Wang Wei is both Secretary of the Party (Communist Party of China) branch and General Manager of Wuhu Qingyijiang Seeds Co., Ltd. (Wuhu Qingyijiang). She has dedicated her career to the cultivation of improved varieties of both rice and Chinese milkvetch. Wang has received several awards and titles, including National Young Pioneers in Rural Revitalization, Anhui Provincial May Fourth Medal, and March 8th Red-Banner Holder of Wuhu (a city in east China's Anhui Province).

Chinese Milkvetch

Wang was born in Yijiang, a town in Wuhu, in 1986. It has long been the tradition of locals to grow Chinese milkvetch. People develop businesses related to the plant, and they use the plant as organic fertilizer. 

Wang returned to Yijiang in 2008, after she graduated from college. Since then, she has worked alongside her father, Wang Genhuo, in managing Wuhu Qingyijiang. Wang Genhuo established the company, and he has been growing and harvesting Chinese milkvetch for 40-plus years. He was named a National Role Model Worker in 2020. He hopes Wang Wei will always be diligent and down-to-earth when working. Wang Wei has followed her father's advice, and she has worked hard to learn everything, from sowing seeds to harvesting the produce. She gets up early in the morning, and she works until late at night during farming season. 

In 2008, Wuhu Qingyijiang participated in a national-level, agricultural-technology-research project involving the organic fertilizer industry, and the company began cultivating improved varieties of Chinese milkvetch. 

The planting of Chinese milkvetch helps reduce soil erosion and increase organic components in the soil, so the crop has played a big role in boosting local agricultural production. 

To realize the combined goals of sustainable development and agricultural modernization, Wang Wei began using science and technology in the planting, growing and harvesting of Chinese milkvetch. She established a provincial-level, postdoctoral-research platform and work stations, composed of technological experts and volunteers, to help her company conduct research into Chinese milkvetch. She then commercialized results of their research. As a result, the company has received more than 60 China-issued patents. 

To encourage villagers to plant Chinese milkvetch, Wang Wei has organized volunteers to conduct lectures and skills training, and she has visited farmers, at their homes and in their fields. 

The bases for planting and cultivating original and improved varieties of Chinese milkvetch of Wuhu Qingyijiang now cover 70,000-plus mu (4,667 hectares), and the bases produce 2,800-plus tons of milkvetch seeds yearly. 

Tangible Benefits

While promoting Chinese milkvetch production, Wang Wei realized some farmers stopped growing the plant because they could not make a profit in a short amount of time. That prompted her to explore ways to achieve additional economic value from Chinese milkvetch. 

In April 2023, Wuhu Qingyijiang established Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Chinese Milkvetch Industry, which is a part of the national-level project involving the organic fertilizer industry. Wang Wei has headed her team in developing various Chinese milkvetch-related products, including tea, liquor and cosmetics. They have promoted the new products during various trade fairs. 

In Yijiang, the villagers' Chinese milkvetch fields have become a part of the local tourism industry; as such, the local milkvetch industry has generated considerable economic, social and ecological benefits. Wang Wei and her employees have cultivated several new rice varieties while participating in correlative experiments conducted by research alliances, at the municipal level or above. Wang Wei has set up dozens of breeding bases in Hainan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces. 

Under Wang Wei's leadership, Wuhu Qingyijiang has adopted several measures, including contracting farmers' land and purchasing their products, at a minimum-guaranteed price, to increase farmers' incomes. 

The company has provided job opportunities to local families facing difficulties, and the company has organized skills training for residents without vocational skills. In 2023, the company helped 3,400 households increase their incomes through order-based production. 

Wang Wei has promoted Chinese milkvetch-related history and culture, and she has remained passionate about public welfare. As head of Anhui Association for Chinese Milkvetch Industry, she has participated in frequent exchanges with agricultural departments and enterprises, in various regions of China, about her experiences in developing the industrial chain of the local Chinese milkvetch industry. 

She has also donated funds and materials to assist with flood prevention and control, and she has worked with schools to establish students' internship bases. 

Wang Wei says her current goal is to continuously expand the production of Chinese milkvetch, and let the outcome benefit more people in countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

Photos from Wei Xiaoyu and Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly August 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha