Yun Suji did the math, not counting the children, it would be 400 kilograms per person. They love to surf the Internet. The elderly are old and do not participate in the labor force. This number is not low, but the older the children are, the more they can eat. Moreover, this can only meet the food rations, and there are still expenses for daily life. He did another calculation. According to Fan Twelve's report, the village's grain yield per mu, equivalent to a standard mu, is about 300 jins per mu in double seasons, and 30 standard acres is 9,000 jins. 800 kilograms is less than 10% of the harvest. Even if you have to bear the labor costs of seeds, fertilizers and public grain, contract farming is still very worthwhile. What's more, the farmers on behalf of the farmers are equivalent to one family bearing the tax burden of two families. If they occupy too much land, they pay taxes according to the basic tax rate, without the need for progression. This abacus is really good!
He visited several more "pension households". Except for the old lady of the Cao family whose son had died, who was said to be a "visiting relative" who was not at home, all the households said the same thing. Yun Suji saw that they all looked pretty good and showed no signs of being cold or hungry. I am quite satisfied with the village administration: No matter what Mr. Fan does in private, he still does the minimum work.
Yun Suji casually entered several farmers' homes along the road to take a look at the conditions inside the houses. Generally speaking, every household looks pretty good. Hygiene is also good. Fan Twelve said that all standard villages have unified public toilets and manure dumping stations, which are not only easy to maintain hygiene, but also good for fertilizer accumulation.
Each household also has a complete set of basic production tools, and most of them use improved agricultural tools promoted by the Tiandi Society. Fan Twelve said that people generally think that the new farm tools are light and easy to use, but they are "bitchy" to buy. As the first batch of distributed farm tools gradually began to break, purchasing new farm tools has been put on the agenda.
There were basically no large animal-driven agricultural machinery. Several households that entered did not tie up their animals. It can be seen that the production scale is very small.
“What should people do if they don’t have cattle during spring plowing?”
"According to the old method," Fan Twelve said, "Those who have money rent cattle. Those who don't have money will change jobs."
Yun Suji asked again: "There will be cattle loans in heaven and earth. Is there anyone who can lend them?"
"Young Master. Everyone said, 'Now we have no worries about food and clothing, we live a stable life, and we have our own land, so we don't dare to mess around.'"
Yun Suji thought it was all the same!
Looking at the living standards of each household, some households have significantly better conditions than the average, with more tables, chairs and furniture. Daily industrial products such as hot water bottles were also purchased, and the bedding was not just a simple straw mat and a thin blanket. There are sheets and pillows made of kapok or bean shells - quite elegant. Many homes are also equipped with mosquito nets.
He asked about the food situation in the village, and Han Daoguo said that each person ate about 330 kilograms of food per year because of the large amount of forced labor. When working as a laborer, food is provided on the construction site. So the amount of food eaten is relatively small.
Yun Suji learned that the main food eaten here is pancakes with whole grains, and the proportion of fine grains eaten is very low, less than thirty or forty pounds. The reason is that various grains and vegetables can be used, and there are also many people who are not used to eating brown rice. In addition to paying public taxes, most of the harvested brown rice is sold at the market in exchange for living and production materials, because farmers are short of cash.
Most of the Shandong immigrants here originally had a side job of growing cotton, spinning yarn and weaving homespun cloth. When they moved to the local rural areas and stopped growing cotton, naturally this side job disappeared. Because local ready-made clothes are cheap, farmers now generally wear ready-made clothes. Further increasing cash expenses.
"Buying farm tools, buying clothes, buying salt, tethering animals... all require cash, and everyone feels that the money is not enough."
“Who do you sell grain to?”
Fan Twelve said that most of them were sold to Delong. In addition to the fact that Delong purchased grain fairly and did not use scales, it also had a lot to do with the fact that the purchase points were located in various markets.
"In addition to farming, do you have other income? What kind of side business do you have?"
"Some people go out to work. They get their wages back to supplement their family income." Fan Twelve said, "There are vegetables in the fields all year round. There are fish and shrimps in the rivers, firewood and wild fruits in the woods... But here is far from the county seat and the market town. It’s so far away that it’s hard to sell it—the price of tofu on a plate is the price of meat. The Tiandi Society promotes everyone to raise chickens, but the eggs you lay have to be sold to be exchanged for salt. You can’t spend half a day going to the market for a few eggs and a handful of vegetables. .”
“No vendors come to the village?”
"Yes, the price is too high!" Fan Twelve said, "He doesn't accept anything, he just wants cash. How can a farmer have so much cash?"
Yun Suji laughed when he heard this and said: "You guys really don't know how to use your brains. Of course you can't just take care of your own business. Why don't you find someone who can write and do calculations and who everyone can trust to go to the market?"
Yun Suji had read about Jiangcun Economy before and knew that there was a special type of farmers in rural areas of Jiangnan who were engaged in the "shipping" business, that is, they "went to the streets" to sell agricultural products and buy back daily necessities on behalf of the villagers.
Fan Twelve said: "Chief, how much can one person carry in a cart? If there are too many people, it won't count..."
