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During the past few years, many rural entrepreneurs across China have been doing their best to help farmers get rich, by selling their agricultural products. Due in large part to the entrepreneurs' persevering efforts to help rural residents attain wealth, their villages have become comparatively well-off villages.

Leader Helps Farmers Improve Rice Production, Sales

"Here is the seedling base of Dongbao Tribute Rice. If you visit our base in several months, you may harvest rice in a field," said Deng Xiaoyan, managing director of Guangyuan Gengxin Agriculture Co., Ltd. (in Dongbao, a town in Guangyuan, a city in Southwest China's Sichuan Province). She made the comments as she led her employees in shooting a video to promote her firm's products.

Dongbao is renowned for its production of fragrant, glutinous rice, which was offered in tribute to members of the imperial families during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) dynasties. However, restrained by the traditional production method, the output of the rice remained low during the past century.

Deng quit a high-paying job in Shenzhen (a city in South China's Guangdong Province) in 2015, shortly after she graduated from university. Within a short time, she returned to Shuangxi (in Dongbao), her home village, to start her own business.

Deng took pains to persuade villagers to grow a new variety of rice. She met her "Waterloo" (disastrous defeat) during the first year after she led farmers growing a new variety of rice. However, the strong-willed woman did not lose heart. She asked agricultural experts to provide training to the farmers, to help them improve their rice-cultivation skills. "Bidding Farewell" to makeup and high-heeled shoes, Deng worked hard with farmers in fields.

The following year, she led farmers in using advanced seedling cultivation technologies to grow rice. Their efforts paid off, as they reaped a bumper harvest that year. As a result, more farmers joined Deng in growing rice. Soon after she established her company (in 2016), she began leading her employees in using livestreaming platforms to help farmers sell specialty products. As a result, an increasing number of farmers (in Shuangxi and neighboring villages) have attained wealth by growing rice during the past few years.

In addition to Dongbao Tribute Rice, Deng has led her employees in promoting, online, various agricultural products (including rapeseed oil, bacon, tomatoes and potatoes), produced in various regions in Sichuan. Given Deng and her employees' persevering efforts to develop their business, sales of the products have increased substantially.

Deng recently led her team in implementing the Rural Fair Project, under which the team's members have helped rural residents (in Dongbao) sell, online, some of their products (including rice, flour, oil, fruits, vegetables and handmade products). The team plans to set up e-commerce distribution centers for agricultural products in various regions in Sichuan, to help farmers (in the regions) sell their goods.

Under Deng's influence, an increasing number of young people have returned to their home villages (in Dongbao) to start their own businesses in recent years.

Given her tremendous efforts to help farmers escape poverty, by helping them improve the production of rice, Deng has received many awards throughout the years. For example, she has been named one of the model fighters against poverty (in Sichuan), and one of the outstanding rural entrepreneurs (in China), who have helped villagers escape poverty by developing production.

Farm Owner Develops Modern Urban Agriculture

Lü Xin, a resident of Yuejiakai (a village in Xinkou, a town in North China's Tianjin Municipality), has become known far and wide for her excellent blueberry-cultivation skills. While leading her family's farm (in the village) to remarkable success, she and her husband, Feng Aixi, who grow strawberries, during the past few years have devoted much effort to developing modern urban agriculture, which includes cultivating, processing and distributing agricultural products in urban and suburban areas.

If you visit their farm, numerous flourishing potted blueberries will surely catch your attention. However, you might not realize how much effort the couple has put into developing the farm over the years. For example, through repeated experiments, Lü and Feng eventually mastered the skill of cultivating blueberries on Tianjin's unproductive saline-alkali soil.

During the past several years, Lü has put a lot of effort into helping rural residents (in Xinkou) promote — via online videos — sales of their specialty products.

"I'll provide training to residents of Yuejiakai and neighboring villages, to help them improve their blueberry-cultivation skills, so they can attain wealth," says Lü.

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