Rural house wives create vegetable brand in Chongqing

"The vegetable boss deserted us, but we can get things done by ourselves," said Zhang Shuxue, head of the nine house wives who created their own vegetable brand in the Houping Miao and Tujia township, southwest China’s Chonqing City.

Zhang said this during an interview on August 5. Facing the camera, she was a little bit nervous, and in plain Chongqing dialect, Zhang Shuxue told the story of their success in planting vegetables and making breakthroughs. 

Houping is one of the 18 poverty-stricken townships in Chongqing City. With its staple labor forces working as migrants in urban areas, the town is now home to the left-behind women, children and the elderly.

In 2019, the left-behind house wives in Baishi Village worked at a local vegetable plantation. Just as the vegetables were ready for sale, however, the boss left them for a brand new start in Africa.

The absence of the boss sent the dependent women into a desperate condition, but they soon realized their husbands who were doing odd jobs outside cannot earn enough for the families. They have to share the responsibility. 

"Since no one takes the lead now, I will do it by myself!" said Zhang Shuxue in a firm voice. Soon Zhang bought her own farming tools and materials with his own money, getting ready to start work.

Seeing Zhang Shuxue's decisiveness and confidence, other house wives expressed their willingness to join her. "Why don't you take the lead? If you do, we’ll all follow you!"

In this way, they began to work hard together for common prosperity. Of the 9 households, four belong to poor families.

At the end of 2019, Zhang’s team harvested more than 25,000 kilograms of radishes and 750 kilograms of cabbages, as well as bitter gourds, sweet potatoes, peppers and others. They earned nearly 200,000 yuan, lifting the four poor households out of poverty.

"Seeing their zest and initiative in the poverty battle, I applied some state subsidies for them, sending a volunteer to assist Zhang in management,” said Yang Yi, the Party secretary of Baishi Village.

In March this year, Zhang Shuxue set up the Chongqing Eco-agriculture Company, registering the vegetable brand of "Nine Rural Housewives”. 

The housewives’ efforts also impressed local poverty-alleviation workers, who helped them market the vegetables. Now they are further processing the agro-produces, which are expected to go online for sale in the coming September. 

Reporting by Li Zha, Zou Fei and Chen Yi; trans-editing by Wang Shixue