Apple bitter melon sells for 8 yuan per jin, business manager gives up high salary to return to Linyi and start a business

Jiang Weichun, relying on the solid and capable character of a Yimeng native, became the Liaoning provincial business manager of an Anhui cable group company in his 30s, with an annual salary of several hundred thousand yuan, and the company even provided him with a dedicated car. Because of a trip to Taiwan, China in 2013, the course of his life took a turn: he returned to his hometown to start a business growing vegetables.

Resolutely resigns and moves his whole family back to his hometown

The 2013 trip to Taiwan, China opened Jiang Weichun's eyes; many fruit and vegetable varieties were unheard of, good-looking and also delicious. When he asked the price, it was staggering. He resolved to introduce these new varieties to his hometown for the benefit of his fellow villagers. After returning to Liaoning, he resolutely quit his original well-paid job and moved his whole family back to his hometown, Zhangzhuang Town, Yinan County, and established the Yinan County Baodao Fruit and Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative.

Opening up sales channels, a seed company extends an olive branch

If you want everyone to plant them, you must first trial-plant them yourself and open up sales channels. The new vegetable varieties from Taiwan, China, because they did not adapt to the local soil and water, caused Jiang Weichun, a complete layman in this field, endless hardship. In Taiwan, China he had seen with his own eyes that taro winter melon, managed very extensively, was large and sold at a high price. Jiang Weichun planted it in an overwintering greenhouse and tended it carefully for a whole winter; the vines grew seven or eight meters, but it only bloomed and did not set fruit. Others said, this is a tropical vegetable, it is not suited to growing here, give it up. Jiang Weichun stuck to his view: as long as the temperature and humidity created were similar to those in Taiwan, China, it could succeed. Every day he checked information and consulted agricultural experts in Yinan and Shouguang, and finally learned that this was caused by the low temperature in the greenhouse and the lack of pollen. After finding the crux of the problem, the problem was readily solved, and soon the greenhouse was full of abundant fruit. The taro winter melon with the aroma of Lipu taro sold for 5 yuan per jin wholesale, several times that of ordinary winter melon, and demand exceeded supply. After that, he also successfully trial-planted a fruit bitter melon that is bitter with a sweet taste - apple bitter melon, which sold for 8 yuan per jin wholesale. Dozens of media outlets including People's Daily and Farmers' Daily reported it one after another, and together with his online promotion, the products were all sold to Beijing, Shanghai and other places without much effort.

A seed company from Taiwan, China took the initiative to extend an olive branch, letting him act as an agent for selling new vegetable varieties. In order to make it convenient for customers from all over the country to buy seeds, he built a website and opened a Taobao shop. Now these new varieties are blossoming and bearing fruit all over the motherland, and the taro winter melon grown in Guangdong is also sold to Hong Kong, China and Macao, China.

Getting rich together, successfully planting a new pumpkin variety

To outsiders, Jiang Weichun's business is thriving and his entrepreneurship has succeeded. But he does not think so. Born into a poor family, Jiang Weichun has had an aspiration since childhood: to lead his fellow villagers to get rich together. Although the two vegetables he introduced sell at high prices, they like water and fertilizer and are not suitable for planting in his hometown's mountainous areas.

Because Yinan County is located in the hinterland of the Yimeng mountainous area, there are many mountains and broad land here, and the ecological conditions are good. Because some mountainous areas have always grown traditional crops, their economic returns are low, becoming the bottleneck for local farmers to escape poverty and become rich. He contacted vegetable experts from Taiwan, China, and starting in 2014 trial-planted Taiwan golden pumpkin in Shuanghou Town, Yinan County. During the two years of trial planting, he ran there who knows how many times; even children as young as seven or eight in the village knew him. The pumpkins grown here, because of the special climate and environmental conditions, clearly surpassed the place of origin, Taiwan, China, in quality. This strengthened his entrepreneurial idea: large-scale planting, developing the industry, and common prosperity. In 2016, with the support of the Yinan work team of the Provincial Department of Agriculture, the cooperative developed more than 1,000 mu of Taiwan golden pumpkin in Shuanghou Town.

Recently, after returning from the e-commerce poverty alleviation Taobao class of the Provincial Department of Commerce, Jiang Weichun hurried to the pumpkin base to guide growers in management techniques. He also brought everyone good news: once a certain planting scale is reached, a company from Taiwan, China is interested in establishing a pumpkin powder processing and export project here.

Jiang Weichun said he is confident of developing Yinan into the country's largest and highest-quality pumpkin planting base, because the pumpkins produced here are the best in quality, just like ** Hami melon; other places do not have these conditions.

What is "apple bitter melon"?

Apple bitter melon is a new bitter melon variety cultivated by farmers in Taiwan, China, improved and bred by an agricultural improvement station. The fruit surface of apple bitter melon is densely covered with bright white pearl-like grains, the sugar content is as high as 6 degrees, the taste is crisp, sweet and juicy, the fruit shape is thick and plump, the shoulders are beautiful, it is early-maturing, grows vigorously, has strong fruiting capacity, and has a long harvest period. In Taiwan, China the fruiting period lasts as long as 180-210 days, with a yield of more than 3,000 kg per mu.