Liu Yanhong: Playing the Song of Prosperity Through Greenhouse Vegetable Cooperation
Liu Yanhong picking tomatoes.
Liu Yanhong lives in Nanzhangzhuang Village, Rengezhuang Town, Fengrun District, Tangshan City. Like all farm women, she is hardworking, down-to-earth, and uncomplaining. But what sets her apart from others is that she dares to innovate, has ideas, and dares to put them into practice.
In 2002, few villagers in Nanzhangzhuang grew greenhouse vegetables at the time, and annual income per mu was only about 1,000 yuan. Under Liu Yanhong's leadership, the villagers planted greenhouse vegetables on a large scale, and annual income per mu increased 30-fold.
Today, standing south of Nanzhangzhuang Village and looking out, hundreds of vegetable greenhouses stretch on endlessly, glistening silver in the sunlight and full of vitality. With the villagers' support, Liu Yanhong also founded the Xinlinyuan Vegetable Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative, leading the villagers to prosperity together.
Having Ideas, the Couple Returned Home to Grow Greenhouse Vegetables
Liu Yanhong is not tall, with short hair cropped at the ear, dark skin, and a smile already at the corners of her mouth the moment you meet her.
This was the first impression the 42-year-old Liu Yanhong left on the reporter: an ordinary farm woman, with nothing about her suggesting she was the head of a cooperative.
Originally, Liu Yanhong and her husband ran a processing factory in Changping, Beijing, producing decorative materials such as wooden radiator covers and aluminum corner moldings. Once, when Liu Yanhong went to a vegetable market in Changping to buy vegetables, a conversation with the vegetable vendors planted the idea of growing greenhouse vegetables in her mind.
"When I went to buy vegetables, I heard from the vendors' accents that they were from around Tangshan, so I chatted with them a bit more. The vendors said their tomatoes were all shipped from Tangshan. I remember the tomatoes he was selling were 6 to 7 mao more expensive than in our hometown, a relatively high price. I thought, if I could go back home and grow tomatoes myself, then ship them to Beijing to sell, there would definitely be a market." Liu Yanhong recalled that it was because of that one thought that, after returning home, she persuaded her husband to give up the small processing factory they had run for four years and go home together to build greenhouses and grow tomatoes. "At the time, our child was just about to start elementary school, and the elders at home were getting older. We had been drifting around away from home, and it was inconvenient to take care of the family, so my husband agreed."
In 2002, Liu Yanhong and her husband returned to Nanzhangzhuang Village, Fengrun District, Tangshan City. Seeing the broad prospects of greenhouse vegetables, they resolutely invested 150,000 yuan to build 3 greenhouses on two mu of land.
"Different trades are like different mountains. We had never grown greenhouse vegetables and had no experience at all. Getting started was very difficult, and the hardest part was not knowing the techniques. In the first two years, my husband and I ran to the major vegetable markets in Beijing and Tianjin, wanting to see what kind of tomatoes were most popular on the market, tasted other people's tomatoes, then compared them with our own and found the gap was too big. We had to improve the varieties and raise our techniques." Liu Yanhong said that in order to break through the technical difficulties and grow tomatoes with good appearance and good taste, she began seeking knowledge everywhere.
"At first, I bought some books on greenhouse vegetable management, asked experienced growers for advice, and even went specially to Shandong to learn growing techniques." Liu Yanhong said, "In the third year after the greenhouses were put up, the tomatoes we grew finally won recognition from the market. Now, every tomato we grow is round and glossy in appearance, and when tasted it is sweet and tart, juicy and plump, and sells especially well."
Liu Yanhong said that that year, the net income from her greenhouse tomatoes reached 30,000 yuan. Later, after several years of development, she mastered greenhouse vegetable management techniques, the quality of the vegetables she grew got higher and higher, and her income grew larger and larger.
Running the Market, Winning Sales Channels Bit by Bit
"In the year we first started growing greenhouse tomatoes, there were still very few farming households growing greenhouse vegetables in the village or even nearby, and the vegetables were basically all sent to some small vegetable markets around Fengrun District. Not only could they not fetch a good price, they were also prone to going unsold." Liu Yanhong said.
Having mastered greenhouse growing techniques, the taste and appearance of the tomatoes she grew also won recognition from the market. Next, Liu Yanhong began seeking more and better sales channels for the village's greenhouse vegetables. To that end, she began going to places like Beijing and Tianjin to look for larger wholesale markets, hoping to find a stable sales channel for the village's greenhouse vegetables.
"The market is won bit by bit by getting out there. At first, I took my own tomatoes to vegetable markets in Beijing and Tianjin to find vendors, invited them to taste them, and after winning their approval, talked about long-term cooperation. After all these years, we've finally got stable sales channels." Liu Yanhong said.
It is already mid-April. In another ten days to half a month, by early May, the greenhouse tomatoes in Nanzhangzhuang Village will be ripe. Every year at this time, Liu Yanhong calls the vendors at the wholesale markets, and afterward, Nanzhangzhuang's greenhouse vegetables see a bustling scene of brisk buying and selling.
Liu Yanhong explaining pollination know-how to farmers who have joined the cooperative.
Prospering Together, Leading Villagers to Establish a Cooperative
When selling tomatoes, Liu Yanhong found that the cooperative's products sold well. So, in January 2015, she founded the Xinlinyuan Vegetable Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative and registered the "Xinlinyuan" trademark.
In the cooperative's early days, only a dozen or so households joined. Liu Yanhong said, "No one knew what a cooperative was, or what benefits joining one would bring. So I explained it to them bit by bit, telling them that a unified trademark and packaging could bring in more money."
Through Liu Yanhong's efforts to mobilize them, the Xinlinyuan Vegetable Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative reached 73 members. On the technical side, Liu Yanhong provided "nanny-style" service, spending more than 20,000 yuan out of her own pocket to organize more than 60 members to go to Shandong to study, and also hiring experts from the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences to come and teach; using soil testing and fertilizer formulation to provide members with suitable fertilizer; and purchasing agricultural materials uniformly to lower production costs. In addition, when members lacked funds, Liu Yanhong would lend a hand. When member Zhu Xuegang lacked funds to build a greenhouse, Liu Yanhong immediately sent 10,000 yuan to ease the urgent need.
Because the cooperative's vegetable products are of solid quality and Liu Yanhong also has regular distributors, as long as they meet green product requirements, members can use the cooperative's trademark and packaging, and the cooperative guarantees sales. Liu Yanhong said, "Right now, we're just 'throwing money in.' In the future, when there are profits, we'll also pay dividends to members." Speaking of the cooperative's future, she is full of hope.
"Yanhong knows techniques, can manage, and has sales channels. Following her, there's something to look forward to! I grow two mu of greenhouse tomatoes. After joining the cooperative, expenses are lower, pests and diseases are fewer, output has increased, the market price has risen, and income per mu is up by more than 3,000 yuan. Our wallets are fuller, and we have Yanhong to thank for that!" one member said, praising Liu Yanhong and the cooperative without reserve.
Currently, Liu Yanhong's cooperative has 73 member households, 262 greenhouses, and a greenhouse area of 230 mu, increasing farmers' income by more than 700,000 yuan. "This year's tomato market isn't as good as last year's, but earning 15,000 per greenhouse is no problem. After picking the tomatoes, we plant cucumbers and green beans. Five greenhouses take up only 3.5 mu, and annual income can reach 100,000 yuan!" Liu Yanhong said happily.