Thai overseas Chinese Cai Jianzhong took root in the Blue Mountains to realize the dream of organic vegetables

Original title: Organic Vegetable Dream

Hunan Daily reporter Yan Wanda correspondent Yang Xiongchun Wen Yun

"The demand for organic vegetables in Shenzhen and Hong Kong markets is large, so they should be shipped quickly." In the early morning of June 29, Cai Jianzhong, who was in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, sent out a WeChat message, and the Yongzhou Shennong Organic Vegetable Planting Base in Yankou Village, Tafeng Town, Lanshan County, 380 kilometers away, became busier, and in the afternoon, trucks full of fresh organic vegetables such as corn shoots, milk cabbage, and beans quickly rushed to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In August 2012, Cai Jianzhong, a Thai overseas Chinese, was invited by xiao Guigao, a friend from the Blue Mountains, to visit the Blue Mountains. Traveling to the village of Yankou in Tafeng Town, he was attracted by the valley terrain surrounded by mountains on three sides and decided to invest here.

"It's isolated from the outside world, and the environment is good, suitable for growing organic vegetables." Cai Jianzhong told Xiao Guigao about the idea. The two hit it off immediately, and after 4 months, they transferred 1,000 acres of land and founded Yongzhou Shennong Organic Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Research Co., Ltd.

Turning barren mountains into vegetable fields is more difficult than imagined. In 2013, Cai Jianzhong led a group of people to reclaim a neat vegetable field on a barren mountain. Due to the poor soil layer, the vegetables that grow out are thin and small, and it is difficult to open the market. At the same time, problems such as insufficient irrigation water sources, rampant pests and diseases, and cold chain logistics also plague Cai Jianzhong.

With the help of Dr. Chen Diwei, an agricultural expert from Taiwan, and experts from the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Cai Jianzhong used the addition of biogas liquid and fermented livestock and poultry manure fertilizer to carry out soil organic transformation of the base, built 40 vegetable greenhouses and seedling greenhouses, and laid three 100-meter-deep wells for water irrigation.

In 2016, Cai Jianzhong's vegetable base officially obtained the China Organic Product Certification Certificate and the ifoam Organic Product Certification Certificate. "Blue Mountain organic vegetables don't lose vegetables anywhere." In recent years, Cai Jianzhong and his management team have continuously innovated technical methods, implemented vegetable rotation and ecological insect control, greatly improved the quality of organic vegetables, developed the cultivation area to 600 mu, increased the annual output from 80 tons to more than 150 tons, and the annual output value reached more than 20 million yuan.

Cai Jianzhong is expanding the organic vegetable markets in Beijing and Shanghai, expanding organic rice cultivation and establishing an organic rice processing base.