Sericulture, vegetable planting change Xinzhai village in SE Yunnan

Inhabited by ethnic minorities, the Xinzhai village sits in north Yuezhe Town of Qiubei County, southeast Yunnan’s Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. Lack of industries, the village used to be synonymous with poverty and lagging behind in economy. To get rid of poverty, locals have adopted targeted measures, with the CPC members taking the lead. 

The village’s Party committee defined the responsibilities of each CPC member, so that problems can be solved timely and properly. In drawing in more capable villagers into the Party, the villagers’ committee improved their service to locals in poverty relief. 

So far, the number of poor population in Xinzhai village has decreased to 85 from 1,273 in 2014, with seven indexes meeting the criteria for the village’s removal from the impoverished list. 

Walking into the village nowadays, visitors are impressed by a brand new look with poverty unseen: clean roads, decent houses, vegetable gardens, and sericulture bases.

Sericulture enriches poor households 

In the Xinzhai sericulture bases, mulberry trees are growing well and many workers are focusing on their businesses. “I’ve been here near my home for a while, cutting leaves and sprinkling fertilizer on the trees,” said Yang Cuizhi, adding her job brings her steady income and technical skills. 

In the breeding rooms, Yang Zhonglan, who used to be an impoverished villager from Xinzhai, was feeding the silkworms with fresh leaves. Yang had worked here for three years and with a monthly salary of 4000 Yuan. Now she’s no longer stuck by poverty.

“Employing the extremely poor folks filed by local government, we aim to help raise them out of poverty,” said Ma Huaihua, head of the Qiubei Hongxin breeding cooperative. By providing silkworm eggs, technical training, and collective purchase, the cooperative has got 90 filed poor families involved in sericulture.

Villager Song Jiafu’s home is almost filled with silkworm chrysalis. “We’ll produce over one tonnage of pupae, with another 12 rearing sheds to be needed,” said Song, who is expecting an income of 200,000 Yuan this year from his silkworms and 3.3-hectare mulberry trees. 

For some Xinzhai villagers whose land was turned into sericulture bases, they can get land rent and earn extra income at the agro-cooperative.

Vegetable planting begets the poor more income

At the 246.6-hectare planting field in Xinzhai village, workers are busy picking vegetables, while water is sprinkled onto other crops via an irrigation system.

Fusing rural tourism into poverty alleviation, the village joined hands with the Qiubei Zhenghui agro-company in vegetable planting, creating more job opportunities for the locals. 

The company also processes vegetables for sale, keeping scores of workers busy all year round. “My family members have worked here for two years and our monthly salary ranges from 3,000 to 4,000 yuan,” said Wang Xiuying, an impoverished villager filed officially.

The 246.6-hectare vegetable field, on which 300 plus are working, involves 8 natural villages, and the Zhenghui company pay workers over10 million yuan a year.

With expanded production, the agro-company has an annual output of around 10,000 tons of vegetables, with its yearly sales reaching 30 million yuan. In total, 500 local migrants worked at the company, including marketing and logistical staff members.

Reporting by Huang Peng (Yunnan Net); trans-editing by Wang Shixue and Li Yushuangyue