The picture shows tea farmers pruning tea trees in Jietingyi Village, Yuanling County, Hunan Province. (Photo by People's Daily Online reporter Li Yuan)
The picture shows tea farmers pruning tea trees in Jietingyi Village, Yuanling County, Hunan Province. (Photo by People's Daily Online reporter Li Yuan)
People's Daily Online, Huaihua, November 22 (Reporter Li Yuan) In early winter, the green hills were filled with daisy and the mist was light. In the tea garden in Jietingyi Village, Guanzhuang Town, Yuanling County, Hunan Province, dozens of tea farmers are busy pruning tea trees to ensure early and high yields of spring tea in the coming year.
“I’m telling you that we were once a ‘poor village’ with this scene in front of you. I’m afraid I might not believe it.” The person who spoke was Zhang Xiaofeng, the secretary of the village party branch. He was once a veteran and has been rooted in this mountain for more than ten years.
The geographical location of Jietingyi Village is remote, and there is a poem "The birds do not dare to go down, so there are so few tourists" described its steep terrain. The village has a total area of 13 square kilometers and 1921 acres of arable land, but the per capita area is only 0.74 acres. In the past, most of the villagers lived by planting rice and had a single source of income. They were key local poverty-stricken villages. There were 102 poor households with 411 people in filed and registered poor households.
“When I first arrived in the village, I didn’t even have a village head. I could only work in an old school. Due to disrepair for a long time, the house leaked in rainy weather.” As a native, Zhang Xiaofeng returned from the army. After my hometown, I found that the poverty situation in the village has not improved. "At that time, I couldn't sit still, and I was very sad. From then on, I was determined to use what I learned to return home."
Through investigation and demonstration, after finding that the environment of Jietingyi Village was suitable for tea planting, Zhang Xiaofeng led the village committee to develop tea gardens to grow tea. Since 2017, the village party branch has taken advantage of the Yuanling County Party Committee to create a favorable opportunity for the "Chenlongguan Jietan Tea Leisure and Health Manor", combined with the actual situation of the village, and actively explored the integration of resources, farmer cooperation, social cooperation, and production and village integration. The new model of "three-in-one" industrial poverty alleviation has benefited the poor from industrial development and helped the targeted poverty alleviation achieve practical results——
A tourism development company was established by the village collectives and individuals as a joint venture, and the village collective tea garden was invested in local tea leading enterprises with a certain shareholding; an e-commerce sales platform was established to promote tea, honey, Xiangxi bacon and other specialty agricultural products online; the establishment of a tea and fruit industry specialty Cooperatives, by arranging poor labor for employment, shareholding cooperation, land transfer and leasing, etc., establish a close interest linkage mechanism with poor households to enhance their own "hematopoietic" function; introduce multiple local tea companies, extend the industrial chain, and strengthen the collective economy. In 2018, Jietingyi Village achieved poverty alleviation in the whole village. In 2019, the collective income of the whole village reached 980,000, achieving leapfrog development.
The road ahead cannot be smooth sailing. When initially developing the fruit industry, Zhang Xiaofeng also encountered incomprehension and even resistance from the villagers.
"At the beginning of the development of new industries, the most troublesome problem was lack of money and the people's non-support." He recalled that the per capita planting area of the village was less than one mu, and the development of the industry had to find another way to attract tourists to pick it up. Although the idea is good, when it comes to the trial planting stage, most of the villagers are not optimistic and refuse to buy shares. In desperation, Zhang Xiaofeng had to pay for himself and a few close fellow villagers with 200,000 to plant 5 mu of grapes.
"After the third year of fruiting, the economic benefits were significant, and it gained 100,000 yuan in that year. To make more money, you must expand the planting area, so the people all come to buy shares, if they have money, they will take land to buy shares. A fruit base of 385 acres was successfully completed during the year." Zhang Xiaofeng was still very emotional when he mentioned this experience.
This year, the village collective economy has invested in the first boutique country house. At present, the village has basically formed a large-scale rural tourism layout that integrates self-picking, sightseeing and leisure, homestay vacation, and special diet. "I have set a goal for myself to turn the tea leaves of Jietingyi Village into tickets, the mountains into scenic spots, and the houses into guest rooms. Now it seems that we are continuing to move towards this goal." Zhang Xiaofeng's tone is firm and confident. .
Following his gaze, the rows of carefully pruned tea trees are like waves rolling on the sea, and like long green dragons, covering the mountains and plains. Children’s laughter was heard from the farmhouse in the distance, melting into the mountains and water.
