Wu Shenghua, 33 years old, has been leading the villagers to develop mulberry industry since he was appointed a village official in Nantong city in 2015 upon graduating from college, opening up the integration path of agriculture, culture and tourism, and making mulberry the villagers' wealth. Recently, he was awarded the honorary title of "the most beautiful grass-roots college graduates" in Jiangsu.
The arrival of the mulberry picking season means that rural tourism in Tingkui Village has entered its annual peak with tourists gathering, camping and barbecuing in addition to visiting the village's sericulture exhibition hall.
Starting from 2021, Tingkui Village has received an average of over 1200 tourists and over 800 youth research groups from various regions.
In the past, due to inconvenient transportation and location, Tingkui Village remained a traditional agricultural village for many years. Since taking office, Wu Shenghua wasted no time to quickly target a fruit and leaf dual-use mulberry tree. Fruits can be harvested and consumed, and leaves can nourish silkworms and cocoon, with one tree yielding multiple benefits.
Although the mulberry tree sounds like a money-making business, the villagers declined it at first. To justify his reasoning for the benefits of planting mulberry, Wu Shenghua took the lead by burying himself in mulberry fields during the day and in books at night, making him a self-made expert on mulberry cultivation and sericulture from being completely ignorant of agriculture.
“He was willing to help us raise silkworms, which has increased our income”, a villager said.
With the village expanding the area of mulberry planting to more than 20 mu, Wu Shenghua has felt greater responsibilities. The short shelf life of mulberry fruits forced him to promote the development of mulberry fruit picking, processing into silk quilts, and expanding sales through pre-sale and live streaming. Nowadays, the mulberry leaves and sericulture industry have increased the villagers’ income by over 300000 yuan per year.
With mulberry cultivation as the core, Wu Shenghua has established the agricultural, cultural and tourism brand "Rainbow Young" by adhering to the principle of "promoting tourism through agriculture, strengthening tourism through culture, and promoting agriculture through tourism". In 2022, Tingkui Village recorded a village operating income of 1.1442 million yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 12% in the past three years.
“As a village cadre, I must cultivate a strong love for agriculture and cultivate the ability to promote agriculture. I will make achievements on the stage of rural revitalization, and I will give full play to my youth to write a beautiful picture of vigorating the countryside”, Wu Shenghua, Secretary of the General Party Branch and Director of the Village Committee of Tingkui Village, Haimen District, Nantong City, said.
