This is how Mao Tielong's three-step road to prosperity came about
"These three rapeseed direct seeders and that dryer are all newly purchased..." Mao Tielong, dark-skinned and on the slim side, cheerfully pointed out these modern agricultural gadgets to this writer.
Mao Tielong is a native of Fuxi Village, Nanjiang Town, Pingjiang County, Hunan Province. Influenced by the traditional notion that "farming doesn't make money," he left the family's few mu of land to his parents to cultivate while he ran some odd small businesses in town. It was not until 2010, when his father was too old and no longer able to farm, that he took up the hoe of his forebears and threw himself into agriculture.
In the cooperative's office, all kinds of agriculture-related books were laid out on the desk. When this writer asked him why he still bought so many books for farming, he said with a smile, "Modern agriculture cannot do without science and technology; science and technology are power..." Perhaps it was precisely by virtue of his studious spirit and competitive nature that he finally embarked on a road to prosperity through agriculture.
Mastering the science and technology mantra
In 2010, having taken up the hoe, Mao Tielong began to pay attention to agricultural knowledge and policies and became a regular at the town's agricultural technology station. In 2011, Mao Tielong was selected as a science and technology demonstration household in Nanjiang Town and took part in many training sessions for science and technology demonstration households. Through the guidance of science and technology instructors, he changed his original understanding of farming and his cultivation methods. From rice variety selection to centralized seedling raising and then to integrated pest control, he constantly learned new technologies and new concepts of modern agriculture, achieving scientific farming and scientific management. Mao Tielong gradually grew from a novice farmer into a skilled farmer, and in 2012 he was rated an outstanding science and technology demonstration household at the township level. In 2013, as a candidate for recognition as a new-type professional farmer in Pingjiang County, Mao Tielong attended entrepreneurship training, where he learned deeper professional knowledge and entrepreneurial concepts, and in the same year he was recognized as one of the county's first batch of new-type professional farmers.
Playing the modern card well
In 2011, having contracted more than 300 mu of paddy fields, Mao Tielong realized that traditional cultivation methods could no longer adapt to his current scale, and that only by moving toward agricultural mechanization could modern agriculture develop. That year, he decisively purchased two rice transplanters and one small tiller, reducing labor costs, raising farming efficiency and increasing farming income. In 2013, while expanding his planting scale, Mao Tielong added two rice transplanters, one large rotary tiller, one harvester and one dryer, achieving fully mechanized operations for mechanical tillage, mechanical transplanting, mechanical pest control, mechanical harvesting and mechanical drying. He embarked on the road of modernized agricultural machinery and became the local leader in farming.
Taking the intensive road
In 2013, Mao Tielong added more than 500 mu of land transfer, bringing the total area to more than 900 mu, spanning four surrounding villages, with annual income exceeding 300,000 yuan. Running along the road to prosperity, he adjusted his thinking once again and took the road of intensification: first, he established a rice planting professional cooperative. Mao Tielong, who had already become a local leader, did not forget to help surrounding farmers get rich together while getting rich himself. From among the households he influenced, he selected four as the backbone of the cooperative, and together with eight surrounding farmers he established the "Pingjiang County Fengdeng Rice Planting Professional Cooperative" in 2014; the cooperative's paddy field area now reaches 1,800 mu. Second, he relied on science and technology for large-scale management. Under his guidance, the cooperative cooperated with Yueyang Tianyuan Muge and adopted scientific field management; at present, the area under unified pest control and treatment reaches more than 1,500 mu.
When talking about future plans, Mao Tielong had new ideas again. He said that society's awareness of high-quality food is constantly rising and market demand is constantly increasing; Mao Tielong is brewing the idea of setting up a native pig farm, and it is hoped that Mao Tielong's road to prosperity will grow ever broader.