Celery cultivation in Dongchangfu, Liaocheng, Shandong, blazes a trail to prosperity

“Five years ago, I invested more than 40,000 yuan and built a celery greenhouse on three mu of land. That year's income approached more than 40,000 yuan, plus the usual income from going out to work, which was also seven or eight thousand yuan. Over the year, net income came to nearly 50,000 yuan. So after the whole family discussed it, we also bought a new 105-square-meter apartment, and moved in as soon as spring began this year!” On the morning of January 18, Sun Cungeng, a villager from Dachang Village, Shazhen Town, Dongchangfu District, said happily.

Dachang Village began growing it in the 1980s and is famous far and wide. To speed up the promotion of arch-shed celery, in recent years the village has encouraged farmers to grow it and has provided all-round technical support. “Every September the seeds are sown and sprout. About 40 days after emergence, when the seedlings grow to 5 to 6 cm tall, thinning and transplanting begin, and when the seedlings reach 10 cm, they are planted out. Harvesting begins in November, and by April of the following year six cuttings can be harvested. The yield of shed-grown celery is around 20,000 jin per mu, and income is around 15,000 yuan per mu.” said Chang Jiayu, the village Party secretary. One mu of vegetable greenhouse requires an initial investment of more than 10,000 yuan, can be used for 6 years, and the income is equivalent to the returns from 10 mu of cotton. At present, more than 190 households in the village grow arch-shed celery, and the arch-shed celery planting base alone reaches 580 mu. At the same time, standardized production and organic management are carried out in the arch-shed celery planting base, with unified varieties, unified supply of production materials, unified watering and fertilizing, and unified pest and disease control.

To solve the problem of villagers having difficulty selling vegetables, the village organized villagers to register and establish a vegetable planting professional cooperative, attracting dealers from all over the country to come and buy celery. The products are sold far away to Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Henan, Beijing, Shanghai and other provinces and cities.