Village people look to the future

Farmer Sun Xiaoming used to be a victim of the ever-fluctuating prices of tomatoes. Even when the harvest was plentiful he was anxious, because more produce on the market meant a lower price.

However, Sun has now acquired a bargaining tool. The 49-year-old from Zengjiawan village in Caofeidian, Hebei province, is a member of a vegetable farmers' association. The association buys vegetable seeds and fertilizers at wholesale prices and sells the resultant produce to dealers at a higher price.

The association was the brainchild of three officials who were dispatched to Sun's village from the nearby State-owned No 6 Farm. Each of the 58 households in the village that grows tomatoes and celery has joined the association since it was founded in September.

Since February, more than 15,000 officials from different levels of the provincial government have stayed in 5,010 villages, at the request of Hebei's Party Secretary Zhang Qingli. Their task is to help improve people's lives.

The villages chosen were the bottom 10 percent of the 50,000 villages in Hebei, those with weaker grassroots leadership, a backward economy or internal struggles.

Most of the villages are located in the area close to Taihang Mountain, or are near Beijing. They are two of the less-developed areas in the province.

The officials have conducted roughly 81,685 projects, with a total investment of 7.6 billion yuan ($1.2 billion), according to a report published by the provincial government.

Li Jingmin from No 6 Farm said he is optimistic about the future of the farmers' association. "The provincial government may promote the model in 2013 because it has performed really well," he said.

When we met, Farmer Sun wore a broad grin on his tanned face. He had made an agreement with the celery dealers at the village committee. The average price of a kilo of celery will be 1 yuan higher than last year, increasing his income greatly, since the annual yield often reaches 50,000 kilos.

In addition to price bargaining, the association has invited agricultural experts to introduce new technology in greenhouses, at least twice every year, said Li.

The three officials also helped build a road into the village. "The new cement road provides a smooth exit from my greenhouses. It was a great favor," said Sun.

In his greenhouse, pipes as long as 70 meters run along the ground, providing fresh water for the tomatoes and celery. The pipes were provided free of charge to the farmers by the government, through the team's efforts.

In Quanli village in Caofeidian district, however, the villagers have different needs.

"Tens of families moved to the village in the 1970s when the Daheiting Reservoir was enlarged and submerged their former village," said Wu Chang'an, a member of a team from Jidong Oilfield, owned by China National Petroleum Corp, that provides assistance to the village.

The reservoir plays an important role in controlling flooding and providing drinking water to Tianjin, the municipality located at the lower reaches.

He said some of the "newcomers" are unable to live peacefully alongside the original village residents, and that leads to conflicts occasionally. Many of the migrants live a harsh existence because they have less farmland in the village, which is well known for the cultivation of rice.

Wu's team focuses on resolving conflicts and helping migrant families. "We pay frequent visits to the families with conflicts, and have offered five poor families the chance of growing special kinds of rice as an experiment for research institutes, which can provide extra income," said Wu.

The team has lived in temporary accommodation since February, but has helped the village to expand the range of communal entertainment spaces, such as reading rooms and squares.

Liu Yuerong, 63, said she and 30 other women often wanted to perform the traditional yangko dance after dinner, but the village lacked facilities. A new square gave them the perfect place, and they also received new loudspeakers and discs featuring more modern dances. Liu's husband, Sun Xiang, wrote a poem eulogizing Wu's team and is now hoping to perform it alongside his wife.

Contact the reporters at zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn and peipei@chinadaily.com.cn