How one man lifted whole village out of poverty
China Daily, 07-31-2017
Mo Wenzhen, the former Party chief of Shangxing village, lead his fellow villagers out of mountains and shake off poverty. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
At the first sight, 66-year-old Mo Wenzhen, with its tanned face and grey hair, looks no different from any other farmer. But courage and determination rings out in his voice when he narrates how he led his fellow villagers out of poverty.
Mo, a resident of Shangxing village in Tianyang county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, had been a cadre in the village committee since early 1970s.
Thirty years ago, the villagers of Shangxing still lived deep in the rocky mountains, known as karst landscape, where hardly any land was fit for farming. Residents had less than 0.2 mu (134 square meters) per capita for farming, and the grain harvested was so meager that it only lasted for one or two months.
"For the rest of the year, I was dependent on the county government for money as well as food and clothes," said Mo, frowning as he recalled the bitter past.
The villagers lived in crude thatched houses, with no electricity or running water. When it rained, the road turned so muddy that people could hardly walk on it.
Determined to change his and the other villagers' fate, Mo, the then-deputy Party chief of the village, decided to lead them to move out of the mountains.
But his proposal was shot down as many senior people were reluctant to leave. Even the old village chief and his own father called the idea unrealistic, claiming nobody had ever done that before.
Villagers in Shangxing used to live deep in the rocky mountains. [Photo by Ma Chi/chinadaily.com.cn]
Despite the doubts and objections, Mo in 1987 led 16 households, or 83 people, out of the mountains. They contracted 450 mu of farmland from a neighboring village on which they grew sugarcane and cassava.
Since mango was introduced to the area in the 1980s as it is suitable for the red soil typically seen in the region, Mo made up his mind to grow this fruit to enrich his fellow villagers. But it was not easy to start something from scratch.
Mo recalled when he and other villagers began growing it in the early 1990s, they had no money to buy seeds and fertilizers. They had to go to the nearby town to collect mango pits discarded by people and pick up ashes and pig feces as substitutes for fertilizers.
The lack of expertise also stood in their way to prosperity.
In the first five years, the trees did not bear a single fruit, said Mo. That forced him to seek assistance from experienced farmers in nearby villages.
He also went to consult Ou Shijin, a horticulture expert in Guangxi University. After repeated trial and errors, he gradually became an expert in mango farming.
After learning the cultivation skills, he taught them to other villagers and even those living in neighboring townships and villages.
Through the cultivation of the cash crop, the per capita income of villagers in Shangxing has risen from 100-odd yuan in the 1980s to more than 8,000 yuan, "which is not a big number compared with more advanced areas, but is a big change for us," said Mo.
The mango trees Mo planted. [Photo by Ma Chi/chinadaily.com.cn]
Seeing the remarkable changes mango cultivation had brought to the farmers' life, more villagers followed suit and left the mountains and began growing the fruit. The local government supported them by contracting the villagers 3,200 mu of farmland at favorable prices.
Now, all the 1,300-plus villagers have left their old settlements and moved into new homes, where paved roads have been built, with running water and electricity made available.
Because of the success in combating poverty, Mo has been invited to share his experiences with government officials and hired as a consultant for a mango plantation which is part of the Tianyang county's anti-poverty project. However, there are still 254 people in the village living in poverty, most of whom have no land.
Mo said the village committee is helping them seek jobs in mango plantations and the county government is also helping them look for employment in service and tourism industries.
China Daily, 07-31-2017
Mo Wenzhen, the former Party chief of Shangxing village, lead his fellow villagers out of mountains and shake off poverty. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
At the first sight, 66-year-old Mo Wenzhen, with its tanned face and grey hair, looks no different from any other farmer. But courage and determination rings out in his voice when he narrates how he led his fellow villagers out of poverty.
Mo, a resident of Shangxing village in Tianyang county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, had been a cadre in the village committee since early 1970s.
Thirty years ago, the villagers of Shangxing still lived deep in the rocky mountains, known as karst landscape, where hardly any land was fit for farming. Residents had less than 0.2 mu (134 square meters) per capita for farming, and the grain harvested was so meager that it only lasted for one or two months.
"For the rest of the year, I was dependent on the county government for money as well as food and clothes," said Mo, frowning as he recalled the bitter past.
The villagers lived in crude thatched houses, with no electricity or running water. When it rained, the road turned so muddy that people could hardly walk on it.
Determined to change his and the other villagers' fate, Mo, the then-deputy Party chief of the village, decided to lead them to move out of the mountains.
But his proposal was shot down as many senior people were reluctant to leave. Even the old village chief and his own father called the idea unrealistic, claiming nobody had ever done that before.
Villagers in Shangxing used to live deep in the rocky mountains. [Photo by Ma Chi/chinadaily.com.cn]
Despite the doubts and objections, Mo in 1987 led 16 households, or 83 people, out of the mountains. They contracted 450 mu of farmland from a neighboring village on which they grew sugarcane and cassava.
Since mango was introduced to the area in the 1980s as it is suitable for the red soil typically seen in the region, Mo made up his mind to grow this fruit to enrich his fellow villagers. But it was not easy to start something from scratch.
Mo recalled when he and other villagers began growing it in the early 1990s, they had no money to buy seeds and fertilizers. They had to go to the nearby town to collect mango pits discarded by people and pick up ashes and pig feces as substitutes for fertilizers.
The lack of expertise also stood in their way to prosperity.
In the first five years, the trees did not bear a single fruit, said Mo. That forced him to seek assistance from experienced farmers in nearby villages.
He also went to consult Ou Shijin, a horticulture expert in Guangxi University. After repeated trial and errors, he gradually became an expert in mango farming.
After learning the cultivation skills, he taught them to other villagers and even those living in neighboring townships and villages.
Through the cultivation of the cash crop, the per capita income of villagers in Shangxing has risen from 100-odd yuan in the 1980s to more than 8,000 yuan, "which is not a big number compared with more advanced areas, but is a big change for us," said Mo.
The mango trees Mo planted. [Photo by Ma Chi/chinadaily.com.cn]
Seeing the remarkable changes mango cultivation had brought to the farmers' life, more villagers followed suit and left the mountains and began growing the fruit. The local government supported them by contracting the villagers 3,200 mu of farmland at favorable prices.
Now, all the 1,300-plus villagers have left their old settlements and moved into new homes, where paved roads have been built, with running water and electricity made available.
Because of the success in combating poverty, Mo has been invited to share his experiences with government officials and hired as a consultant for a mango plantation which is part of the Tianyang county's anti-poverty project. However, there are still 254 people in the village living in poverty, most of whom have no land.
Mo said the village committee is helping them seek jobs in mango plantations and the county government is also helping them look for employment in service and tourism industries.
