In September, Ulanqab is already greeted by the cool breeze of autumn.
In the oat fields at the northern foot of the Yinshan Mountains, golden oats ripple in layer upon layer of waves as the wind sweeps across the Inner Mongolia Plateau.
Local farmers told LUFAX young cadres with smiles that this year's local oats and potatoes were "another good harvest." Ulanqab is known as China's hometown of potatoes and China's capital of oats. "If we had to describe these two crops in one word, it would be 'uniquely blessed.'" A local told LUFAX volunteers that the high altitude here, with planting areas all above 1,500 meters, means the crops have no weeds or pests, making it a natural organic farm. "Good land produces good grain. In the past, what worried us most was sales channels."
Increasing farmers' income is the central task of "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers" work. To support local enterprises in linking farmers and driving them along, and to help farmers increase their incomes and become better off, since 2018 Ping An Group has provided targeted assistance to Minfeng Group. In addition to industrial and financial support, it has also provided stable and predictable sales channels for local specialty agricultural products.
In early September, Ping An Group's subsidiary — Lufax Holding (hereinafter referred to as "LUFAX") — carried out a countryside activity in Ulanqab. Young cadres from all over the country visited Minfeng Group to inspect the results of the assistance, increase publicity for assisted products, expand sales scale, and contribute their own strength to increasing local farmers' incomes.
The "organic confidence" in a cold and cool climate
In early September, Ulanqab enjoys clear autumn skies, with white clouds drifting in the blue sky.
With large temperature differences between day and night, a short frost-free period, rain and heat in the same season, and abundant sunshine, it is a golden production area for Chinese oats.
"We in Ulanqab have no heavy industry and no pollution." A person in charge of Minfeng Seed Industry told the young LUFAX cadres who had come to the countryside that although organic certification is difficult to apply for, for Ulanqab's oats and potatoes it is "not a difficult matter."
Organic products need to meet the "dual organic" standard: first, the land must undergo organic conversion, and only land that has completed conversion and is under organic management can produce organic agricultural products; second, food processing factories also need organic certification.
"Because in our cold and cool region, other cash crops are very difficult to grow. After generations of selection by local people, they ultimately chose potatoes and oats," the person in charge said. The planting areas in Ulanqab are above 1,500 meters in altitude, with few weeds, no need for artificial ripening, and almost no pests, so crops can grow naturally; in addition, there are no other crops affecting them locally, let alone pollution from heavy industrial plants.
At present, Yinshan Youmai's organic oat planting base has reached 500,000 mu this year. After passing domestic organic certification, it also passed EU organic certification this year. "We are not worried about organic standards, because we have already exceeded the standards."
It is reported that Inner Mongolia Minfeng Seed Industry Co., Ltd. was established in 2008 with registered capital of 130 million yuan. It has three independently operating business divisions — the Agriculture Division, the Oat Processing Division (subsidiary Yinshan Youmai), and the Potato Division (subsidiary Mengshu Food). It is a national-level high-tech enterprise and an advanced collective in poverty alleviation.
The hard power of a single oat plant
There are currently two types of oats on the market: one is mainly imported hulled oats (which need to be peeled), and the other is naked oats, which have been sown domestically since ancient times (and do not need peeling).
Because a large portion of oats' nutrition is in the hull, naked oats that do not need peeling have far higher nutritional value than hulled oats that need peeling. Ulanqab is most famous for naked oats.
"This place has more than one hundred days, and the sunshine duration is much longer than in other regions. Moreover, naked oats nurtured by the cold and cool climate have higher nutritional value." The person in charge of Yinshan Youmai said that local oats are also a functional food, with protein content reaching 14%, carbohydrates mainly composed of "slowly digestible starch," a low glycemic index, and 80% of the fat being unsaturated fatty acids, which is extremely beneficial to human health.
Good production areas produce good grain, but traditional naked oats alone are far from enough to make farmers rich: naked oats are prone to lodging in windy and rainy weather. In addition, the local oat planting period is July and the harvest period is September, with only a three-month production period in the year and the rest being land preparation period. The combination of the two means actual oat output is not high.
To increase oat output and drive farmers to become rich, Ulanqab City established the country's highest-quality national oat improved seed breeding base here and made great efforts to develop "seed chips."
