Kiwifruit becomes Xinshao's fruit of poverty alleviation and prosperity; entrusted assistance advances industrial poverty alleviation
Looking into the distance, the hills and fields are all a stretch of emerald green. Under the connected trellises covering a thousand mu, green and pale-yellow kiwifruits, like babies about to be born, lie comfortably asleep in their protective bags. In the breeze, the leaves dance as if welcoming everyone's arrival. This was the scene a reporter saw on August 5 at the kiwifruit base of Yuhui Agriculture and Forestry Company in Tanfu Township, Xinshao County.
"In another 40-plus days, the kiwifruits will be ripe." When talking about kiwifruit and returning home to start a business, Li Yuyang, chairman of Yuhui Agriculture and Forestry Company, who is not normally talkative, spoke eloquently and began his introduction.
Li Yuyang, just over 40 this year, is a native of Tanfu Township, Xinshao County. He once worked in real estate in Huaihua for seven or eight years, with an average annual income of several million yuan. However, despite his success, every time he came home, a scene made him somewhat uneasy. "People born in our era were taught by our parents from childhood that land is a treasure, but in recent years most young and middle-aged people have gone out to work, and those left at home are mainly the elderly, women and children, causing some fields to gradually lie waste. At that time, I thought, I should find an opportunity to come home and start an industry, make use of the abandoned land, and let the elderly and women left at home be able to work right at their doorstep, thereby increasing their income and driving everyone gradually out of poverty toward prosperity."
By a chance opportunity, Li Yuyang learned of the enormous market value of kiwifruit. Kiwifruit has long been known as the "king of fruits," and at present kiwifruit cultivation in our province is mainly concentrated in the Xiangxi region. At this point Li Yuyang wondered, could kiwifruit also be grown in his hometown?
In 2013, Li Yuyang invited experts to conduct soil and water quality tests and climate condition assessments in Tanfu Township. The results showed that the conditions were suitable for cultivation, and kiwifruit could absolutely "settle down" locally. Therefore, Li Yuyang resolved to introduce the "king of fruits" and turn it into the "fruit of prosperity" for the folks back home.
In August 2013, Xinshao County Yuhui Agriculture and Forestry Development Co., Ltd. was officially established. Subsequently, the company signed a cooperation agreement with Legend Holdings' Joyvio Group, an enterprise covering the entire fruit industry chain, becoming a chain enterprise of Joyvio's planting bases, and striving to build an ecological planting base with "Jinyan kiwifruit" and "Donghong kiwifruit" as its main products.
Since 2013, the company has invested 30 million yuan, successively contracting more than 5,000 mu of land in Hehui Village, Shangtan Village, Zhongtan Village and other places in Tanfu Township. Under the guidance of experts dispatched by Legend Group, it completed land improvement, trellis erection, and planting, and built an integrated automatic irrigation system for water and fertilizer. At present, more than 2,000 mu of kiwifruit have set fruit, with a bumper harvest in sight, and the estimated output will reach about 150 tons, with an output value of more than 7 million yuan.
The company adopts a "company + cooperative + farmers + base" business model, renting farmers' land with 30-year contracts at an annual rent of 300 yuan/mu; poor households' labor is given priority in hiring at the company. "The fields are rented to the company to grow kiwifruit, and we collect rent every year; helping the company work earns 100 yuan a day, and at our doorstep we can earn more than 20,000 a year, both making money and taking care of the home." Aunt Li, a poor household in Hehui Village, said happily.
"Although we haven't eaten the kiwifruit yet, we have indeed already benefited!" Li Guangping, a 60-year-old villager from Hehui Village, said cheerfully to us. His family had originally been relatively poor, but because of his strong organizational ability and solid, dependable work, he was hired by the company and every day leads and organizes migrant workers busy in the fields. As the kiwifruit bloomed and set fruit, tourists came from all around, and Li Guangping and his wife opened an agritainment business in their own home. The couple's annual income reached 80,000 yuan, and they gradually escaped poverty and are on the road to prosperity.
Speaking of this kiwifruit base, Liu Dingxiu, a 70-year-old villager from Hehui Village, was even more deeply moved: "Previously my husband and I contracted nearly 20 mu of land at 150 yuan/mu, wanting to grow rice to escape poverty and become prosperous. But who knew that five years ago, my husband unfortunately fell ill and lost his labor capacity, causing the land to lie waste, and the family became poorer and poorer. Our son, at 40, was still single. Fortunately, the company came here to grow kiwifruit, subcontracted the land we had originally contracted at 300 yuan/mu, and arranged for me to work at the base. Last year, just from working, I earned 30,000 yuan. Now the economic conditions have improved somewhat, and I plan to work two more years and renovate the house. Not long ago, someone even came to matchmake for my son!"
This year, the company newly planted more than 200 mu of blueberries, which will ripen in June next year, with an estimated output of 1 ton and an output value of over a million yuan.
At present, the Xinshao County Party Committee and County Government have made developing kiwifruit a characteristic advantageous industry of the whole county and a key agricultural development project, and have listed it as a pillar industry for entrusted assistance. This year, the company signed agreements with 3,912 local poor households, established a cooperative, and made its first capital contribution of more than 7 million yuan using national project funds. It can be foreseen that as the company grows and expands, it will drive even more local poor households out of poverty toward prosperity.
Xinshao County is one of Hunan Province's 51 poverty-stricken counties, with a total of 145 poor villages and 127,779 poor people. According to the central government's requirements, by 2020 all poor people must be lifted out of poverty and all poor villages must be removed from the poverty list. The weight of the task, the pressure, and the difficulties are unprecedented. Li Zhiyao, director of the Xinshao County Poverty Alleviation Office, introduced that the Xinshao County Party Committee and County Government attach great importance to poverty alleviation work, and have implemented poverty alleviation planning, poverty alleviation forces, poverty alleviation funds, poverty alleviation assessment and efficiency enhancement, among others. At the same time, in strict accordance with the requirements, they develop industries according to the four-step principle; coordinate funds well, and take care of every poor person. At present, based on the principle of industrial diversification, Xinshao's other industries that are being emphasized, such as camellia oil, medicinal materials, and cotton, are also showing encouraging momentum.
"The company plans to invest 220 million yuan before 2018 to build a 10,000-mu high-quality kiwifruit export demonstration base in Tanfu Township and surrounding townships, and with this as the center, build a kiwifruit new-variety experimental and demonstration garden, a core demonstration garden, a production demonstration garden, a seedling breeding base, a logistics and storage area, and an agricultural product processing plant. By then, more than 20,000 seasonal and non-seasonal jobs can be created, and poor farmers can achieve a per capita annual income increase of more than 3,000 yuan." Regarding the future, Li Yuyang is full of confidence.