A 65-year-old retired village secretary has turned a humble local grain into a thriving industry through 181 livestream sessions, selling millet from his hometown to customers across China.
Walking into the coarse grains section of any supermarket, bags of finely packaged "Jigu Baifu Millet" immediately catch the eye. The golden, plump grains are perfectly translucent. Produced in Baifu Village, Yicheng Town, Wu'an City, this hilly-region millet has long outgrown its status as mere "farmhouse self-supply grain." Certified as a Grade A green food product and backed by technical support from the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, it has gone viral online, becoming a distinctive wealth-building industry that boosts incomes for over 10,000 people.
Behind the transformation of these tiny grains lies a partnership between government and enterprise, anchored by the unwavering dedication of retired village secretary Zhu Haijun over more than two decades.
Scattered Plots Become a Large-Scale Base
"No three feet of flat land, irrigation全靠天" was once the stark reality of farming in Baifu Village. Most of the village's nearly 6,000 mu of arable land consisted of barren hilly drylands, with consistently low crop yields. In the 1990s, local farmers faced a dilemma: farming took time away from migrant work, while migrant work left fields abandoned. Millet was grown only for household consumption, never envisioned as a path to prosperity.
In 2003, Zhu Haijun, then village committee director, refused to accept idle fertile land and impoverished villagers. With his characteristic daring and perseverance, he proactively reached out to the Millet Research Institute of the Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, inviting experimental fields into the village. He introduced the high-quality "Jigu 19" variety, planting the first seed of hope for the village's millet industry.
Recognizing that industrial development couldn't be a solo endeavor, Zhu Haijun engaged the township party committee and government, securing full support. The township continuously coordinated with agricultural and research departments to secure upgraded seed varieties and professional cultivation guidance, helping the industry advance. Since 2025, facing bottlenecks like insufficient online sales qualifications and cumbersome procedures, the government proactively coordinated with market supervision and tax authorities to break through e-commerce barriers. Simultaneously, leveraging Wu'an City's "One Product, One Livestream" agricultural assistance policy, farmers received free livestream training and dedicated base support, expanding product sales channels.
Through this unified government-enterprise effort, Baifu Village established a cooperative and planting company, building a complete industrial chain of "research institute + base + company + farmers." An impressive 86% of villagers have integrated into the millet industry. The once-scattered millet fields have gradually developed into a 3,000-mu standardized planting base, now a core demonstration zone for new millet varieties from the Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, laying a solid foundation for the "Baifu Millet" brand.
Traditional Grain Transforms into Premium 'Golden Ears'
While large-scale planting established the industry's foundation, Zhu Haijun knew that only quality upgrades and increased production capacity would ensure the millet industry's stable, long-term growth. To grow exceptional "golden millet" on the hilly terrain, he remained rooted in the fields year-round, leading villagers to learn advanced cultivation techniques from academy experts. He pioneered innovative planting models and improved farming machinery, charting a dual path of variety iteration and technological innovation.
Seed varieties are the core of quality. Starting with "Jigu 19" to establish the quality foundation, then introducing the herbicide-resistant, labor-saving "Jigu 31" lazy variety to solve tedious weeding and thinning, and now fully promoting new-generation varieties like "Jigu 38, Jigu 39, and Jigu 42," Baifu Millet has completed multiple rounds of variety upgrades. These new varieties boast high yield, superior quality, stress resistance, and selenium enrichment, with uniform grains and rich nutrition, consistently meeting national first-class premium rice standards.
Technological innovation has given the industry wings. Zhu Haijun led his team in diligent research, independently developing and improving specialized machinery like side-film planters, precision seeders, and residual film recyclers, securing five national patents. Throughout the planting process, pollution-free cultivation standards are strictly followed. Millet yield per mu has surged from an early 150 kilograms to 350-400 kilograms, doubling production while enhancing quality. These tiny grains have truly become "golden ears" driving rural development.
Local Coarse Grain Becomes a Wealth-Building Industry
"Folks, look closely! These grains are plump and full. Cook them into porridge and you'll get three layers of rice cream. This is the real deal from our fields and mills!" In front of the camera, the 65-year-old Zhu Haijun skillfully promotes his hometown's millet. Over nearly a year, he has hosted 181 livestream sessions, selling Baifu Millet to customers in Shijiazhuang, Qingdao, Yunnan, and Guangzhou.
Initially, Zhu Haijun was so nervous he could barely string sentences together, with only a dozen viewers in his livestream room. But with a soldier's tenacity, he persisted, spending every day at Wu'an's livestream agricultural assistance base. He learned livestreaming processes and e-commerce operation skills from scratch, turning millet fields and processing workshops into natural broadcast studios. Spring planting was streamed with precision seeding demonstrations, midsummer showcased field management, autumn harvest featured ear cutting, and even the entire milling process was shown in real-time. This gave online viewers a direct view of every step from cultivation to finished product, winning trust through the most genuine and heartfelt approach.
Inspired by Zhu Haijun's efforts, Baifu Village's 3,000-mu core planting base now produces 500 tons of premium millet annually, employing over 500 villagers in planting and processing, and providing stable income for more than 5,000 people in surrounding areas. Furthermore, Zhu Haijun has become an "agri-tech instructor," sharing new variety cultivation techniques and patented machinery usage in his livestreams, helping growers in Xingtai and other surrounding regions boost quality and yields, spreading the wealth-building benefits of the millet industry to even more people.
From sporadic homegrown grain to tech-empowered premium products, and now to a nationally recognized brand, the rise of Baifu Millet is a testament to Zhu Haijun's two decades of dedication to rural development. It represents a model of government-enterprise collaboration, technological empowerment, and shared prosperity for all villagers. These small golden grains nourish countless households and illuminate a bright future of thriving rural industry and rising incomes at the foot of the Taihang Mountains.
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