Man on two crutches grows 400 mu of sweet potato shoots and sweet potatoes, leading more than 200 fellow villagers to prosperity
On two crutches, he grows nearly 400 mu of sweet potato shoots and sweet potatoes, selling them as far away as the coastal areas of Guangdong, while also helping more than 200 nearby villagers get rich together. Yesterday, Ren Jiuhong, a 48-year-old disabled man from Guanghua Village, Shanpo Street, Jiangxia District, jokingly called "Dr. Sweet Potato" by his fellow villagers, received an interest-free loan of 50,000 yuan with the paired assistance of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of Hanyang District, the Hanyang District Environmental Protection Bureau and the Qinduankou Street office of Hanyang District, and he plans to expand production and also set up a potato chip processing plant to form a one-stop production chain of sweet potato shoots, sweet potatoes and potato chips.
His love of growing sweet potato shoots began with the inspiration he got from selling sweet potatoes 5 years ago. At that time, Ren Jiuhong, who suffered from polio in Guanghua Village, Shanpo Street, Jiangxia District, made a living by collecting sweet potatoes from villagers and selling them at the Baishazhou market. Before that, restless as he was, although on crutches, he was never idle: he not only repaired electrical appliances, but also traveled alone with a bank card to Zhongwei, Ningxia to traffick in stone watermelons, and the trip back took just 32 hours. "If I lived on welfare, I wouldn't be used to that kind of life."
While selling sweet potatoes, he saw that sweet potato shoots were very popular and came up with the idea of growing them. After paying more than 10,000 yuan in rent, that August he planted about 4 mu of greenhouse sweet potato shoots. Sure enough, the sweet potato shoots were especially popular; every day before dawn he delivered them to the gate of the Baishazhou wholesale market, and before they were even unloaded, buyers came. However, due to lack of experience, that winter a large number of the sweet potato shoots froze to death.
He kept exploring growing techniques. For overwintering, he added a layer of plastic film in the greenhouse to keep the sweet potato shoots warm. In addition, when planting sweet potato shoots, he inserted them at an angle, so the shoots branched more and yields could be increased. How to keep them fresh? He started harvesting at 2 a.m. every day, so the sweet potato shoots were tender and good-looking.
The sweet potato shoots Ren Jiuhong grew became an instant hit. At the major vegetable markets in Wuhan, as long as people heard they were Ren Jiuhong's sweet potato shoots, they would soon be sold out wholesale. With demand exceeding supply, Ren Jiuhong contracted greenhouses in the neighboring Shengfeng Village to expand the scale of growing sweet potato shoots and sweet potatoes. Because of the large volume, Ren Jiuhong hired more than 200 nearby villagers to help, leading his fellow villagers to prosperity together.
Ruan Xielan, a cadre from the Qinduankou Street office in Hanyang District, was sent by his unit to paired-assist Guanghua Village, and he suggested to Ren Jiuhong that since the sweet potato shoots were so famous, why not register a trademark called "Lao Jiu" (fellow villagers like to call Ren Jiuhong "Lao Jiu"). Ren Jiuhong had the same idea, and he also plans to set up a potato chip factory to form a one-stop industrial chain.