Small Vegetable Farming Achieves a Big Dream of Prosperity

Xinzhuang Village in Senggu Township, Yanjin County, is now a well-known vegetable-specialized village far and wide. This village is famous for growing vegetables, and the villagers' wallets have swelled because of vegetable farming. When talking about their ever-improving lives, the villagers are grateful, believing this is thanks to the "vegetable" Party secretary Zhou Weiguo...

Zhou Weiguo, now approaching seventy, has served as Party secretary of Xinzhuang Village since January 1976, holding the post for 38 years. Through 38 years of work and practice in the countryside, he not only won one honor after another, but also earned the trust and support of superior leaders and the broad masses at the grassroots level.

Since the 1990s, Zhou Weiguo has led the villagers in developing greenhouse vegetable cultivation. He previously made several trips to provincial and municipal academies of agricultural sciences to learn from their experience, and also went to Shouguang, Fugou and other places to study experience and seek advice, resolving to adjust the agricultural structure, vigorously develop greenhouse vegetable cultivation, and help farmers increase their incomes quickly. Through greenhouse vegetable cultivation, as early as 1997, the average household savings in Xinzhuang Village were over 10,000 yuan. That year, Xinzhuang Village was awarded honorary titles such as "Henan Province Science Popularization Demonstration Village for Building a Moderately Prosperous Society" and "Advanced Rural Party Branch of Xinxiang City".

With the rapid economic development of Xinzhuang Village, it became the leader in economic development in the surrounding areas. Young women from the village who married out built greenhouses in their husbands' homes, and wives encouraged their own families to build greenhouses, spreading to more than 50 villages including Shibogu Township in Yanjin, Qijie Township and Luzhai Township in Yuanyang, and Yingju Township in Fengqiu, covering an area of more than 30,000 mu, with vegetable farmers' economic income reaching 150 million yuan.

In 1994, Xinzhuang Village took the lead among rural areas across the province in implementing the "association + company + farmers" business model. The company stipulated that association members purchasing production materials such as bamboo poles, plastic sheeting, pesticides and chemical fertilizers would enjoy a 5%-10% discount. Members could participate in training free of charge, receive free science and technology materials, watch free science and technology videos, and borrow science popularization books free of charge. When members encountered technical problems in vegetable production, the company hired experts and technicians to provide on-site technical guidance. Vegetables produced by members could directly enter market transactions, and the company was responsible for organizing brokers to contact outside sales, ensuring that vegetable farmers would not have to let fresh vegetables rot or be thrown away. Every year, Zhou Weiguo hired experts and technicians in vegetable cultivation, plant protection and soil fertility from the province, city and county to give lectures in the village, print and distribute science and technology materials, play science and technology videos and CDs, establish a science popularization school, set up a science popularization book reading room, purchase televisions and DVD players, buy more than 1,500 science popularization books and more than 100 CDs, install set-top boxes, and develop distance education. Plastic greenhouses require a relatively large one-time investment and are labor- and time-consuming. The company opened 6 production material stores, fully stocked with bamboo poles, plastic sheeting, fertilizers, pesticides, chemical fertilizers and seeds. Farmers could purchase all the materials needed to build greenhouses without leaving the village, and could enjoy preferential prices. This alone saved company members more than 600,000 yuan in costs. To solve the difficulty of selling vegetables, the company organized a group of salespeople from the very beginning to travel to Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Xinyang, Wuhan and other places to explore markets and find information, bringing a large number of out-of-town merchants to the village's vegetable wholesale market. Because the company could provide farmers with quality services before, during and after production, greenhouse vegetables developed rapidly. In 1996, the number of greenhouses in the village reached more than 200, averaging one greenhouse per household. In 1998, the total number of greenhouses and hotbeds in the village reached more than 700, averaging one mu of greenhouse per person, with vegetable area accounting for more than 80% of the village's total arable land, making it a veritable vegetable-specialized village. Company members reached more than 200 households, and the number of greenhouses developed was basically saturated. To ensure vegetable quantity, the company expanded its membership to other villages, townships and counties, with members enjoying the same preferential conditions as village members. By 2004, the company had more than 4,000 member households. As the planting scale continued to expand, melon and fruit products were uneven, causing relatively large differences in vegetable prices. Zhou Weiguo then set his sights on improving vegetable quality. He read through a large amount of material, formulated the company's pollution-free production standards, and strictly controlled every aspect from seed selection, soil treatment, fertilizer and pesticide application, ensuring that products met pollution-free standards. In a May 2002 inspection by the municipal agriculture bureau, the cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables submitted by the company had a qualification rate of 97%, higher than the city's average level. The reputation of Xinzhuang Village's pollution-free vegetables further increased, and vegetable sales prices rebounded. In May 2003, the Senggu Township pollution-free vegetable production base passed the provincial inspection for pollution-free agricultural product production bases.

Villager Zhou Xuesheng of Xinzhuang Village was originally very poor, living in a dilapidated tile-roofed house, and no young woman was willing to marry him. With Zhou Weiguo's help, his family built two plastic greenhouses, and within three or four years, they moved into a new building and he married a beautiful wife. Villager Zhao Ling was also very poor originally. Through developing greenhouse vegetables, he accumulated more than 100,000 yuan in funds, built two small buildings in one year, and added quite a few new pieces of furniture, becoming a model of prosperity in the village. In today's Xinzhuang Village, every household lives in a small building, and their home furnishings and interior decorations are in no way inferior to those of people in the county town. Moreover, the villagers own more than 30 cars, and the whole village enjoys a moderately prosperous life.

Up to now, the village's greenhouse vegetable planting area has reached 950 mu, accounting for more than 80% of the village's total arable land. The village has the largest vegetable wholesale trading market in the northern Henan region, with an annual transaction volume of more than 50 million yuan. Products are sold to more than 20 large and medium-sized cities across the country. From greenhouse vegetable production and market transactions alone, the annual per capita income of farmers has reached 11,000 yuan, making it a well-known wealthy village. Zhou Weiguo is not satisfied, however. Standing in the vegetable base, he says with full confidence: "Not a single household can be left behind in building a moderately prosperous society. I will make everyone's wallets even fuller!" (Li Cong)