The leader leads the flock, and Party building leads the way

—— Zhang Bin, the first secretary of Yanwutun Village of Jigang Supply Chain

"There is a grain cooperative in the north of our village, a big market for colored peppers in the east, and a grape market in Wasi and a tomato market in Wadong in the south. What can our village do? What can we do to increase the collective income of the village?" In July 2023, Zan Minglu, secretary and director of the Party branch of Yanwutun Village, raised the core issues to be solved in the "Ten Thousand People Going to the Countryside, Improving Thousands of Villages" project to Zhang Bin, the first secretary of Yanwutun Village, when they met for the first time. "Other villages can develop well, why can't our village? The most fundamental thing is to identify and solve the problems. I believe that as long as everyone works together and works hard, there will be no obstacles that cannot be overcome!" This is the answer of Zhang Bin, the first secretary of Yanwutun Village, Yuhuangmiao Town, Shanghe County, who came to it for the first time.

Zhang Bin is the "first secretary" of Yanwutun Village, Yuhuangmiao Town, Shanghe County, dispatched by Jigang Supply Chain (Jinan) Co., Ltd. through the "Ten Thousand People Going to the Countryside, Improving Thousands of Villages" project. "The villagers' big and small affairs are all on the mind of village cadres. The first thing to do when entering the village is to visit the villagers and understand their needs for village development. Putting the needs of the people first is the foundation of village work." Zhang Bin still remembers his experience when he first arrived in the village.

After taking office, after a month of visits and investigations, Zhang Bin initially understood the actual situation of Yanwutun Village: Yanwutun Village is a traditional village in northern China, and its industrial structure is mainly based on greenhouse planting of cherry tomatoes. It is also one of the core production areas of cherry tomatoes in the Jibei Plain. The Jibei Plain has no advantages in developing rural tourism, but the abundant groundwater resources here have unique water and soil advantages for the growth of fruits and vegetables. In the same greenhouse, the cherry tomatoes grown here have higher sugar content and better market recognition. Zhang Bin, who has been engaged in domestic and foreign trade for a long time, believes that based on the existing cherry tomato planting industry, Yanwutun Village is most suitable for the development of the cherry tomato industry by adopting the integrated industrial development model of "keeping the business + starting a business".

Strengthen party building and services to lead new industrial development

Whether rural areas are rich or not depends on the party branch. Under the leadership of "first secretary" Zhang Bin, the party branch of Yanwutun Village fully implemented routine work such as "three meetings and one class" and theme party days, and on this basis, organized party building theme activities such as "I contribute a plan for rural revitalization".

It is reported that through methods such as "chatting about family matters" and "coming up with ideas", Zhang Bin and the village's "two committees" asked for ideas and suggestions from old party members and "village elders" living outside the village on aspects such as people's livelihood security and industrial development, and sorted out the future development direction of the village.

In order to better promote the continuous development of the tomato industry and actively explore "cross-village joint construction", Zhang Bin organized the village committees and large tomato growers to study the market construction and operation models of Hebei Anguo Traditional Chinese Medicine Trading Market, Shouguang Vegetable Trading Market, Jiyang Quti Cucumber Trading Market, etc. through field visits and online exchanges, which provided reference ideas for promoting the continuous development of the tomato industry and driving the development of village-level industries.

It is understood that in the process of promoting the development of the tomato industry, the local actual situation and the wishes of the masses were fully considered, and the town party committee, village committee members and neighboring village committees were communicated and discussed many times. Finally, six administrative villages, namely Yanwutun Village, Wadong Village, Jijia Village, Waxi Village, Nanxiaolu Village and Luchen Village, which are geographically connected, closely connected, have harmonious relations among the masses, and have a tradition of growing tomatoes, were selected to plan and establish the Tomato Red Joint Party Committee. It is reported that through the establishment of the Tomato Red Joint Party Committee, the tomato planting and sales links will be further combined more closely, and the tomato industry development model will be jointly explored and innovated, laying a solid foundation for the next step of expanding the scale of the tomato trading market. It is planned to register tomato brand trademarks and geographical indication trademarks to promote the commercialization of tomatoes and the scale and formalization of the trading market.

Promoting investment and developing industries, Jigang breaks new ground for development

Zhang Bin told reporters that there are nearly 150 greenhouses in Yanwutun Village alone, with a tomato planting area of 19,000 mu in the town and an annual output of 410 million jin of tomatoes. The industry has a good foundation and mature planting technology.

Based on this advantage, Zhang Bin assisted Yanwutun Village in actively connecting with the dispatching unit, Jigang Supply Chain (Jinan) Co., Ltd. Under the guidance and help of the company's leaders, Zhang Bin and Yanwutun Village actively explored innovative development ideas. Combining the industrial scale advantages of Yanwutun Village's existing greenhouse planting of cherry tomatoes, the scale advantages of merchants operating the cherry tomato trading market, and the location advantages of the village, they are determined to increase investment promotion efforts, strengthen the cultivation of business entities, and optimize the industrial structure. In the form of "cooperative + greenhouse area + farmers", on the one hand, they will accelerate the attraction of merchants and farmers to the door; on the other hand, by integrating idle land in the village and utilizing the 11-acre depression on the east side of the village committee office compound, the village collective and villagers will raise funds to invest in the market to expand the scale of the existing tomato trading market. It is planned to build a 2,500-square-meter cherry tomato storage, selection and packaging integrated workshop and supporting logistics loading sites. The 500-square-meter workshop built in the early stage has been put into use, and subsequent construction plans are being gradually promoted.

In the one year since Zhang Bin came to Yanwutun Village, Yuhuangmiao Town, to serve as the first secretary, the number of cherry tomato purchasing points in Yanwutun Village has increased from 1 to 4, and 5 new weight-grading comprehensive fruit sorting machines have been added. On average, nearly 30,000 kilograms of fresh cherry tomatoes are shipped out every day, with daily sales of nearly 130,000 yuan. This has not only promoted the development of the industry and increased income for the collective economy, but also solved the problem of agricultural product sales difficulties for 15 nearby villages and solved the problem of local employment and income increase for nearly 30 people in the village.

Do practical things to seek happiness and build a happy new village

It is reported that a group of more than 20 female employees of Jigang Supply Chain (Jinan) Co., Ltd. came to Yanwutun Village, Yuhuangmiao Town, Shanghe County on Women's Day to carry out voluntary picking activities to help farmers. This period of time is the time when tomato picking is most in need of manpower. Taking advantage of the "March 8" festival, the company organized female employees to come and help fruit farmers pick, and also realized the difficulty of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" work.

In addition, focusing on groups such as veteran party members and people in need, Zhang Bin, together with co-construction units and village committee cadres, carried out more than 10 condolence activities, delivered more than 20,000 yuan worth of condolence items to people in need, coordinated enterprises to donate more than 100 books to the village library, and donated new daily necessities worth 5,000 yuan to left-behind elderly people, women and children, allowing everyone to feel the care and help from the party and the government.

The agricultural products of the village have gone out of the village, and the villagers have a better income. Yanwutun Village has taken a key step to get rich. The economy is developing well, the village appearance and living environment have been greatly improved, and the villagers have a place to rely on and are well cared for. Now in Yanwutun Village, there is an endless stream of farmers delivering fresh cherry tomatoes and wholesalers coming to purchase every day. The eight characters "Don't forget the original intention, keep the mission in mind" are hung on the wall of the village committee. The bright red national flag stands in the center of the village committee compound, performing a "Qingming Shanghe Tu" of rural revitalization. Zhang Bin is full of confidence in the future development of Yanwutun Village.