“Mayor Zhang, how much do you know about the situation of Bing City’s agriculture industry?” Feng Yu smilingly asked.
“Although I am not in charge of Agriculture, I still know about the situation. Our Bing City has over 1 million farmers, and they have good incomes. Many of them are getting more than those working in the factories. Our agriculture industry has been performing well.”
Zhang Ruiqiang was now an Executive Deputy Mayor and had made it a point to understand the situation of the area he was in charge of. The farmers’ income was higher than the national average. That means that the agriculture industry here was performing well.
Feng Yu shook his head: “No. There might be over a million people in Bing City registered as farmers, but that does not mean they are real farmers. Farmers, in simpler terms, are people that make a living from farming. But among these people, there were only a few hundred thousand that really knows how to farm. You said that their incomes are high? But have you ever seen those farmers that do not have any incomes?”
Zhang Ruiqiang frowned: “What do you mean by this?”
Feng Yu sounded like he was reprimanding Zhang Ruiqiang. Bing City was an industrial city. Over 80% of Bing City’s revenue was from industrial. How much did agriculture contribute? Furthermore, how many fields are there in Bing City? It can never be compared to other provinces. Since industrial can support everyone here, they should focus on industrial developments. Why should they waste their energies on something else?
Many other places were better in agriculture than Bing city. But for industrialization, Bing City was one of the top city in China!
“Our Bing City have a lot of farmers that have the know-how and experiences. But there were not enough fields for them. These farmers could not set up large-scale farms. In the districts, those that had high income from farming were mostly animal farmers or had cultivated land themselves. Those that depended on the fields allocated to them by the villages were just barely surviving.”
“Cultivate land? That means they are not paying taxes? You are telling me that this was also happening in your district?” Zhang Ruiqiang was focusing on the wrong point.
“Mayor Zhang, this is not the main issue. The main issue is that I have found an opportunity for our farmers to farm. It is a vast area too!”
“What? You want to ask the Government to grant them approval to cultivate land legally? Impossible! This will destroy the environment. I am about to take action against these people, and the higher-ups are very concern with this issue. Soon, new policies will be announced to curb these actions.” Zhang Ruiqiang was not pleased with Feng Yu’s suggestions.
The higher-ups had mentioned about those illegally cultivated lands. These farmers were not paying taxes and harming the environment. They must be stopped. To develop the agriculture industry, a considerable area was required. These cannot be done in a short time. Zhang Ruiqiang cannot go against the higher-ups.
“Of course. I am not talking about legalizing land cultivations. I am suggesting confiscating those illegally cultivated land and return them to the forest!” Feng Yu said.
Zhang Ruiqiang raised an eyebrow. Returning those land to the forest? Feng Yu also knew about the new policies? But his new policy had not been implemented. What was Feng Yu plotting?
He had thought of stopping those farmers, but not by force. Those farmers will definitely not listen to him. The higher-ups were still discussing this issue and had not finalized the policy. The farmers would need some compensations if the authorities were to confiscate the lands. There were no specific regulations that state the farmers were breaking the law by cultivating the land.
How would the farmers survive if the government were to take back those lands and not giving them compensations? Those farmers will create problems for the government.
Now, Feng Yu was asking him to act against those farmers? Is he crazy?!
“How are you going to return the land back to the forest? How are you going to compensate those farmers? The City does not have money!”
Zhang Ruiqiang looked at Feng Yu. What? Are you trying to tell me that you will be paying for the compensations? The compensation will not be a small amount.
“If we can let them know that there is a large area where they can grow crops and still make lots of money, do you think they will be willing to return the land?” Feng Yu asked.
“A bigger area for them to grow crops? How is this possible? You cannot even find such places in the whole of Longjiang Province. There would be lesser fields if those farmers were to return the land!”
Zhang Ruiqiang looked at Feng Yu puzzlingly. What was this brat thinking? He had found a way to get a large area of land to farm? The south? Isn’t the southern provinces have more people than land?
“Mayor Zhang, shall we have a bet?”
“No! I am a civil servant. How can I bet with you?” Zhang Ruiqiang immediately reply.
He had lost the last bet with Feng Yu. It seems that he had never won any bets against Feng Yu! Every time, he was taken advantage by Feng Yu. There was no way he could win a bet with Feng Yu that will benefit the city!
Feng Yu rubbed his nose. We had already made many bets before……
“Fine. Then I will tell you straight. I have just returned from Russia. There are a lot of abandon fields there, and there is even more uncultivated land waiting to be cultivated. But Russia has a shortage of farmers!”
“Russia? Lots of fields and a shortage of farmers?” Zhang Ruiqiang’s eyes nearly popped out. Could this really be happening?
But he knew that Feng Yu knows more about Russia than him. Feng Yu was suggesting letting Bing city’s Farmers work in Russia? Can this be possible?
“That’s right. I have also asked my friend to ask the government officials there if we can rent their land. However, the Russia government wanted us to rent a large area. It would be impossible for ordinary farmers to rent from them. That’s why I intend to register a company and rent land from the Russian Government. The land I rented will be sublet to our Bing City’s farmers. This way, the farmers will have land to farm, and if they need farming machines or equipment, I can provide. They can pay me back in installments. What do you think? Isn’t this good news?”
Feng Yu was extremely pleased with himself. If everything progresses as he planned, then Zhang Ruiqiang would get another political achievement, and he would owe Feng Yu great favor!
Zhang Ruiqiang looked at Feng Yu from top to toes without saying a word with a suspicion look.
“What’s wrong? You don’t believe me? Since when I lied to you?” Feng Yu angrily said.
“how many times have you tricked me? Maybe in your dictionary, those were not considered lying.” Zhang Ruiqiang sneered.
Feng Yu was sweating. His character was being questioned!
“At least I did not lie when it comes to such important matters.”
Zhang Ruiqiang thought for a while and nodded. This was true. But why was Feng Yu so kind to give him such an achievement? For the good of those farmers? How can Feng Yu benefit from doing this? Feng Yu was a brilliant businessman, and he would not do things without benefits.
“What will you gain from doing this? Are you going to rent the land from Russia at low cost and then charge our farmer high rentals?”
“Am I this type of person?!” Feng Yu felt insulted. “I admit that I will be making profits from this deal. I can’t be investing so much and not getting any returns. If you do not believe me, I can pa.s.s you the contact details of the Russian officials. You can talk to them yourselves. I will not get involved with the negotiations. You are talking as if I am desperate for these little profits. I am a good citizen from Bing City!”
Giving out the Russian Government Officials contact number just like this? Was Feng Yu really doing this for Bing City?
“Fine. Give me the other party’s contact details. After this deal is completed the city will give you a good citizen award!” Zhang Ruiqiang said.
Ha…… I got you this time! Are you speechless now?