From a family that is a "difficult household" to a "sweet career" for everyone

Source: Nanfang Daily

Growers are picking chickpeas. Nanfang Daily reporter Bian Delong intern Feng Jiaqi photographed

The Jiulian Mountains in northern Guangdong are stretched and lush. From the Exit of Daguang Expressway shangping to National Highway 105, you will come to Lianping, Heyuan, known as the "Hometown of Chinese Chickpeak Peaches". On both sides of the road, chickpea-themed restaurants and farms abound, and courier service providers also smell business opportunities and pull up many advertisements to attract peach farmers.

"In the future, I want to expand the planting area and also create a brand for my own chickpeas." Talking about future plans, Xie Mingjun, a grower in Gukeng Village in Shangping Town, Lianping County, smiled shyly. Returning to his hometown after more than 10 years of working outside the home, he said that planting peaches gave him hope that his life would get better and better in the future.

In Gukeng Village and the surrounding Xiaoshui and Zhongcun villages, planting chickpea peaches is a "sweet cause" for every household. From the planting demonstration households of the "second generation of peaches" and "three generations of peaches" to the new farmers who set up agricultural enterprises and developed the whole industrial chain, the small chickpea peach symbolizes sweetness and happiness, and brings hope to the people in the mountains.

Fruit growers are rich

"Peach Generation" Becomes "Internet Celebrity Grandpa"

"Imitate others, cut through thorns, resolve to say goodbye to poverty; grasp yourself, plant fruits, and accompany intelligence with prosperity!" The 73-year-old Xie Shulin stood halfway up the mountainside, looking at the peach orchard at his feet, and reciting a couplet he had written more than 30 years ago, but his mood was completely different from that of that time.

Before retiring, Xie Shulin was the principal of Xiaoshui Village Central Primary School, rooted in rural education for nearly 40 years. His other identity is that he was the first villager in Xiaoshui Village to cultivate chickpeas and was the leader of the "Peach Generation".

The reason why Xie Shulin planted peaches dates back to a cadre meeting in the 1980s. "At that time, many villagers relied on a bit of barren land, and there was nothing in their homes, and almost every family was in difficulty." Xie Shulin said that once he was summoned to the town for a meeting, which called on revolutionary cadres to be leaders in labor and prosperity, which deeply touched him.

"Everyone has had enough of being poor." Xie Shulin said: "We people in the mountains are far from the town, and it is not easy to do business. To live in the mountains, we must rely on the mountains, and we must plant trees and fruits. After research, he found that this mountainous area is suitable for growing peaches from climatic conditions to soil structure. Therefore, since 1988, he has taken the lead in afforestation and embarked on the road of entrepreneurship.

After more than 30 years of hard work by several generations, today, Xie Shulin's family manages hundreds of acres of peach forests, and the annual family income reaches 700,000 to 800,000 yuan. The old man also successfully "touched the net", became the "net red grandfather" with live broadcast goods, and became the spokesperson of the chickpeat peach in Shangping Town.

A few kilometers away from Xie Shulin's Taoyuan, Xie Mingjun is planning the future of the family.

"In the past, I only relied on working outside the home, and I could hardly save any money all year round; this year, I reduced all the expenses and costs, and the balance of planting peaches was about 100,000 yuan." After the busy harvest season, Xie Mingjun calculated an account.

Inheriting his father's peach cultivation business, he now plants about 300 peach trees. Unlike his father, he no longer had to pull the fruit he picked to the town's bazaar to sell, and the sales moved online.

"The big fruit in a gift box of about 6 pounds can sell for about 120 yuan." Because the fruit is sweet and of good quality, WeChat friends spread word of mouth and don't have to worry about sales at all. Xie Mingjun said with a smile.

This year, in addition to saving education funds for his two children, Xie Mingjun is planning to invest in expanding the planting area. His experience in online sales made him realize the importance of branding, and he also planned to create a brand for his chickpeas. "I feel like I see hope, and the days are getting more and more exciting." Xie Mingjun said.

In Gukeng Village, every household is growing peaches, and more and more people like Xie Mingjun who go out to work have returned to their hometowns, turning peach cultivation into a long-term business.

The industry is booming

The "second generation of peaches" built an e-commerce service warehouse

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangdong Province announced the list of advantageous areas for characteristic agricultural products in Guangdong Province, "Lianping County Lianping Chickpea Guangdong Province Characteristic Agricultural Products Advantage Zone" on the list, Lianping Chickpeas Core Production Area is in Shangping Town.

In addition to the advantages of planting resources, a sound industrial chain and an obvious role in increasing farmers' income are necessary conditions for becoming a dominant area for characteristic agricultural products. In Shangping Town, the young "peach second generation" and "peach third generation" are no longer satisfied with simply planting peaches and selling peaches, and a whole industrial chain covering the first, second, and third industries is taking shape.

Xie Hongfeng, a college student "peach second generation", is a typical representative of returning to his hometown to start a business.