Yun Suji couldn't help but feel his face heat up, he really took it for granted! In the Jiangnan water network area, one person can transport hundreds of kilograms or even thousands of kilograms of goods by rocking a boat. The shipping conditions here are not as good as those in Jiangnan. He thought for a while and then said: "Can't we just hitch a bullock cart? How many big animals do you have here?"
"There aren't many people who can tie up big animals, and it's still a matter of whether they are willing or not." Fan Twelve was a little unsure.
"As long as you can make money, are you willing? It depends on whether the village takes the lead." Yun Suji said, "I can see that you are a very capable cadre."
Fan Twelve nodded quickly: "Okay! I'll think about what to do when I get back."
Yun Suji said: "Speaking of side jobs, why are we not allowed to make and sell tofu?"
Fan Twelve was stunned for a moment, thinking that Lao Meng, such a bad old man, didn’t know what he was planning in front of the chief! He quickly said:
"Making tofu was never forbidden. However, the county has regulations. I don't understand what hygiene standards a tofu workshop must comply with. It would be best not to do it at all, so as not to make mistakes and not be able to explain to the township and county. Recently. The health and epidemic prevention matters are very tight. The county health police come to the village every three days to check the health. We don't dare to make any mistakes."
"So that's it." Yun Suji said, "This is a way to save trouble. Although it is not wrong, it is not a good idea. There are hundreds of people in this village, and everyone grows cereals. Beans are indispensable. Grinding them is indispensable. The soy milk is made into tofu, so everyone can eat it, and there is also extra bean dregs for feed and fertilizer, what’s wrong with that?”
"Yes, yes, what the chief has taught me is that I will ask Lao Meng to start a tofu workshop later." Fan Twelve said.
Just as Yun Suji was about to say something else, a sharp cry from a woman suddenly came out: "Stop hitting me! I don't dare to do it anymore! I don't dare to do it anymore! Ouch, Ouch, Ouch... Daddy... please spare me..."
Yun Suji frowned and asked, "What's going on?"
"It's Liang Zhu who is dealing with his mother-in-law." Fan Twelve said as if nothing had happened, "He has a bad temper, and his mother-in-law is a sharp-tongued person..."
Yun Suji thought of the young daughter-in-law sitting at the entrance of the village making shoes, and he shook his head.
Seeing Yun Suji frowning, Fan Twelve quickly said: "I'll call Yuan Hu over right now..."
"No need." Yun Suji thought that she was not here to be an old uncle. It would be better not to do this kind of housework. She asked, "Are there many wife-beating cases in your village?"
Fan Twelve saw that he looked bad. He probably knew that women in Australia had a high status and they were not willing to beat their wives. He couldn't help but secretly curse Liang Zhu in his heart. He beat his wife when he was full and had nothing to do, which would only cause trouble for himself!
He immediately said with a smile on his face: "Everyone's old habits die hard, it's inevitable! We have bad customs there, and I'm not afraid of your jokes, the chief. In my old life, there was a slogan: The donkey bought by the wife who comes home can be ridden by me and beaten by me. . If you don’t fight your mother-in-law for ten days and a half, the neighbors will laugh at you because you have no eggs. Even if you really love your mother-in-law, you have to close the door, pat the edge of the kang with a broom, and let your mother-in-law howl a few times... Don’t do it. See her howling loudly, take a broom and hit her bare buttocks a few times, but nothing will go wrong."
Yun Suji didn't say anything, knowing well the difficulty of changing customs. But he knew very well that the issue of women's status was ultimately an economic issue. How to attract women to participate in more social labor and participate in the distribution of labor results seems to be an important social issue. He remembered what Zhao Yingling had mentioned in his report: Because women in some areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang raise silkworms and reel silk, their family status is higher than that in other places. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of female silk reeling workers appeared in Guangdong. They could earn money to support their families, and their family status also increased significantly.
He thought that we keep talking about industrialization, but in fact the scale of industry is still too small. The prosperous civilization in Lingao is like an isolated island in the vast ocean. Just like Kabul in the 1970s and 1980s, it is just a veil of modern civilization. On the wider Hainan Island, the traditional production model and social order are still maintained.
Speaking of which, we were unable to rely on state-owned farms to resettle immigrants, and had to establish many self-cultivated villages that distributed farmland to each household. Isn't this a compromise between ideals and meager productivity?
Yun Suji walked through the joint and felt that some farmers had an urgent need to move up and expand production. But there is no one to guide them, there is not enough support, and there are even some policies that are still hindering them. As for most farmers, they have not changed much and still have the same habits as small producers. Because these standard villages are essentially no different from the old homes they abandoned, except that the houses are neater and the environment is better.
They are still content with the status quo and believe that their destiny is to be stable and have enough to eat. Even after experiencing too many storms, life and death, they still have a sense of nihilistic laziness in their thinking, and they always feel that they can just enjoy the present.
Yun Suji thought about it and asked, "Where is Bai Puting's family?"
Fan Twelve was startled: "You want to go to his house?"
"Yes, I want to take a look."
Bai Puting was cutting grass in the courtyard when he suddenly saw Han Daoguo coming in in a panic and shouted: "Old Bai! The chief is coming to your house! Get ready!" (To be continued)
