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SHOW TIME: Huo Haizhong, a villager in Zuoquan County, Shanxi Province, shows his "farmer's card" to journalists (LAN XINZHEN) |
After comparing Huo Haizhong's experience with other villagers, Huo Xiaojun found Huo Haizhong's corn was a higher quality strain with per-mu output exceeding that of other farmers by 40-50 kg. The corn seeds were a gift from a relative living in another province.
Huo Xiaojun shared the information with other villagers and suggested they too should grow the good quality corn.
"I had no idea that I could make such a contribution to the whole village," Huo Haizhong said.
Before, villagers in Zuoquan grew crops and plants randomly without any plan or scientific methods, said Dou. The farmer's card has guided farmers away from the random farming practices to planned production.
The card is a helper not only for farmers, but also for the government. The local government can easily track developments in each village, acquiring comprehensive first-hand information and then adjusting its agricultural policies and development goals.
Hanwang Town of Zuoquan County made an in-depth analysis of the industrial development of Changcun, Houzhai and Shigang, three villages in the area. The study found that villagers' incomes from working in the cities hit a bottleneck, and they have to find other ways to increase their annual incomes. After careful analysis, the town government figured the three villages enjoyed advantages in cereal production and decided to build a minor cereal production base there.
Dou said Zuoquan is making a blueprint, encouraging each village to focus on a major product, establishing farmers' professional cooperatives and developing the eco-park economy. The farmer's card has played a critical part in the local government's decision-making process.
In addition to the paper card that was tried out in 2008, e-cards were introduced last year in some villages.
"It is not just a card, it has a mission to increase farmers' incomes," said Dou.
Dou said they had conducted a thorough investigation into the design of the card, taking into consideration whether farmers wanted it, their ability to use it and its actual effectiveness.
Dou said they also printed favorable policies on the back of the card, such as the subsidy for crop growing, nine-year compulsory education, new rural cooperative medical service and the low-income family subsidy. "The farmers can get all this information in one card," Dou added.
The card also contains information of 21 agriculture-related government departments and agricultural production companies. Farmers can get in touch with them online or by telephone. Professionals from the statistics development and local reform and development commission also joined the analysis. The farmers can also write down their comments on the officials' work attitude and their efficiency.
"In the past, we didn't know which department to turn to when we came across with problems. Now that we've got the card, we not only know which department to turn to, we can also lodge a complaint if our problems are not solved promptly," Huo Haizhong said.
Zuoquan County invested more than 500,000 yuan ($76,300) and organized six large-scale training programs to promote the card.
In the past, many government officials were unwilling to help farmers, and those who did go to the villages simply didn't know how to help. But since the creation of the card, agriculture-related government officials are obliged to go to the farmers' homes to collect information on their agricultural yields and livelihoods. The farmers write down feedback and send it to the county government.
"This helps boost the officials work enthusiasm," Dou said. Zuoquan plans to replace all the paper cards with e-cards in 2012.
Dou said since the e-card is more cost efficient and more effective, the farmers' information can be computerized and analyzed automatically.
"We need seven to eight specialists to analyze the information on the paper cards from each town. But by using the e-card, we only need two specialists to do the work. The specialists will have more time to guide and help the farmers on site," Dou said.
Email us at: lanxinzhen@bjreview.com | 
