Ru Xingshan, a leader in olive cultivation, blazes a trail to prosperity

When it comes to growing oil olives, the major forestry growers in Wudu District all know of a certain "character" named Ru Xingshan. In Daqi Village, whenever Ru Xingshan is mentioned, not a single person fails to give a thumbs-up - shrewd, capable, mindful of the big picture and responsible; this is almost the unanimous assessment of him by all the villagers. On October 15, the reporter met Ru Xingshan on a small hill at the oil olive planting base in Daqi Village, Waina Township. "I'm preparing to cultivate and observe how this oil olive variety performs," Ru Xingshan said to the reporter while pruning oil olive branches.

Daqi Village is located 7 kilometers southwest of the Waina Township government seat, with 4 villager groups, 362 households and 1,260 people in the whole village. Since becoming village Party secretary, while doing a good job in all the village affairs, Ru Xingshan has led the masses to focus their main energy on developing the oil olive industry. Through land transfer, the leadership of capable large households, widespread planting by the masses and various other methods, he has continuously expanded the oil olive planting area, improved quality and output, and enabled the oil olive industry in the whole village to gradually achieve a "transformation" from scattered smallholder planting to large-scale, industrialized development.

"We have now developed 12,500 mu of oil olives in our village. Last year alone, output reached more than 500 tons, with an output value of 4.5 million yuan. This year is even better!" Ru Xingshan said to this writer with a face full of happiness. Ru Xingshan told the reporter that of the village's current 12,500 mu of oil olives, 3,500 mu have already entered the full-fruiting stage, and the remaining 9,000 mu are expected to enter the full-fruiting stage in another 3-4 years. By then, the output value will increase several times over compared with now. A portion of cultivation yields a portion of harvest. This writer learned that since becoming village Party secretary, how to lead the masses out of poverty and toward prosperity had always been a worry weighing on Ru Xingshan's mind. After years of exploration, he set his sights on the oil olive, this "golden fruit," and began actively developing and practicing it. As the saying goes, all things are difficult at the beginning. At first, his decision did not receive widespread participation and support from the villagers. In order to fully arouse the masses' enthusiasm for planting, Ru Xingshan led by example, taking the lead in planting all of his own more than 10 mu of land with oil olives, and only after initial returns appeared did he encourage and mobilize the masses to plant widely. In order to further expand the area and improve returns, Ru Xingshan and the members of the village committee held mass meetings many times and actively carried out land transfer work through land exchange, leasing and various other methods. Up to now, the whole village has transferred 2,660 mu of barren hills, slopes and other land, and signed 101 contracts with villagers, all used for oil olive planting. Ru Xingshan told this writer: "At present, most of the land transferred within the village has been obtained through leasing, generally with a lease term of 30 years, at a rent of about 500 yuan per mu per year. Of the whole village's 12,500 mu of oil olives, only 2,600 mu belong to individuals, and all the rest belongs to the villagers collectively."

"Thanks to Secretary Ru's good head for business, he has enabled us to live the good life we have now." Villager Jia Wansheng said this to this writer with unmistakable gratitude. Jia Wansheng is a large grower in the village. At present, the oil olives belonging to him personally already amount to more than 630 mu, with annual income of more than 360,000 yuan. After the interview, this writer learned that after years of development, oil olives have become the pillar industry of the people of Daqi Village. Ru Xingshan told this writer: "In 2014, the average per capita income of farmers in the whole village was more than 6,000 yuan, of which oil olives alone accounted for about 3,800 yuan."

With a good industry, there is no fear of difficulty in becoming prosperous. Under Ru Xingshan's leadership, every household in Daqi Village building a new house and every household owning a motorcycle is no longer a dream, while some large growers such as Jia Wansheng and Gao Zhidong have even begun driving off-road vehicles such as Liebao and Santa Fe worth more than 100,000 yuan, and have started enjoying the life of a "boss." "Secretary Ru's greatest contribution is giving our village its own industry, and thereby enabling the whole village to realize the dream of escaping poverty and becoming prosperous." Large grower Gao Zhidong said this to this writer with deep feeling.

However, what Ru Xingshan wants is not merely this. Speaking of future plans and intentions, Ru Xingshan told the reporter: "At present, the oil olive industry in the whole village has begun to take shape. Whether seen from output, quality or price, the returns are very obvious. Next, while further expanding the area and strictly managing and protecting it, we will actively coordinate to build a small processing factory, thereby solving the masses' difficulty in selling the fruit, realizing our own production and our own processing, and gradually forming a pace of development toward specialization and technicalization."