A bird's eye view of the Luhua area in Helan Mountain West Road sub-district, Xixia. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
More villagers in Helan Mountain West Road sub-district in Xixia district, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, are prospering, as six local villages in the Luhua area co-established a joint-stock company.
The company pooled land, funds, and labor from six villages by turning them into shares, combining collective ownership, villagers' stakes, and outside investment.
It now operates a 273.33-hectare vegetable base, a 10.67-hectare base for high-end aquaculture, and a 126.67-hectare industrial park.
A farmer works in the vegetable base. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Wang Shaojun, a shareholder of the company and a water quality inspector for the aquaculture base, transferred 0.67 hectares of land in his home to the company. "I get rent from the land transfer, a salary by working at the base, and at the end of the year, I even get dividends. This was unimaginable before," he said.
In the Luhua area, more than 1,200 villagers now live a life similar to Wang's.
The company has adopted a three-crop rotation system and a "company + cooperative + farmer" model. It has also built supporting facilities such as cold storage, testing laboratories, and livestream sorting centers, allowing produce to be pre-ordered before harvest.
Due to issues with land salinization, two villages joined forces to transform 10.67 hectares of abandoned saline alkali land into an aquaculture workshop. The advanced circulating water system is able to recycle over 90 percent of aquaculture water.
In addition to its main agricultural business, the company also provides advertising services, agricultural machinery services, property services, and study and development services, while also offering diverse employment opportunities in security, cleaning, and technical operations for village residents.