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Chen Suhou - from dignitary to farmer
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-15 09:41
What was worse, the villagers refused the civilized lifestyle. In the
village, piles of garbage could be seen everywhere and there wasn't even a
toilet in the village.
"In the past, girls from outside were never willing to marry men from our
village," said a villager named Lin Maoqing.
"I started my career at the age of 18. My work was always related to the
countryside and agriculture, and I have a deep affection for farmers," said
Chen.
To increase farmers' income, in 2003 Chen made efforts to persuade the
villagers to grow bananas, because the soil in Hainan is suitable for the plant.
More importantly, bananas are much more profitable than rice.
Chen Suhou talks
with a local farmer. [Xinhua] | He organized a banana cooperative in the village, in which all members would
share the profits as well as jointly bear the risk.
At the very beginning, only seven households joined in the cooperative, but
Chen has confidence that it would lead the villagers to riches.
With his help, the cooperative was granted loans from the credit union in the
township of Nanbao.
Chen also invited experts from the provincial academy of agricultural science
to teach villagers in banana cultivation and raising.
When the bananas were ripe for harvest, the retired official contacted some
banana-raising companies, which bought all products of the cooperative.
The seven households earned 384,000 yuan (48,000 U.S. dollars) from their 54
mu (3.6 hectares) of banana farmland.
In 2004, 79 households became members of the cooperative, earning 3 million
yuan (375,000 U.S. dollars) and in the following year, all the households joined
in the organization.
Led by Chen, rubber and vegetable cultivation and raising were also promoted
and per capita income in the village has doubled in the past three years. Now
the aggregate bank savings of the villagers amount to 1.1 million yuan (137,500
U.S. dollars).
Besides bringing wealth to the villagers, Chen also led the locals in
improving living conditions and lifestyle. There have been remarkable changes.
Toilets and methane-generating pits can now be seen in every household, said
Villager Lin Maoqing.
Garbage stations are built in the village and trash trucks regularly collect
garbage everyday.
In the village, there are not only cultural centers, but also parks,
playgrounds and open-air stages, as well as kindergartens and schools.
Chen came back to the countryside and turned himself into a farmer, but the
farmers in the village are able to live an urban lifestyle, Lin
said.
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