Growing vegetables leads to prosperity, and following Company Commander Cao is a journey with a bright future

Cao Lianjun, left, is teaching management techniques to farmers in the vegetable field.

On April 1, in the contiguous steel-frame greenhouse vegetable fields of Xiyan Village, Dingxin Town, Rong County, a middle-aged woman in camouflage uniform was teaching a group of militia members, hand by hand, the management techniques for early-spring eggplants. She is Cao Lianjun, the militia company commander of Xiyan Village in this town, and also the owner of this 52.3-mu transferred vegetable land.

Cao Lianjun is a skilled vegetable grower in Dingxin Town. In 2010, after discussing it with her husband, she transferred 52.3 mu of land from 19 households in the village to grow vegetables on a large scale, and hired villagers to work locally for wages. "I am 66 years old. If I go out to work, no one will hire me, but working at my doorstep, I get lunch at noon and can still earn 60 yuan a day. That's good enough." Villager Zhang Zhengjiu, who has worked at the vegetable base for 4 years, thinks it is a good deal.

Through the painstaking cultivation of Cao Lianjun and her husband, this fertile land brought them considerable returns. "Last year, after deducting nearly 150,000 yuan in worker wages and land transfer fees, we still made a profit of more than 200,000 yuan ourselves. We put in sweat and also reaped benefits. Money earned through hard work feels secure." Cao Lianjun was very satisfied.

As the militia company commander of Xiyan Village, Cao Lianjun did not forget to play a leading role in becoming prosperous. After villager Dai Haidong returned home from the military last year, he wanted to go out to work but was also concerned about his parents at home. While he hesitated, Cao Lianjun taught him vegetable-growing techniques and encouraged him to develop the vegetable industry. This year, Dai Haidong planted more than 5 mu of early-spring eggplants, and it is expected that each mu can bring in 8,000 yuan."

Under Cao Lianjun's leadership, in Xiyan Village and surrounding villages, there are more than 200 militia households like Dai Haidong who have taken the path of increasing income by growing vegetables, with each household earning an annual vegetable-growing income ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 yuan.