"The original idea of starting a business was very simple, that is, to sell the delicious chickpeas in my hometown to the whole country." Xie Hongfeng said. After graduating from South China Normal University majoring in e-commerce in 2006, he gave up his job opportunities in big cities, returned to his hometown, started from selling peaches on internet forums, initiated group buying, and initially sold more than 100,000 kilograms of chickpea peaches to the Pearl River Delta and even all over the country on average every year.

With the increasingly fierce competition in the chickpea market, in 2014, Xie Hongfeng registered and established Lianping County Peach Blossom Ecological Agriculture Co., Ltd., rented 100 acres of good land as a chickpea seedling base, and began to promote and sell chickpea seedlings to the whole country.

In the process of entrepreneurship, despite the blow of the heavy rainstorms and floods in 2019, Xie Hongfeng still gritted his teeth and survived. Knowing the difficulties of agricultural entrepreneurship, he began to explore a more diversified development path.

This year, in the face of the impact of the epidemic, the number of tourists picking chickpeak peaches on local self-driving tours has decreased significantly, which has directly affected the sales of peaches.

Therefore, Xie Hongfeng joined forces with several local agriculture-related enterprises to form an e-commerce service team and built an e-commerce service warehouse. "The team members are all young people born and raised and have deep feelings for their hometowns, and the service warehouse provides warehousing and packaging services for peach farmers, and more importantly, establishes network sales channels to help peach farmers sell their fruits throughout the country." Xie Hongfeng said.

Xie Hongfeng has counted that after the establishment of the e-commerce service warehouse, the average daily single volume is more than 3,000, which directly drives 128 farmers to temporarily work, helping 368 peach farmers to sell chickpeas, and the sales in the first year exceeded 6 million yuan.

In Xie Hongfeng's plan, in the future, it is not only necessary to continue to upgrade and expand the e-commerce service warehouse, but also to take the lead in exploring the deep processing sector of chickpea peaches that few people have set foot in.

"Young people just have to go first and drive more farmers." Looking back on many years of entrepreneurial experience, Xie Hongfeng said.

In Shangping Town, there are many new farmers like Xie Hongfeng.

Xie Mingguang, the "big peach grower", is the chairman of the Everbright Planting Professional Cooperative in Lianping County, and the peach blossom scenery photography scenic spot established by the cooperative can attract a large number of tourists to the park every spring during the flower viewing season. In July 2020, the cooperative also jointly held the Chickpea Cultural Festival in Shenzhen Happy Coast Business District to promote featured brands.

Technology boom

Growers have tasted the sweetness of technology

The vehicle snaked up the mountain road for about half an hour and came to Xie Wencai's Upper Triangle Lake planting base. Unlike most orchards, many of his fruit trees are covered with a white protective net. "This is the method taught by Professor Liu, the latest technology to be tested this year, which is helpful in both insect control and light control." He said.

Professor Liu in Xie Wencai's mouth is Liu Jianliang, vice president of the Modern Agricultural Research Institute of Zhongkai Agricultural Engineering College and guangdong rural science and technology commissioner. He led the team to serve the development of the chickpea industry in Lianping for nearly 20 years, from germplasm resource breeding to planting key technologies, from landscape resource evaluation to peach tourism complex construction planning, Liu Jianliang's team has been deeply involved in all aspects of the chickpea industry chain.

Today, the planting area of chickpea in Shangping Town is more than 40,000 mu, and the annual output value is nearly 600 million yuan. Behind this, the power of science and technology to help farmers is indispensable.

"Around 2000, the peaches planted by everyone were small, sold poorly, and the quality was not good, and the price could not go up." Xie Shulin recalled. Many people do not understand the reasons behind it, until Liu Jianliang discovered the crux of the problem after field research, and vigorously promoted fruit thinning technology in the local area.

"The so-called fruit thinning is to pick about half of the unripe fruit at the beginning of the fruit hanging, only in this way can other fruits grow large and of good quality." Liu Jianliang said.

However, to change the farmer's consciousness and give up half of the fruit, it is "more painful than cutting meat" for the farmer. In order to make a breakthrough, Liu Jianliang first started Xie Shulin's work and let the old principal take the lead in demonstrating. Seeing that the fruit grown by Xie Shulin is large, good color and high selling price, more and more people take the initiative to accept this technology.

"Our peach market price has been maintained at about 40 yuan per catty, taking a high-quality route." Pointing to the peaches that had just been plucked from the fruit tree, Xie Wencai said proudly.

Since hearing Liu Jianliang's lecture by chance more than 20 years ago, Xie Wencai asked him for advice as soon as he encountered a difficult problem. His planting base has now become a test field for the selection and breeding of Liu Jianliang germplasm resources, and he has tasted the sweetness of science and technology to help farmers, and he has repeatedly lamented that "technology is too important!" ”

"If you want to make the chickpea industry stronger and bigger, science and technology is the key, and improving the quality of fruit is the last word." Xie Mingguang's words showed the truth that more and more local fruit farmers gradually understood. Nowadays, Xie Mingguang regularly organizes nearly 400 people to participate in the training of new vocational farmers every year, promotes new pesticides, new technologies and new skills, and makes the majority of peach farmers take fewer detours on the road of scientific peach cultivation.

Southern Daily reporter Bian Delong intern Feng Jiaqi