Wu Jinlan: A Rural Dream-Chaser Setting Hope Free in the Fields

Standing about 1.6 m tall, with a round, deeply tanned face that bespeaks the toil of a farming woman, Wu Jinlan hardly strikes you at first glance as a provincial model worker. In fact, she is a farm owner who has contracted more than 1,100 mu of land and generates an annual output value of more than 3 million yuan.

Revitalizing Agriculture through Science and Technology: Her First Pot of Gold

Born into an ordinary farming family, Wu Jinlan tasted the hardships of agricultural production as a child and felt firsthand how hard the life of a farmer is.

In 1993, when she was just over 20, Wu Jinlan first came across magazines such as Agricultural Science and Technology and Farm Family Wealth. Relying on the honest, hardworking nature innate to a farmer, plus a humble eagerness to learn, Wu Jinlan gradually caught up with the pace of the market economy through trial and error.

Starting with 50 laying hens, by 1996 Wu Jinlan's laying hen operation had reached 1,000 birds, bringing in considerable economic returns.

"But our fellow villagers, used to rising at dawn and resting at dusk, were still watching and waiting. Just thinking about it left me feeling very uneasy." Wu Jinlan resolved to lead the villagers to raise chickens and prosper together.

Villager Lu Fuming used to rely mainly on farming, and a family of three struggled to make ends meet all year round. To persuade his family to raise chickens, Wu Jinlan advanced the money when they had no funds and offered help proactively when they lacked skills, so that they achieved considerable economic returns that very year. With Wu Jinlan's help, more than 20 poor households in the surrounding area were lifted out of poverty.

Seeing the people around her prosper, Wu Jinlan said happily: "This is only the first step I have taken in life!"

Large-Scale Farming: Building a Reputation as the King of Farmers

With a dream in her heart, she must constantly pursue new heights and achieve new leaps.

In 2009, urbanization in Changjiang Town (Rugao Port Area) advanced rapidly. Large numbers of farmers moved into town to live in concentrated housing and became enterprise workers who left both their land and their villages, leaving quite a lot of land uncultivated and abandoned. The government encouraged social forces to contract the land, and Wu Jinlan felt her opportunity had come. In the first year she applied to contract 370 mu of land for agricultural cultivation, increasing it to 500 mu in the third year and 1,100 mu in the sixth year.

To farm the land well and maximize its returns, Wu Jinlan worked hard to learn scientific farming knowledge, actively selected improved varieties and carried out standardized planting, large-scale operation and mechanized tillage, scientifically managed fertilizer and water, and did a good job controlling pests and diseases. During the busy season, she used 8 large combine harvesters and 6 farm vehicles and hired more than 30 temporary farm workers. At the critical moment of the harvest, she would stay overnight at the edge of the fields alone with the family dog.

In recent years, Wu Jinlan has enjoyed a bumper harvest with an income of about 2,600 yuan per mu per year, producing more than 2 million jin of grain annually and creating an output value of nearly 3 million yuan, making her a locally famous king of farmers.

Sharing Technology: Leading Others to Prosper without Forgetting Her Neighbors

As the saying goes, one flower blooming alone is not spring; only when a hundred flowers bloom together is the garden full of spring. As a renowned king of farmers, Wu Jinlan never forgets the care of the Party and the government or the strong support of the masses. Over the years, she has actively served her fellow villagers and united and led them onto the road of common prosperity. The more than 1,100 mu of land Wu Jinlan has contracted distributes more than 1 million yuan in rent to local people every year.

Wu Jinlan is never secretive about farming techniques; she freely passes on what she has learned to others. Several small farm owners in the town have learned from Wu Jinlan's example of contracting land for cultivation, and Wu Jinlan always shares technology with them. When pests are found in the fields, she personally walks the fields to diagnose the problem and solve it on the spot. Villager Wei Jinru's household now contracts more than 800 mu of land, with total annual output value exceeding 2 million yuan. Old Wei tells everyone he meets that his success is inseparable from Wu Jinlan's warmhearted help. When small farm owners Zhu Zhiyou and Li Changlin lacked rice seedlings, Wu Jinlan provided seedlings for more than 500 mu of land free of charge, worth more than 20,000 yuan.

Every harvest season, Wu Jinlan always responds actively to the call of the Party and the government. On banning the burning and dumping of straw and on its comprehensive utilization, she proactively offers suggestions, contributes manpower, effort and money, and for the few households without labor she sends vehicles to help with harvesting and transport, solving the problem of open-air straw burning. Her actions have powerfully advanced the concepts of innovation, coordination, development and green sharing.