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.