Strawberry King Zheng Zhiping Leads Villagers to Prosper Together
Reporter Shen Xinguang, our newspaper
In Nanzheng Village, Xinhe Subdistrict Office, Baqiao District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, there is such a "celebrity." After being laid off, he sought his own way out and devoted himself to studying strawberry cultivation techniques. Not only did he achieve a moderately prosperous life for himself, he also led surrounding farmers to get rich together. He is the far-famous "Strawberry King" of Baqiao District, Xi'an City - Zheng Zhiping.
Chasing Technology to Grow Strawberries
Speaking of growing strawberries, 57-year-old Zheng Zhiping is very proud. In 2002, after being laid off, in order to support his family, he raised chickens, fed pigs, and partnered with others to grow kiwifruit, but none succeeded. By chance, he came into contact with strawberry cultivation, and with his daring and hardworking spirit, he became the earliest farmer in Xi'an to grow strawberries in greenhouses.
Zheng Zhiping recalled that the first two years of growing strawberries were basically wasted effort, and he hardly made any money. At that time, he took out a loan and set up greenhouses, ready to go all out, but reality poured cold water on him. Due to lack of experience, the newly planted strawberry seedlings contracted powdery mildew, and the strawberries in the greenhouse were almost "scrapped." "Looking back now, the humidity in the greenhouse was not adjusted properly at the time," Zheng Zhiping said. This failure made him understand that growing strawberries requires not only dedication but also technical knowledge.
In order to master strawberry cultivation techniques as quickly as possible, he specifically went to the Xi'an Agricultural Technology Extension Center to learn seedling raising and cultivation techniques. He said: "At that time, I ran to the agricultural technology center every day. Wherever the strawberries were, I was there." After figuring out the experience through exploration, Zheng Zhiping felt confident. Through his own continuous study and innovation, the greenhouse strawberries he later grew yielded more than 1400 kg per mu, and each kg could sell for 90 yuan. Locally, he was called the "Strawberry King."
A "Local Expert" in the Fields
Having grown strawberries for more than ten years, Zheng Zhiping accumulated a lot of greenhouse management experience. Through repeated learning and pondering, he gradually mastered a complete set of strawberry cultivation techniques, including seedling raising, transplanting, leaf stripping, flower thinning, fruit thinning, disease prevention, and regulating temperature and humidity. He became a "local expert" in the strawberry industry. Over the years, Zheng Zhiping has successively gone deep into the fields in Baqiao District, Chang'an District, Lintong District, Gaoling District, and other places in Xi'an City to guide farmers in developing the strawberry industry and to provide them with professional knowledge training.
A considerable amount of land in Gaoling District, Xi'an City, is saline-alkali land, and local farmers often experienced reduced or zero yields when cultivating strawberries there. Because the economic benefits were poor, this seriously affected the farmers' enthusiasm for cultivating strawberries. To solve this problem, Zheng Zhiping went to the local area many times to conduct soil tests and discussed solutions with experts. Ultimately, through soil conditioning technology, the technical problem of cultivating strawberries in saline-alkali land was solved in one stroke, enabling local farmers to obtain good economic benefits.
Speaking of future development, Zheng Zhiping said he wants to lead more farmers to grow strawberries, let them get rich together, provide technical services to strawberry growers free of charge, and dedicate his light and warmth to the land of Sanqin.