XIAOGANG, Anhui, Jan. 8-- Xiaogang Village in eastern China's Anhui Province, once one of China's poorest village four decades ago, has seen "rural urbanization" unleash economic vitality and allow its residents to stay close to home.

"SWEET" LOCAL JOBS

Han Hongxiu has worked for Fengyang Golden Xiaogang Agri-Forestry Scientific and Technological Industry Ltd. Co. for two years. This is "the perfect" job for him, as the company is only a 10 minutes walk from his house. So, he can enjoy dinner with his wife every day and still continue to work his 7 mu (0.47 hectare) plot of rice paddy.

Xiaogang, like many other villages across the country, has initiated agricultural reform that allows families to transfer part of their farming land to companies in return for a fee, and this is reinvigorating farmers' lives.

Fengyang Golden pays Han's family 800 yuan (128.77 U.S. dollar) each year for every mu of transferred land. Han transferred 17 mu of land to the company and kept the remaining 7 mu for his family. In addition, farmers in Xiaogang that have leased their land to the company are given employment preference.

Han, 52, still remembers vividly his hand-to-mouth existence prior to 1978, the year the village initiated the landmark reform measure, and is more than satisfied with his 2,400 yuan monthly salary for tending to blueberry and cherry seedlings.

The growing Chinese middle class has a huge appetite for exotic fruits such as these, and the climate and soil conditions drew the Shandong-based company to Xiaogang.

The fact that Han's wife also works at the same company also has many benefits, as previously he had to work away from home and live alone in southern China, often only meeting his wife twice a year. His wife takes home the same salary as Han and this means they can amply support each other while their two sons pursue a master degree and work in far flung cities.

Han's thatched cottage has been replaced by a four-bedroom bungalow that boasts air conditioners and a refrigerator, and Han is saving for a car.

He is a perfect example of the success of "rural urbanization". About half of Xiaogang's 946 households own a car, around 70 families have access to the Internet, and there are now buses that connect villagers to the local town.

"I feel my life is on a par with urban dwellers, and I am happy to be able to continue to work in my fields," said Han.

TOUGH LIFE

Life was not as sweet as a bowl of cherries for Han during his childhood. Villagers in Xiaogang only received a ration of 75 kilograms of grain per capita in 1975, when the nation was under the egalitarian agricultural system, and he, like many of his fellow villagers, was emaciated from his poor diet.

One winter night in 1978 was to change things for the better. After a severe drought 18 villagers in Xiaogang made a secret agreement and divided the village's farmland into family plots.

The first harvest in 1979, saw a bounty harvest, with more grain from one season than the total of the past ten years. Their success was noted by the relevant authorities and the process was repeated elsewhere.

"You are more committed when you work for your own family. No tears were shed that night we signed the contract under the muted light of a kerosene lamp, but I was worried about a possible prison term. But a life ruled by begging for food year after year was so humiliating, and we were so poor that we could not even afford underwear," Yan Jinchang, 72, one of the 18 villagers that signed the groundbreaking agreement, said in an interview.

Much like Han, Yan does not need to leave his village to earn money. He and his son opened a restaurant and hostel in Xiaogang in 2008 and they can make up to 200,000 yuan in net income annually. More than 3,900 villagers in Xiaogang made an average annual net income of 12,000 yuan in 2013, almost 35 percent higher than the rural average of 8,896 yuan.

REFORM VITALITY

The 2,300 mu of greenhouses and orchards managed by Fengyang Golden was transferred from farmers in Xiaogang.

Unfortunately, farmers who are entitled to property use rights do not hold the property certificates to transfer their land. Fengyang County was one of the first 20 counties in Anhui to initiate a trial program in 2013, to test the waters and see of the mortgaging and transfer of farmers' homesteads, as well as the sale and lease of rural construction land could be economically and socially advantageous.

This land reform measure can kickstart large-scale farming and poor some much needed vitality into the rural economy.

Fengyang Golden is not the only business that is aware of the potential of villages like Xiaogang and the more company's arrives, the more support the -- previously -- ailing agricultural sector reaps. For example, free swine manure from a nearby pig-breeding company makes great fertilizer for the organic orchards at Fengyang Golden.

"This can save me at least 200,000 yuan a year on fertilizer, and makes it more likely that farmers-turned-workers, like Han, will get a pay raise," manager of Fengyang Golden Zhao Peihe said.