Jiang Zhongliang, Party secretary of Jinlan village in Yixing. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Jiang Zhongliang, Party secretary of Jinlan village in Yixing, a county-level city administered by Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, has helped lift Jinlan out of poverty over the past 10 years.
"The distributable income of Jinlan exceeded 11 million yuan ($1.63 million) and per capita income totaled 46,000 yuan in 2021, both tripling the amounts 10 years ago," noted Jiang.
Jinlan villagers work as farmers and to increase their incomes, the efficiency of their agricultural operations must be improved, according to Jiang.
A Jinlan farmer operates a harvester. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
In 2009, the Party secretary built Yixing's first village-level cooperative in Jinlan, which manages 2,780 mu (185.33 hectares) of farmland of nearly 400 households.
The cooperative has also used its operating revenue to purchase nearly 100 farming machines, including rice transplanters, fertilizer distributors, and harvesters, and has built a drying house for crops.
The cooperative is in charge of all the procedures involved in growing crops, from rice seedling cultivation, fertilizer application, harvesting, and processing to packaging and sales.
These efforts have paid off. In 2018, Jinlan was listed as the top 10 villages in Yixing in terms of economic growth and its cooperative was named a national role model.
Jinlan village. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Jinlan village cooperative currently manages 99 percent of the farmland in the village and its fixed assets are valued at more than 10 million yuan. Each year, the cooperative turns in 1 million yuan in profits to the Jinlan village collective.
More collective income has allowed Jiang to beautify Jinlan, benefiting local villagers. Since last year, the village has invested over 20 million yuan to improve its appearance.
Jiang is now considering building an automated farm to improve agricultural production efficiency.
