In the middle of winter, the peaks of Xiangxi in Hunan Are vast, and everything is silent. But there is another harvest buried underground: more than 300 acres of water chestnuts in Wuguoli Village, Luxi County, have matured, and the rural revitalization team in the village is going deep into the fields to guide villagers to dig and help contact sales.
"I planted 11 acres, and the yield per mu is expected to be 5,000 catties, which is 1,500 catties more than the previous year." Yao Wenzhong, a villager in Wuguoli Village, who is busy working in the field, said that he has been planting water chestnut for many years, and under the technical guidance and support of the task force, the water chestnut planting industry is developing in the direction of high quality and high yield.
The picture shows Yao Wenzhong, a villager in Wuguolian Village, transporting freshly dug water chestnuts. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Wangmin
Located in the hinterland of the Wuling Mountains, the West Hunan Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture was once one of the main battlefields for poverty alleviation in contiguous areas of extreme poverty. In 2020, Luxi County, Fenghuang County, Huayuan County, and other counties under the jurisdiction of Xiangxi were lifted out of poverty, and since then, the mountainous and undulating Xiangxi region has been transferred to the "express train" of rural revitalization.
Allowing villagers to increase production and income in traditional industries is one of the items on the "list" of rural revitalization of the village-based task force. "After poverty alleviation, rural revitalization continues, and how to open a new situation requires comprehensive measures." Xu Feiliang, the first secretary of the Hunan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Wuguoli Village and the leader of the village-based task force, said that a "list" is also a plan, and the answer to the revitalization of the countryside is sought in the "list".
"Construction of citrus seedling base", "Construction of modern industrial demonstration garden of water chestnut", "Construction of high-standard farmland"... The reporter saw in Wuguoli Village that this "list" has a total of 27 projects, covering agricultural industry, rural human settlement environment improvement, infrastructure construction and other aspects, and the construction content, construction scale, required funds, construction cycle, expected benefits, etc. of each project have detailed plans.
"This is our systematic planning and sorting out after collecting village conditions and people's feelings through preliminary field visits and mapping, which is in line with the actual needs of the development of Wuguolian Village and also reflects the beautiful expectations of the local people." Xu Feiliang said.
The "list" is not a "flower shelf", but must be implemented into specific actions. Relying on the advantages of agricultural expertise, the village-based team is also an expert in agricultural technology support. "We planted 3 acres of water chestnut test fields to see how to achieve high quality and high yields, and now this has become a field for the people to observe and learn." Zheng Hebin, a member of the village-based task force and a plant protection expert in Hunan Province, said.
The picture shows Yang Gangxu, a large grower in Wuguoli Village, observing the growth of citrus. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Wangmin
Citrus is a traditional fruit in western Hunan Province, with a long history of planting, a good mass base, how to do better and stronger, to achieve variety upgrading, to create a characteristic seedling base is one of the important matters of the "list". Yang Gangxu, a large local planter, told reporters that with the help of the team in the village, the 120-mu citrus base that he put into production has successfully achieved quality improvement and transformation, built a new disinfection pond, testing room, cultivation greenhouse, etc., increased the research and development of new varieties, enhanced the competitiveness of the local product market, and also led more than 40 villagers to work in the base.
How to develop and expand the collective economy, the "aquaculture projects" in the "list", "greenhouse fruit planting projects", "Yuanshui (Wuguoliu Village Section) Trail Construction" and so on aim at the mountain water resources of Wuguoliu Village. "In the future, we will build characteristic villages with prosperous industries and ecological livability around fruits, aquatic products, and water features." Xu Feiliang said.
Changing to the "express train" of rural revitalization, the masses rushed to a new life. It is understood that Hunan Province has continued to send task forces to carry out village-based assistance work. At the beginning of May last year, 10,253 rural revitalization task forces composed of 24,021 cadres of government agencies, enterprises and institutions all entered the villages to work. On the vast land of Huxiang, the picture of rural revitalization is slowly unfolding. (Reporters Liu Wangmin and Zhang Shujing)