Ma Ronghua and her husband [Cnwomen.cn]

A couple in east China's Anhui province have devoted themselves to modern agriculture and jointly lead local villagers to realize prosperity over the past few years after they quit their well-paid jobs and moved to the countryside.

Ma Ronghua, 36, originally grew up in Handan, north China's Hebei province. She graduated from Hebei Agricultural University in 2004 with a major in plant conservation.

Her husband Mei Wanfu is a native of Huaqiao Village, Wuhu county, Anhui. After working for five years as urban white-collar workers, they returned to Mei's hometown.

In October 2010, they contracted over 10 hectares of land with all of their savings and set up Nengsheng Agricultural Technology Co. to grow fruit and vegetables.

Since Mei was previously engaged in sales for nearly 10 years, he was responsible for the company's administrative management, customer communications and product marketing.

Though Mei's parents and the neighbors couldn't understand why Ma and Mei's choice, the couple both concentrated on their business without hesitation. They also built a steel frame greenhouse over 2.6 hectares for vegetable cultivation and another 6.7 hectares of land to plant wheat.

However, a typhoon in August 2012 completely destroyed the newly-built vegetable greenhouse. Thanks to the joint efforts of the county's government, women's federation and agriculture committee, the couple successfully applied for a disaster relief fund and their company resumed production.

In the past few years, the couple have experienced more natural disasters such as a heavy snowfall and flooding. Nevertheless, the company's vegetable planting base continued to expand and develop.

In 2012, the base was selected as a Wuhu Standard Vegetable Base and Wuhu Women's Entrepreneurship Demonstration Base. The brand Nengsheng won the title of Well-known Trademark of Wuhu City in 2015.

With more confidence, Ma has been striding on the path to developing modern agriculture. Last year, she innovated the methods for growing gourds in greenhouses in the Yangtze River region.

They contracted another 133 hectares of land this year to expand the scale of growing.

In addition to developing their own career, the couple have also actively helped local villagers achieve prosperity.

In 2012, Ma established a professional vegetable-growing cooperative in Wuhu county. With her rich knowledge and experience, Ma has carried out regular training and on-site guidance, and led over 160 households around the country to be engaged in vegetable cultivation.

Each family has increased their annual income by over 20,000 yuan.

She also helped so-called "left-behind" women and elderly people in the local area to find a job close to home.

Due to her outstanding performance in agriculture and contribution to villagers, Ma has won nearly 10 honors such as the provincial March 8th Red-banner Pacesetter title. In September, Ma was also elected as a delegate to the 12th National Women's Congress.

(Source: Cnwomen.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)

http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/others/1812/7830-1.htm