"The 7,000 mu (467 hectares) of farmland of our cooperatives have high yields, and all of the crops are of high quality," says Wang Lingli, an agricultural-business manager in Chongzhou, a city in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. 

Wang comes from a rural family, in Chongzhou. After graduating from college, in 2015, she returned to her hometown to become an agricultural-business manager. 

Wang now manages four farm cooperatives, an agricultural-machine-service cooperative, and a drying and storage facility. Some 2,000 rural households have contracted the management rights of their land to the farm cooperatives. 

Wang has received several awards and titles — including being named National March 8th Red-Banner Holder, National Top 10 Outstanding Farmer, and National Role Model in Agriculture and Rural Affairs — throughout the years. 

Helping Farmers Increase Incomes

Wang, who desires to do her part for rural revitalization, has adopted scientific methods to manage traditional agricultural production. She has also adopted modern corporate-management approaches to operate the agricultural cooperatives. 

Wang studied statistics in college, so she knew little about agricultural production when she returned to Chongzhou. Initially, she often went to the fields early in the morning to learn farming skills from the farmers. She read books, to study agricultural techniques, at night. 

Wang, who wanted to become a professional manager, grasped every opportunity to receive relevant training. In 2015, after she completed courses at China Agricultural and Sichuan Agricultural universities, she passed the qualification examination to receive her primary-level, professional-agricultural-manager certificate. 

Professional knowledge has deepened Wang's understanding of both agricultural affairs and the importance of utilizing advanced machinery and technologies. 

The first thing Wang did after she became manager of the cooperatives was to purchase numerous agricultural machines, including drones, rototillers, rice transplanters and automatic grain-drying equipment. That facilitated the mechanization of agricultural production in Chongzhou. 

In 2020, the cooperatives began using rice transplanters equipped with China-developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), and that move reduced labor costs and increased yields. Manual labor was reduced, as just 20 people were needed to work the 5,000 mu (333 hectares) of fields. The cooperatives' combined yield, per mu, was 25 kilograms more compared with the yields of farmers who chose not to join the cooperatives. 

Since 2023, Wang and her 13-person team have incorporated BDS, remote-sensing technology, an insect-detection system and other digital technologies in their farming. To provide professional services to farm cooperatives in neighboring cities (counties), Wang established grain-drying-service and agricultural-machine-service cooperatives. 

The four farm cooperatives managed by Wang reported combined business revenues in excess of 10 million yuan (US $1.4 million) in 2023. Members of the cooperatives received year-end dividends. "Under the leadership of Wang, the cooperatives' agricultural production has become modernized, and our incomes have increased," says Li Yan, a farmer. 

Wang's achievements have not always come easy. Nine years ago, to convince the villagers that mechanized farming was more efficient, Wang bought several rice transplanters, and she organized a transplant competition with farmers who planted and harvested by hand. Without doubt, the machines easily won, in terms of both efficiency and quality. Since then, the farmers have used the modern agricultural technologies. 

"I grew up in the countryside. I believe competence, instead of gender, has a say in who is capable of farming. More than half of the employees in our cooperatives are women," says Wang. Women, she adds, have played an irreplaceable role in upholding China's food security. "There is a rising number of women among farmers and agricultural managers." 

Social Responsibilities

Wang's father, Wang Zhiquan, was one of the earliest agricultural managers in Chengdu. Like her father, Wang Lingli has remained true to her original aspiration — helping farmers become rich, and being devoted to the development of rural areas and agricultural affairs. 

Wang Lingli has shouldered her responsibilities, as both the cooperatives' manager and as a deputy to the Chengdu Municipal People's Congress. In 2023, she led her team in operating an intelligent-seedling-cultivation center, under a national-level modern agricultural park. The seedling-cultivation line, in the center, has raised the proportion of high-quality seedlings to 95 percent, and sometimes higher. 

In recent years, the cooperatives managed by Wang Lingli have provided vocational training more than 1,000 times, and they have provided information and technological services to rural women more than 800 times. As a member of the executive committee of Chengdu Women's Federation, Wang Lingli has offered suggestions about how to promote women's employment and entrepreneurship, and about how to ensure children's healthy growth. 

"I am just a dream chaser, on the way to achieving rural revitalization. I will continue to work hard to develop prosperous farmlands," says Wang Lingli. She hopes more young people will become professional managers, and that they will contribute to agricultural development.

Photos by Ma Li

(Women of China English Monthly September 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha