Zi Lanhu, a new-type farmer who returned to his hometown to start a business, leads villagers to prosperity

"Farmers used to live at the mercy of the weather, but now they rely on specialized planting and large-scale operation. Being a farmer also requires professionalism." Recently, in Zidazhuang Village, Langanbao Town, Zi Lanhu said this while pointing to the terraced fields on the mountain. The 54-year-old Zi Lanhu is among the first certified new-type professional farmers in Shenmu. He contracts land for large-scale planting and has also set up a livestock farm, making him a locally well-known large-scale planting and breeding operator.

As a local farmer, Zi Lanhu's agricultural path also went through many twists and turns. After graduating from high school, Zi Lanhu returned home to farm, then went to the city to open a braised meat shop. After more than a decade of hard work, he had accumulated some savings and was determined to return to the countryside to realize his agricultural dream on the vast land. "Land is the lifeblood of us farmers, and we can never give it up no matter what." He said this, "I have lived in the countryside since childhood, so I will definitely return to the countryside to develop. In 2011, I was elected village chief. I saw that most of the village land was abandoned, most young people had gone to the city to work, and only the elderly were left farming. I thought I must take the lead and return to my hometown to farm."

Contiguous millet fields in Zidazhuang Village, Langanbao Town

Zi Lanhu transferred more than 1,200 mu of idle land in the village into his hands. He firmly believed that there is "gold" in the yellow earth, and that growing grain can also escape poverty and become rich. "These lands are the result of transferring and consolidating land that was previously operated by individual households or left abandoned. Land transfer has made mechanized planting a reality. Large-scale planting has increased yields and raised farmers' incomes." Zi Lanhu summarized. This year, Zi Lanhu and four other large-scale growers in the village jointly contracted to plant crops, including plastic-mulched corn, potatoes, oil crops, millet, soybeans and others.

Driven by Zi Lanhu, farmers' enthusiasm for planting also rose. In 2012, under the leadership of the town and village leadership teams, the Zidazhuang Village Farmers' Professional Cooperative was established in Zidazhuang Group. Zi Lanhu led the villagers to level more than 1,600 mu of land, turning mountain land into terraced fields, and built Shenmu County's thousand-mu dryland farming demonstration village, changing the traditional planting model and switching to mechanized operations. Among them, large machinery such as tractors, land cultivators, film mulchers, potato planters and harvesters greatly improved planting and harvesting efficiency.

While engaging in large-scale land planting, Zi Lanhu also developed the livestock industry. Through bank loans, self-raised funds and other means, he invested 1.2 million yuan to build a standardized livestock farm. Walking into the breeding area, sheep sheds, disinfection rooms, feed processing rooms and forage storage rooms are all available. Zi Lanhu introduced that the main breed on the farm is white cashmere goats, with more than 280 currently in stock, and more than 600 at the most. This year, more than 100 were sold, with an income of more than 100,000 yuan.

Zi Lanhu inspecting the health of the lambs at the livestock farm

At the livestock farm, Zi Lanhu nimbly fed grass to the cashmere goats, then immediately picked up the lambs to observe their health. "Raising sheep has fewer disease risks, and the key is to do a good job in feeding grass and cleaning." Speaking of sheep-raising experience, he spoke fluently, "We do not feed the sheep feed. Their 'staple food' is alfalfa. There are abundant forage resources here, with 3,000 mu of natural grassland and 1,000 mu of artificial alfalfa grassland. Therefore, green and pollution-free mutton is our specialty, and customers come to us on their own."

Zi Lanhu is busy every day farming and feeding sheep. When asked whether it is very hard, he said with a smile, "Rural living conditions have improved now. The village has paved cement roads, travel is convenient, the air is good, and life is very comfortable. Developing planting and breeding has broad prospects. Next, I plan to continue contracting land, expand the livestock farm, build my own organic meat brand, and realize the circular development of planting and breeding."

During the interview, I deeply felt that new-type farmers like Zi Lanhu, in the vast world of the countryside, use the funds, skills and information they have mastered, free their hands and feet, and boldly try, which not only solves the employment problem of surplus rural labor, but also accelerates the pace of increasing farmers' incomes, and will certainly promote the prosperous development of the rural economy.