"The oat seed we use now is the self-developed 'Minyou No. 1.' Inner Mongolia is rich in wind resources, so the new seed must first be resistant to lodging, not falling over in rain and wind; second, it must be dual-purpose for grain and feed, so the straw can feed cattle and sheep locally; third, it must meet factory processing needs." The person in charge of Yinshan Youmai told LUFAX young cadres that it takes seven to eight years for a variety to go from the start of research and development to large-scale planting. The company is now also developing "Minyou No. 2" to further improve oat trait performance.
Abandoned land is also planted with cash crops
Walking into the oat processing site, Minfeng Seed Industry's grain collection vehicles are moving, and the factory contains "ton bags" collected from farmers one after another — one bag is one ton of naked oats. "Now many abandoned lands are also planted with oats," the person in charge of Yinshan Youmai said.
Behind the expansion of crop planting is the manifestation of economic benefits.
"In 2018, the purchase price of oats was 1.2 yuan per jin. At that time, Ping An Group pushed our enterprise to sign agreements with the government and sign orders with farmers, uniformly distributing seeds and providing door-to-door purchase and settlement, and proposed a purchase price 20% higher than the market price to stabilize farmers' incomes." The person in charge of Yinshan Youmai said that after years of development, Yinshan Youmai currently purchases openly at a quoted standard of 1.8 yuan per jin, an increase of more than 50% compared with 2018.
What reassures farmers even more is that under the guidance of Ping An Group, Yinshan Youmai also adopts a dividend model, inviting registered poor households to become shareholders in the company and cooperating with local village committees to pay no less than 6% in shareholder dividends each year. These multiple measures not only safeguard the quality of raw materials but also give farmers a "reassurance pill" for increasing income.
Up to now, Yinshan Youmai has purchased more than 70,000 tons of raw oats and 40,000 tons of raw potatoes, driving nearly 8,000 farmer households, including more than 4,700 registered poor households. In addition, Yinshan Youmai directly drives employment for more than 400 people, provides more than 1,000 jobs for local farmers, and drives more than 20,000 person-times of temporary workers each year, truly achieving "blood-making" assistance.
"When deciding whether to provide assistance, our most important consideration is whether the enterprise has actual results in linking farmers and driving them along, how many farmers it has helped, and how much income each farmer has increased." When investigating the assistance situation, a LUFAX leader said.
Only by going to the grassroots and observing the real situation can one understand the weight of assistance. In the oat fields, LUFAX young cadres rolled up their sleeves, walked into the fields, and helped farmers harvest oats.
"In the past, we only knew how many products the company purchased. This time, walking into the fields, I felt that behind every purchase is a farmer's harvest and a family's income." After participating in the on-site oat harvest, a young LUFAX cadre said.
It has helped 134 specialty industries grow and strengthen
In the processing workshop, the production of various primary and deep-processed agricultural products is proceeding in an orderly manner. This cold and cool land of Ulanqab is "growing" increasingly prosperous days. And such stories are constantly happening across China's vast land.
To support rural revitalization and truly invigorate local industries, LUFAX specially developed and launched the "Prism Project." Since its launch, it has visited more than 38,000 small and micro business owners (of which agricultural-related enterprises account for 24%), served more than 5,700 loan customers (of which agricultural-related enterprises account for 31%), and disbursed more than 2.3 billion yuan (of which agricultural-related loans amounted to 590 million yuan), formed 565 industrial support policies, and helped 134 national-level county economic specialty industries grow and strengthen.
"Every year, we visit the group's various industrial assistance bases together with young cadres from all over the country and personally participate in labor such as this oat harvest. This lets us truly see the tangible changes brought by Ping An's industrial assistance, and also experience the actual results of rural revitalization and the hardship of frontline cultivation. It also gives us a deeper understanding of corporate social responsibility and mission." A young cadre representative said that as Ping An people, they must not only delve deeply into their own work but also keep responsibility in mind, integrate Party building thinking into daily work, and more actively realize their own value.
Wu Tao, Party Committee Secretary of LUFAX, told the young cadres during this countryside visit that all backbone members should integrate the group's "three integrations of Party building" model into daily work, transform the results of countryside learning into work motivation, anchor the three major goals of promoting business development, uniting the team, and creating a favorable external environment, lead LUFAX's development with high-quality Party building, and ultimately empower the real economy.
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