Chapter 252 - 252 The Villagers' Discussions
252 The Villagers’ Discussions
If they wanted to convince these farmers to rent out the land, they had to contact the village committee first.
With the village committee stepping in to deal with the situation, the villagers would be more willing to accept it.
The cadres of the village committee first held a meeting; this was followed by a collective meeting of all the villagers.
In terms of land, those who stayed at home had more decision-making power.
However, when many villagers heard that they were going to rent out the land, they started making a fuss before the meeting even started.
“No, I definitely won’t rent out my land. I still plan to plant watermelons next year,” a villager said on the spot. “The rent for an acre of land is only a few hundred dollars. I heard from the villagers in Shizhi Village that an acre of land is only two hundred dollars a year. I can harvest more than two hundred dollars if I plant anything in the fields.”
“That’s right. Two hundred dollars per mu of land. That’s a little cheap. If I had two thousand dollars, I could consider it. Two hundred dollars. I won’t rent it at all.”
“Our entire family depends on farming for income. If we rent out the land so cheaply, what will we rely on for a living in the future?”
In fact, the prevailing opinion of the villagers was that the rent was too cheap.
The annual rent of 200 dollars per acre was no different from snatching their land.
Although planting rice was not profitable, one acre of land could still yield a few hundred dollars. That was still more than the rent of 200 dollars a year.
However, there were relevant rules for renting land. It was not casually decided.
While the rent might be higher if the tenant was generous, it was very difficult to have such a rent.
The village party secretary, Shi Bangcai, said, “The rent of this land is not necessarily 200 dollars per acre, but divided according to the dryland and paddy fields. The corresponding rent is given for the high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade fields. The low-grade fields are 200 dollars per acre, the medium-grade fields are 400 dollars per acre, the high-grade fields are 600 dollars per acre, and the dryland is 300 dollars per acre.”
The so-called drylands, paddy fields, high-grade underground places, and so on were all categorized according to the fertility of the water source, soil, and sunlight.
However, many people were still dissatisfied.
“A high-grade farm is only 600 dollars, and it’s a year. Isn’t the rent too low? No way!”
“The drylands only cost 300 dollars. Isn’t it good to keep vegetables in the drylands? Why rent them out at such a low price?”
“My family’s three acres of land only cost a thousand dollars a year. What’s the use of such a small amount of money?”
Human desires and selfishness will grow.
No matter how much one gave, the person on the receiving end would not feel like it was too much. Instead, it would seem to be lower over time.
Actually, these rents were already very generous.
It was 100 dollars higher than those of the neighboring village.
In short, everyone was still dissatisfied with the rent.
The village party secretary waved his hand and said, “Don’t think that the rent is too low. The rent of the land in Xianghe Village is much lower than this. This village collective meeting is just to tell everyone that there’s such a thing. As for renting land, it’s completely up to the individual! However, the other party also said that since they’re renting so much land, they definitely have to hire people to work, but they will hire families who don’t have any land left.”
As soon as the village secretary finished speaking, the villagers started discussing again.
“There’s no land in this house, so I can do odd jobs. Nowadays, odd jobs cost sixty to seventy dollars a day. In a month, I can earn one to two thousand dollars. It’s more worth it than farming.”
“But a part-time job is still a part-time job. It’s impossible to have a month’s worth of work. How about a month? If you only have three to four days of work per week, what are you going to do the rest of the time? Watch others earn money?”
“That’s true. If you don’t rent the land, they won’t consider hiring you to work first!”
“Isn’t this indirectly coercing us to rent the land to their family? I think the Shi family is too unkind.”
“That’s right. If we don’t rent the land to them, they won’t consider hiring us. But if we were to rent the land to them, we would rather farm ourselves.”
“However, I heard that it was Jiao Ying’s granddaughter who wants to rent the land. She wants to rent a total of 200 acres of land. Why does that child want to rent so much land? She doesn’t know how to plant. The rice in the greenhouse previously was managed by her uncles. She was just a hands-off manager. After the harvest, the credit will go to her.”
“You can’t say that. The planting and management of the greenhouse rice was Little Gu’s idea and suggestion at the beginning. I’ve even seen Little Gu pull weeds and catch insects. Xiao Gu is a girl, and she’s a child from a big city. She’s never been to the fields, let alone farm. She’s only been here for a short time and she’s managed to produce the greenhouse rice and make it look good. It shouldn’t be a problem for her uncles to help from the side, right?”
“That’s right. No matter what, Little Gu is still a child. Moreover, she’s a girl from a big city. It’s already not bad for her to be able to do this! I don’t know how many people now think that they’re from the city after staying in the city for a period of time. They think that they’re superior to the countryside, so they look down on the countryside and despise the countryside for being dirty and messy!”
“The topic is a little different,” someone immediately reminded. “We were clearly talking about the rent of the fields. Are you willing to put up with such a cheap rent?”
“I plan to rent it out. After renting out the land, I’ll go to the county city to find a job. I can earn ten to twenty thousand dollars a year. It’s better than farming. I’m only in my forties or fifties. Not to mention some good jobs, I can even find jobs like cleaning or washing dishes. As for farming, one person can’t farm too much. Two people can’t make much money in a year. It’s really better to go out and work.”
“That’s true. If possible, I want to go out and find a job, but I have to stay at home to take care of the children,” someone said in distress. “I have to farm at home to take care of the children. Otherwise, I won’t feel good. When my child thinks of it, he sends some money back. When he can’t remember, he wouldn’t return for a few months. If I don’t farm and can’t do odd jobs, what will my family eat?”
Every family had their own difficulties.
“Sigh, it’s the same for my family. My wife and I have to take care of five children. My two sons and a daughter-in-law haven’t sent back a single cent. We have to farm five acres of land at home. Usually, when the farm is busy, we’ll be busy together. After the farm is busy, my wife will do odd jobs. I’ll stay at home and take the children to school.”
The person who said this had two sons.
However happy he was when he fathered two sons, he was as vexed at present.
The two daughters-in-law were afraid that the two of them would be biased, so after giving birth and weaning, they threw the children to the old man and went out to work, but they did not have the money to come back.
Therefore, the couple had to raise five children by themselves. They even had to pay for the children’s school fees.
This was the case in most villages!