Barren Hills Turn into a "Gold Mountain": A Strong Woman Leads Villagers to Increase Income and Prosper
"Two years ago, my family was still poor, and we did not even have the money to take my husband to the hospital when he was sick. I never dreamed that my family would now have a building too, and life is getting better and better." Recently, during the editors-in-chief and station directors look at poverty alleviation activity, Zhao Zhongju, who lives in Shanghe Town, Tongnan District, told reporters about the huge changes that Qinglong Village brought to her by revitalizing barren land.
A few years ago, Qinglong Village had high mountains, narrow valleys, barren hills everywhere and inconvenient transportation. Now, under the leadership of local strong woman Chen Chunlan, the villagers have established the Chunlan Mountain Vegetable Share Cooperative. Through models of base + farmer shareholding, base + farmer cooperation, and base + farmer assistance, and by using the cooperative platform, farmers use their land as shareholding capital, invest labor, and participate in the entire process of production, management and sales, with benefits divided according to shareholding proportions.
Chen Chunlan introduced that in 2010, when she returned home for the New Year, she saw the whole mountain lying barren with no one planting it, which she found very regrettable. In addition, her parents were elderly and her son was young and needed care, so she resolutely returned to her hometown, took out all her savings, and decided to turn the barren hills into a treasure bowl.
At the beginning of her business, Chen Chunlan adopted land transfer and land shareholding to consolidate land resources. Using the local soil and climate conditions, she planted fruits and vegetables suitable for mountain land, such as pumpkin, watermelon and cai'er. In 2013, Chen Chunlan established the Mountain Vegetable Share Professional Cooperative. At present, the cooperative has developed large-scale planting of more than 3,400 mu. With two seasons of vegetables a year, pumpkin and watermelon can be produced in summer, and cai'er and others in winter. In 2015, the output value of vegetables and melons reached more than 7 million yuan.
The affiliated households and growers developing in coordination with the cooperative, together with villagers who transferred land and earned pay through labor, joyfully felt the changes brought by the cooperative and tasted the sweetness brought by revitalizing barren land.
"Two years ago, my family was still poor, and we did not even have money to take my husband to the hospital when he was sick. I never expected that in two years my family would build a new house. Although we borrowed some money, there is no pressure in paying it back." Zhao Zhongju, 53, told reporters that her family has five people. Previously, because her husband fell ill and lost his ability to work, life was poor. Since going to work at the cooperative, she can earn a monthly wage of 3,000 yuan. After her husband recovered, he took odd jobs near Shanghe Town, and the income was quite good. Last December, the family also built a two-story house with one ground floor, and their little life is getting better and better.
Today's Chunlan Farm has more than 3,000 m of production paths leading directly to the vegetable fields, more than 30,000 m of irrigation facilities fully laid, and more than 2,500 m of roads built to the farm. The cooperative specially provides jobs for poor households, with an average daily income of 60-200 yuan. Chen Chunlan told reporters, "In the future, I will further transform the barren hills, expand the scale, and let more villagers join the cooperative to prosper together."