Li Quansheng, a sericulture man: an unfinished sericulture complex

In the fruit mulberry park of Shiwan Village, a provincial-level poverty-stricken village in Quanan Town, Shizhong District, Neijiang City, a wandering figure is often seen, carrying a pair of scissors and a small hoe, now looking at the leaves of the mulberry trees, now looking at the trunks of the mulberry trees, and sometimes digging in the soil to take a look. He is Li Quansheng, a retired sericulture professional technician.

Li Quansheng worked successively at the Sericulture Station of the Neijiang County Agriculture Bureau, the Dongxing District Silkworm and Mulberry Cocoon Management Bureau, and a silk company, engaging in sericulture technology extension and guidance for more than 30 years. In December 2014, after retiring, Li Quansheng returned to his hometown in Quanan Town, and through the Neijiang Rural Property Rights Exchange Center transferred 521 mu of land in Groups 2, 13, 14 and 15 of Shiwan Village, Quanan Town, planting specialty fruits mainly consisting of fruit mulberries and precious flowers, aiming to carry out comprehensive development of the fruit mulberry industry, create a flower-and-fruit park with flowers blooming in all four seasons and fresh fruits to pick in all four seasons, and fulfill his unfinished sericulture feelings.

In order to change the poverty-stricken appearance of Shiwan Village and help local poor households shake off poverty and become rich as soon as possible, under Li Quansheng's leadership, several friends with some capital jointly invested 4 million yuan with him to establish Neijiang Shiwan Sansheng Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. Li Quansheng and the others received strong support from the village's two committees and the Party committee and government of Quanan Town, held member meetings many times, widely publicized the land transfer policy and its benefits, lifted farmers' confined awareness about land, and gained their agreement to land transfer. At that time, many members said: "After we transfer our land out, what will we eat? How can the boundaries of my land be made clear? After the land is transferred, what if the boss runs away because the business is doing poorly? What if we want to keep part of the land to grow vegetables to eat? What about the land issue if we want to build houses and bury the elderly?" In response to these questions, Li Quansheng and the others explained them one by one together with town, village and group cadres, and clarified and revised them item by item in the land transfer contract. For example, two households in Group 13, Liao Zhengxue and Chen Chundong, were unwilling to transfer their land, so Li Quansheng transferred the field and land area of farmers willing to transfer among those households not included in the transfer scope, and then allocated an equal area to them, which was not only more fertile but also closer to their homes, making them satisfied.

At the end of September 2015, after Li Quansheng paid the land transfer fees, many farmers had not finished harvesting their sweet potatoes and winter beans. Li Quansheng, considering the farmers' interests, waited until November before taking over the land. Then, they carried out land preparation without stopping. Bulldozers, large and small excavators, land-turning tractors, rotary tillers and other machinery worked overtime. They also purchased truckloads of seedlings of different varieties of fruit mulberries, Yin Hong plum trees, figs, ginkgo trees, jacarandas, crape myrtle trees, cherry blossom trees, osmanthus trees, plum blossom trees and others from Jiaxing in Zhejiang, Chengdu, Yibin and other places, and organized more than 40 members to complete the planting within two months. By August 2016, the company had planted 260 mu of fruit mulberries, 60 mu of Yin Hong plums, 50 mu of figs, 50 mu of peach orchards, 10 mu of plum blossoms, and 5 mu of osmanthus. It also planted 2,200 cherry blossom trees and crape myrtle trees along both sides of the highway at a spacing of two meters, as well as ginkgo trees, jacaranda trees and Gleditsia trees. At the same time, there were also 30 mu of fields used for aquaculture and fishing, and 60 mu of fields used for planting ornamental lotus and picking lotus seeds.

In the past two years, not only have the land-transferring households of Neijiang Shiwan Sansheng Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. received transfer fees in full and on time, but those at home have also earned relatively high incomes by working in the park. They have work to do every day, wages are paid regularly every month, and the total monthly wages paid by Sansheng Agricultural Company are more than 35,000 yuan, allowing members at home to truly experience the happiness and benefits of working at their doorstep.

In the fruit mulberry park of Shiwan Village, under project support, most of the high-standard roads reaching the edges of farmers' courtyards, 1,020 meters, cement roads, 1,650 meters, and convenience paths, 3,000 meters, were also built; and a new water-saving project main pipe of 4,300 meters was built. The successive completion of this infrastructure has brought earth-shaking changes to the mountain village that had not changed much for decades. The broad masses of members showed satisfied smiles and sincerely praised the land transfer policy as good.

At present, in the fruit mulberry park of Shiwan Village, patches of green mulberry trees are growing delightfully. On the basis of attracting members to join the Shiwan Sansheng Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative of Shizhong District, Neijiang City, Li Quansheng also established the Sericulture and Mushroom Edible Fungi Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative of Shizhong District, Neijiang City, hoping to let more members walk the road to prosperity together. The fruit mulberry industry of Quanan Town will develop into a comprehensive circular economy industrial park integrating fresh mulberry fruit picking, dried fruit processing, mulberry fruit wine, mulberry paste, mulberry leaf tea, dried mulberry leaf powder, mulberry branch edible fungi and under-forest ecological breeding. In the near future, Shiwan Village will present a magnificent picture of thriving industry, fragrant fruits, beautiful environment, clear mountains and waters, and flowers dancing in the human world.