Grassroots delegate: Village Party chief helps grow wealth from rice fields

Editor's note: As the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China nears, a total of 2,287 delegates to the event have been elected. They come from all walks of life, with a large proportion having made a special contribution in their jobs. This is the first in a series of reports focusing on the delegates' stories.

Wang Huayong checks the growth of rice ears in a test field. [Photo/rednet.cn]

As agriculture is the foundation of the country, for a remote central China village growing rice is the foundation of people's livelihood. So it goes for Wang Huayong, a delegate to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. He also carries a heavy burden on his shoulders: growing more and better rice as a village Party head.

Wang, 47, now serves as Party secretary of Zhaojiachong village in Yanggu'ao township of Longhui county, Shaoyang city, Central China's Hunan province.

The migrant worker turned farmer-entrepreneur tried his hands on rice growing in 2009 when he contracted 156 mu (10.4 hectares) farmland - through individual land transfer - in the Leifeng village of Yanggu'ao township to make high yielding test on super rice growth.

After a successful test, Wang shared his scientific production techniques and experience with 314 farmer households around the Yanggu'ao township and helped them grow more than 1,100 mu (74 hectares) of "super rice".

In 2011, the yield of super rice per mu (0.07 hectares) managed by Wang reached 926.6 kilograms, breaking the world record of crop output per mu (per unit area) and tackling a tough problem concerning the massive yield of super rice that even troubled China's "father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping.

"To develop the hybrid rice and bring benefit to the world" was Wang's motto, inspired by Chinese agricultural scientist and educator Yuan Longping, also Wang's mentor in growing super rice. Wang said Yuan's message motivated him to help local farmers grow good rice and achieve a massive output of super rice tapping 1,000 kilograms.

The giant rice Wang Huayong grows measures higher than a man standing 1.76 meters. [Photo/rednet.cn]

Wang believes innovation, led by science and technology, is an important way to transform the current production mode of agriculture. He decided to establish several demonstration bases to mobilize local farmers to grow high-quality rice.

He opened classes to give locals hands-on lessons about the whole farming procedure - selecting seeds, sowing, transplanting, applying fertilizer, drying, watering, reaping and storing, and he also built a technique service center to offer free instruction on scientific growing.

In the wake of Wang's guidance, growing super rice has prevailed in the region, as 25,000 mu (1,667 hectares) of paddy fields in Yanggu'ao and more than 160,000 mu (10,667 hectares) of cropland in neighboring counties and towns have been transformed into super rice plantation fields.