Developing under-forest farming leads to successfully escaping poverty and achieving prosperity
Li Chunqiong shows her ecological products
Numerous difficulties
High mountains and long roads make it hard to keep people
Xujia Village is one of the 36 poverty-stricken villages in Tianquan County, and Group 8 of Xujia Village is the only group in the whole village without road access. Difficult to travel, difficult to get drinking water, difficult to get rich... The mountains are high and the roads are long, living conditions are very poor, and the masses face numerous difficulties in getting rich.
From Group 5 to Group 8 of Xujia Village, although the distance is only more than 2 km, walking takes 1 hour. Before Xujia Village had road access, villagers of Group 8 had to spend a whole day making a round trip to the nearest Shiyang market town.
Living in Group 8 of Xujia Village, all the villagers' means of production and daily necessities had to be carried on people's backs or by horses, and the villagers' backs were never free when entering or leaving Xujia Village.
The whole village has had a tradition of growing ginger for many years, but the labor cost of planting in Group 8 of Xujia Village far exceeded the returns.
Under the real conditions, many villagers took the path of going out to work to survive.
Villagers of Group 8 moved away with their whole families, women of marriageable age married far away, adult men could not bring back wives, and a large number of Group 8 villagers flowed out. "The current permanent resident population is only more than 20 people, most of them children and the elderly." Xue Qijun, secretary of the Party branch of Xujia Village, introduced that most of the permanent residents are still poor households.
Li Chunqiong had thought about going out, but her husband had been ill for many years, and there was no one to care for the elderly and young at home. Seeing the large outflow of villagers, Li Chunqiong chose to stay locally to develop under-forest farming and take a path of her own.
From Group 5 to Group 8, forest land and wasteland stretch one after another along the way. "I raise ecological chickens, ecological geese, ecological pigs, and grow green organic vegetables, using local manure for circular agriculture," Li Chunqiong said. The good ecological environment of Group 8 in Xujia Village created advantages for her under-forest farming.
The flock of geese raised by Li Chunqiong
Poverty alleviation
Road access and water access, striving for a moderately prosperous life
Starting from a few dozen, Li Chunqiong slowly explored farming experience. Although she single-mindedly wanted to get rich, she was still unable to escape poverty.
Last year, the poverty alleviation campaign was fully launched in Xujia Village. Before the Spring Festival, the whole village had access to tap water, and on February 29, construction began on the more than 2 km road for Group 8. "After a few more months, Group 8 will have a cement road, and production and life will be more convenient in the future." Luo Mingfang, first secretary of Xujia Village, introduced that the poverty alleviation work in Xujia Village is advancing in full swing, and the whole village's infrastructure and industrial development will be comprehensively upgraded.
Starting last year, with the help of Luo Mingfang and village and group cadres, Li Chunqiong's farming scale began to expand. "Now there are more than 600 large geese, 300 goslings, and more than 800 chickens. Nearly 100 goose eggs and several hundred chicken eggs are produced every day, and in the future I will also grow vegetables." Li Chunqiong introduced that in one year, her farming scale expanded several times.
Standing at Li Chunqiong's farm and looking into the distance, a newly built rough road has already been extended into the scattered settlements of Group 8. Li Chunqiong plans to raise some funds herself and coordinate the land with the villagers to connect the group road to her doorstep, creating better conditions for the development of under-forest farming.
Gao Qiang, a villager of Group 8, is the poorest poor household in the whole village. After escaping poverty, Li Chunqiong's family and Gao Qiang formed a helping pair. Hearing that Gao Qiang wanted to develop farming, Li Chunqiong and her husband took the initiative to visit and teach farming techniques. Now Gao Qiang has already raised nearly 1,000 chickens, ducks, and geese.
"Ecological products are in short supply. Taking the path of under-forest farming to achieve prosperity for the whole group is not a problem." Li Chunqiong said that one person being rich does not count as being rich. Only when all villagers in the group are prosperous can living and working in contentment be more than an empty phrase.