee and government.
In an interview with reporters, Li Jiliang said that he still had not done many things well, especially that more than 10 poor households in the village had still not lived a good life. He believes that the road ahead in leading the masses out of poverty toward prosperity is still very, very long. Reporter Zhang Guofeng