[Xinhua/Fan Peikun]

Dou Junlan, a resident of Jinya (a village in Yuzhong, a county in Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province), has become known far and wide for her excellent vegetable-growing skills. While she has led Yuzhong Xianglong Vegetable Production and Marketing Cooperative (in Jinya) to remarkable success, Dou has also worked hard to ensure rural residents' well-being during the past decade. Her heart is filled with all sorts of emotions, especially as she recalls the many sweet, and bitter, incidents she has experienced as she started and developed her business throughout the years.

In 2012, Dou and five other villagers established the cooperative in Jinya. They signed a contract with the village to plant vegetables on nearly 30 mu (2 hectares) of land.

In 2019, 41 poverty-stricken families, from Jinya and neighboring villages, became the cooperative's shareholders. Each family receives 2,000 yuan (US $286), as a dividend, from the cooperative annually.

Affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the cooperative did not resume work until the spring of 2020. As she learned many rural women (in Jinya and neighboring villages) could not leave their homes to work in COVID-affected regions (of the country), Dou employed many women to cultivate vegetables in the cooperative's seedling greenhouses. As they work near their homes, the women are able to also take care of their elders and children.

Given Dou and her employees' efforts to develop the business, the cooperative has become a leading vegetable-growing enterprise in Yuzhong. Given the sound development of her business, Dou has been able to employ more than 300 rural residents.

Now, the cooperative preserves vegetables in cold storage, so the enterprise can supply fresh vegetables to its customers. The cooperative has established a production and marketing chain, under which the cooperative's members grow seedlings, and process and sell their products under unified management.

The cooperative has established business ties with more than 2,000 supermarkets in Guangdong Province (in South China) and other regions (of the country). Given its efficient work mechanism, the cooperative can send its vegetables to designated cooperative markets in Guangdong, Tianjin and other regions (in China) within 48 hours. The vegetables have sold well, both at home and abroad.

As head of the cooperative, a member of the executive committee of Yuzhong Women's Federation, and vice-president of Jinya Women's Federation, Dou is aware she shoulders the great responsibility of helping rural residents get rich through hard work. She is confident about her enterprise's future. "We will lead farmers in working hard to create a better tomorrow," says Dou.

(Source: Xinhua/Women of China English Monthly February 2023 issue)