Herdsman Dongluo Sets Up a Vegetable Planting Base

In May in Rangtang, the green of spring had long since climbed over the branches. Whether in the fields or on the hillsides, the busy figures of villagers could be seen everywhere.

"You need to drive this fence in more firmly, and you must find stones to fill in this spot." Recently, Dongluo, a villager from Renpeng Village in Shangrangtang Township, was installing a fence in her own vegetable base, and because the stakes were not driven in firmly enough, she was "ordered to make corrections" on the spot by agricultural technician Teacher Xu Wu standing beside her.

"Thanks to the teachers' guidance, we herdsmen have the confidence to develop vegetable planting. I really am so grateful to them!" Speaking of her newly built vegetable planting base, Dongluo's face lit up with smiles.

On a chance trip out, Dongluo learned of the strong market demand for green, pollution-free vegetables, and so the idea was born of growing vegetables at home to become well-off. "I have always wanted to make use of the climate and environment on our plateau. Although the yield from growing vegetables is not very high, purely natural organic vegetables are of good quality and will certainly be welcomed by the market."

"As long as you are willing to develop industrial planting, the county and township levels will increase their support and encourage everyone to go ahead boldly." In the early spring of this year, at the whole-village villagers' meeting, a remark by the village-contacting team leader gave Dongluo a "reassurance pill." This made Dongluo see hope once again, and she, who had long had the plan, was already eager to try.

After discussing it with her husband Zhang Zifu, Dongluo quickly established, through land transfer, a vegetable base with an area of 25.3 mu in Renpeng Village. "See, we had only just begun preparing to turn the soil and install the fence, and the county agricultural bureau sent professional technical teachers to give on-site guidance. This makes us growers feel very secure."

In order to grow better vegetables, Dongluo, who comes from a herdsman background, also planned to learn vegetable planting techniques and experience from agricultural technical staff. "I plan to first try planting lettuce and baby bok choy. If the returns are good, then I will introduce some other good varieties. By then we will set up a cooperative and grow vegetables together with the surrounding villagers, so that everyone can become well-off together."

"For those of us living in rural areas, as long as we get an industry going, that is development." Regarding vegetable planting, Dongluo had her own understanding. "Now the roads in the village have also been built, and the water source is good too. The conditions for developing vegetable planting are very mature."

Gazing at the vegetable base before her, Dongluo was full of hope for the future. "Although the land on our plateau is relatively flat, most of it is very barren, and we have to rely entirely on the weather. In the past we basically just planted some potatoes and peas for our own families to eat, and escaping poverty and becoming well-off could only be empty talk." Dongluo had not expected either that her dream of becoming well-off would become reality so quickly.

One industry enriches the people of a region. It is understood that Renpeng Village has a total of 135 households and more than 500 herdsmen, and is the earliest vegetable-growing pastoral village in the whole county. In recent years, through the "vegetable garden" project, the county has sent agricultural technicians to provide on-site guidance and stationed township officials in the villages, teaching herdsmen hand by hand to grow vegetables that are easy to plant and easy to manage, such as Chinese cabbage, lettuce and pea shoots. "Only when ordinary people have mastered planting techniques can the vegetable planting industry truly be developed."