How to be a good leader in getting rich and make a success of the village's road to prosperity

Right now, the beautiful countryside construction in Banjing Town is in full swing, with busy scenes everywhere. The beautiful environment is delightful, and for Liu Zhiping, Party branch secretary of Jiaogang Village in Banjing Town, it is a double joy, as the village's "road to prosperity" is now easier to follow. The magnificent transformation from a backward village to an advanced village is underpinned by innovation and courage, and by the dedication and hard work of Party members and officials.

Village officials take the lead in bravely forging a path to prosperity

In 2009, Jiaogang Village was still the worst-performing village in the whole town. Under pressure and facing difficulties, Liu Zhiping did not hesitate and resolutely took on this "mess".

During a visit and survey, Liu Zhiping discovered that several farming households in the village were growing grapes with decent returns. This gave him great inspiration, and he led the village's two committees in making 4 in-depth visits to Zhangjiagang and Changshu to seek a new path for transforming traditional agriculture into modern agriculture.

"Although we have no obvious advantages, we also want to lead the way in starting a business and break a new path to prosperity." In December 2010, Liu Zhiping and 5 other village officials pooled together 3 million yuan, transferred 265 mu of land, built Jiaogang Village's Yuxiang Vineyard, and established Zhiping Fruit and Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative. At present, the cooperative has attracted 130 members.

Farmer Shan Wenlian did the math: all 4 mu of her family's land was transferred to the vineyard, with rent of 1,300 yuan per mu per year, and she works in the vineyard earning 50 yuan a day, so in a year she can have an income of nearly 20,000 yuan.

Building roads solves the investment attraction problem

As the vineyard continued to expand, a muddy road in front of it became the village's two committees' "thorn in the eye." It had to be eliminated, but the funding for road construction became a problem. At this critical moment, the "joint assistance" unit, the Municipal Transport Bureau, provided timely help and funded the repair of this "road to prosperity" from Old Wangshi Line to West Eight Hundred.

The repaired road opened up sales channels for the vineyard. With the new 334 and New Wangshi lines passing through, Jiaogang Village's locational advantages have become increasingly apparent, and village officials have felt more confident in attracting investment.

Dai Xinlai, deputy secretary of the village Party branch, and accountant Ji Quanmin aimed at different market demands across the four seasons to find prosperity projects, and successfully attracted multiple modern agricultural projects: Kangxinmei Edible Fungus Co., Ltd. invested 30 million yuan and transferred 60 mu of land to produce edible mushrooms; Hairunzheng Grain and Oil Co., Ltd. invested 30 million yuan and transferred 100 mu of land to develop grain storage and transportation.

"The rapid development of agricultural projects has allowed us to completely shed the label of a poor village." Liu Zhiping told reporters that Jiaogang Village's village operating income and farmers' per capita income this year increased by 20% over last year.

One person getting rich is not as good as the whole village getting rich

Liu Zhiyu from Group 12 is a veteran. Due to poor health, after leaving the military he began to explore duck farming on his own. From the initial 40,000 ducklings to today's 150,000, after more than 10 years of careful management and scientific breeding, Liu Zhiyu has become a veritable "duck farming specialist" in the village. As a Party member, Liu Zhiyu passed on his prosperity techniques to the masses for promotion and application, and provided free scientific demonstrations and technical guidance, "threading the needle" to provide them with sales channels, setting off a wave of "duck farming fever" in the village.

Xu Xiubing from the same village is one of Liu Zhiyu's "apprentices." Before raising ducks, he was a painter, and the work was not only hard but also very unstable in income. Two years ago, he began learning duck farming techniques from Liu Zhiyu. Last year, his profit reached 150,000 yuan. Looking at the shed full of ducks, Xu Xiubing said happily: "If it weren't for Master Liu, I wouldn't have mastered the tricks of duck farming so quickly." At present, Liu Zhiyu has helped more than 20 surrounding farming households increase their income through duck farming, with per capita annual income reaching 70,000 to 80,000 yuan.