How a rural wealth-building leader helped his fellow villagers increase their incomes
"The temperature and rainfall have both been good this year, so planting this second round of corn still seems worthwhile." When I first met Tan Shunjiang, he was in the field sowing this year's second batch of early-maturing corn. Talking about farming, this normally taciturn wealth-building expert opened up.
Tan Shunjiang is the head of Group 3 of Zhiziyuan Village, Shuangjia Town, Longmatan District. Since becoming group head in 2009, he has organized more than 20 households of left-behind elderly people in the village to set up a planting and breeding cooperative, develop diversified three-dimensional farming, and lead the group members to wealth and higher incomes.
Plant whatever the market lacks
In his early years, Tan Shunjiang left his hometown with the migrant labor tide and drifted to Yunnan, Guangzhou and other places to work. After returning home in 2007, he began developing agriculture and breeding. Drawing on his experience from his years away, he targeted market demand and within just two years quickly became a well-known planting expert in the village. "Follow Captain Tan in growing vegetables, and no matter how we sell them, we won't lose money." Fellow group farmer Qian Zhengwen could not praise Tan Shunjiang enough.
"Now many young people have gone out to work, and the elderly left behind can't farm much land, so a lot of land is just left idle. It's a real pity." Talking about contracting idle land, Tan Shunjiang said. To solve the problem of idle farmland in the village, the newly elected group head made a decision that astonished his family - contracting more than 60 mu of idle land in the group to grow vegetables.
Not only did he plant himself, Tan Shunjiang also led other farmers in the village to plant together. "Before each planting, I go to the vegetable markets in the city to see which vegetables sell well and sell at a high price, and which vegetables no one is selling yet. After I look, I come back and discuss with the people in the village what to plant. That way, we're less likely to lose money growing vegetables," Tan Shunjiang told me about his "vegetable-growing classic." "Over here are loofah and water spinach, over there are sweet potato and eggplant... When these vegetables are expensive, we take them to the city to sell; when they're cheap, we feed them to the chickens, ducks and pigs. Planting this way, we can increase our income by about 350 yuan per mu compared with before."
"At first, some people in our group didn't dare farm this way, so I took the lead and planted myself. Later, when they saw that my vegetables sold well this way, the next year they actively joined in with me. I'm a Party member. If I don't take the lead, who will?"
Three-dimensional farming boosts income
While developing cooperative planting, Tan Shunjiang also led group members to grow fruit trees such as pomelo and longan, and to raise chickens, ducks and pigs, realizing a three-dimensional pollution-free green agriculture model.
The land in Zhiziyuan Village is shallow and mostly sandy, not suitable for large-scale planting. Combining this with the local actual conditions, Tan Shunjiang recalled the three-dimensional agriculture he had seen in rural Guangdong and, with the help of the local agricultural technology extension service center, set up three-dimensional agriculture centered on pig breeding.
"Most of those at home are elderly people, and raising large pigs is inconvenient for many of them, so we mainly raise piglets. That way, even if the market for large pigs is bad, we won't lose money selling our piglets." Talking about pig farming, this village's major pig raiser always spoke with great fluency.
Tan Shunjiang's pig farm sends nearly 1,000 pigs to market each year. Under his leadership, other people in the village also began raising pigs. In view of the many left-behind elderly people in the village and the shortage of labor, Tan Shunjiang mainly developed piglet breeding within the village. The piglets from their village are sold far and wide to townships across four counties and three districts.
While developing pig breeding, Tan Shunjiang also organized the sandy and sloping land in the village unsuitable for growing vegetables and planted it with fruit trees such as pomelo and longan, and raised chickens and ducks free-range under the fruit trees, developing three-dimensional farming.
"Pig manure can be used to fertilize the fields, free-range chickens and ducks can rid the fruit groves of insects and add fertilizer, and the vegetables in the vegetable plots can feed the pigs. This way, we not only save money on fertilizer, feed and pesticides, but also save a lot of effort and time." Talking about his three-dimensional agriculture, Tan Shunjiang was full of pride. "Every year many people drive here specially to buy vegetables and pick fruit. Not for any other reason - everyone knows that mine haven't been sprayed with pesticides."
"Last year I harvested about 6,000 jin of pomelos. Now the pomelo trees are old and the yield is lower than before. Last year I began replanting longan and lychee. Overall, one mu of fruit can still earn quite a bit of money. Adding the vegetables, chickens, ducks and piglets sold over the year, on average each household can earn five or six thousand yuan more than before. Next, I plan to join with group members to raise laying hens. The more we do, the more we earn, and that way the incomes of our group's farmers will be a bit higher."
Leading by example and making contributions
"One must contribute to society, and even more, fulfill one's responsibility to society." As a Communist Party member, Tan Shunjiang fully gave play to a Party member's vanguard and exemplary role. While leading group members to common prosperity, he also enthusiastically helped surrounding villagers. The pig manure and biogas water his family used to fertilize the fields were provided free of charge to villagers. He actively contacted the local agricultural technology extension service center to carry out quarantine and epidemic prevention for the pigs raised by villagers, and provided technical guidance and services free of charge to breeders such as Qian Zhengwen. Whenever a chicken, duck or pig in any village household got sick, he provided treatment and medicine free of charge.
When Tan Shunjiang's name was mentioned, not only did the villagers praise him endlessly, but residents of the town also gave him a thumbs-up.
At the end of 2012, he quietly sent two pigs and 1,000 yuan in cash to the nursing home. It was not until the nursing home reported the matter to the town government, hoping to contact him through the government to express its thanks, that everyone learned of it.
"We're all fellow townsfolk. It's almost the New Year, and I just wanted to help these elderly people as much as I could. I can't sing or dance, so this is the only way I can express my feelings. After all, whose family doesn't have elderly people?" Tan Shunjiang said about sending pigs to the nursing home. "I'm a Party member. It's only right to put in effort for everyone. These are all small matters."
When Old Li in the village couldn't sell the vegetables he grew, he actively contacted vegetable shops in the urban area of Luzhou to sell them. When Aunt Zhang's house leaked in the rain, he took the initiative to go help deal with it. When Old Liu's pig stopped eating, he went to check on the situation at the first opportunity...
Tan Shunjiang made extraordinary contributions in his ordinary post, persisted in serving the masses, always strictly demanded of himself by the standard of an outstanding Communist Party member, respected the masses, and worked steadily and pragmatically in practical work, seeking truth from facts and being diligent and dedicated. While interpreting the meaning of the words "Communist Party member" through his own practical actions, he also won the unanimous recognition of the villagers. Some elderly people in the village even composed a doggerel to praise Tan Shunjiang: "If you have troubles, go find Party member Tan. He builds wealth and helps out too, everyone likes him."