Xiao Yongxian: Xinxing's "Plum King" Grows Wealth-Bringing Fruit with Science and Technology
Plum blossoms fill the air with fragrance for ten thousand li, and once again it is time to enjoy the flowers in spring. Shazi Subdistrict in Yanhe Autonomous County, renowned as the "Hometown of Chinese Hollow Plums", welcomes the season of plum blossoms in this warm and sunny March. The ability to achieve such a beautiful scene of blooming plum blossoms is inseparable from the hard irrigation work of hollow plum growers. In Shazi Subdistrict, there is one grower who serves as the head of the Xinxing Liwang Farmers' Professional Cooperative, which was named a "National Advanced Unit for Science Popularization Benefiting Farmers in New Villages" by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance, and is known by locals as the Xinxing "Plum King". He is Xiao Yongxian, a major hollow plum grower.
"Plum King" Xiao Yongxian
In June 2016, with the approval of the Yanhe Autonomous County Association for Science and Technology, the Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County Xinxing Liwang Science Popularization Demonstration Base was established, and was named a "National Advanced Unit for Science Popularization Benefiting Farmers in New Villages" by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance. In addition, he has appeared at and received honors from various agricultural lectures and awards in other cities and counties.
Last year alone, the Xinxing Liwang Farmers' Professional Cooperative produced 210 tons of hollow plums, with an output value of over 3 million yuan, increasing farmers' annual income by 2 million yuan, with a per capita income increase of 28,000 yuan, and the base scale has reached 1,030 mu.
Diligent Study and Hard Practice, Finally Becoming a Planting Expert
After exiting the highway at Shazi Subdistrict in Yanhe Autonomous County, the car wound along the zigzagging rural cement road and finally stopped at a three-story small courtyard, arriving at the hollow plum base of Xiao Yongxian, a major hollow plum grower in Shierpan Village, Shazi Subdistrict.
Xiao Yongxian is a native of Shazi, with a sturdy build, slightly dark skin, and eyes that narrow into a line when he smiles, showing the honest simplicity of a farmer. Xiao Yongxian told the reporter that through self-study and learning hollow plum cultivation techniques from local veteran hollow plum growers, he gained initial exposure to scientific and systematic fruit cultivation agronomic techniques. Because he is willing to learn, eager to learn, and fond of delving into things, he was deeply liked by Wen Jian and also mastered solid agronomic techniques, forming an indissoluble bond with hollow plums.
Recalling the past, it truly was a case of having tasted all the ups and downs. At the end of July 2012, just as his hollow plums were hitting the market in large quantities, Xiao Yongxian discovered that several plum trees in the orchard had symptoms of disease, with curled leaves. Within just four or five days after discovering this symptom, more than 1,000 plum trees in the orchard were withering and dying, and there was a trend of spread.
"That year my fruit trees died--more than 3,000 of them. Not to mention the economic loss, those fruit trees had been carefully cultivated by me for six or seven years to grow that big. It hurts just to think about it." Xiao Yongxian told the reporter with lingering fear.
Xiao Yongxian managing the plum orchard
In order to find out the cause of death of the hollow plum trees and reduce losses, Xiao Yongxian rushed overnight to the county and city agricultural technology departments to consult experts and seek solutions. Ultimately, with the help of many experts from the Fruit Tree Science Research Institute of the Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the cause was identified, and a set of experience for hollow plums to defend against disease was summarized and promoted in other hollow plum planting villages.
Good Quality and Excellent Taste, Demand Exceeds Supply
The achievements Xiao Yongxian has made were not obtained by luck, but were created through diligent study and continuous deep practice. As early as 2006, Xiao Yongxian insisted on the aims of improving hollow plum fruit set, optimizing hollow plum quality, building a high-quality hollow plum brand, and providing science popularization reference materials and technical services. He registered the "Liyuanwang" trademark, joined with experts from the Guizhou Provincial Fruit Tree Institute and Zhejiang University to increase investment in science popularization, continuously innovated science popularization mechanisms, and solidly carried out high-quality hollow plum cultivation, installing 10 solar insect-killing lamps and 18,000 biological insect-killing yellow boards. Through a series of practices, it was proven that believing science and technology are the primary productive forces is correct.
Xiao Yongxian inspecting the flowering situation
After tasting the sweetness brought by science, starting in 2006, Xiao Yongxian abandoned his previous "small-scale" practice of growing watermelons on his own ten mu of hollow plum woodland, and instead contracted more than 300 mu of land on the mountain behind the village to specifically plant hollow plums, incidentally developing a small amount of chicken raising under the forest, bringing him 400,000 to 500,000 yuan in income every year. In 2012, he established the Xinxing Liwang Farmers' Professional Cooperative, which focuses on "pollution-free fruit tree production technology" and continuously carries out science and technology demonstration training and technical exchanges.
Now, Xiao Yongxian has spent more than two million yuan to improve the hollow plum irrigation system, build mountain ponds and water cellars, and use scientific methods to ensure that hollow plum trees have sufficient water and nutrients at all times during the growth period and fruit-setting period (under natural disasters such as drought and excessive rain). His entire base is managed under an original ecological pollution-free model. His hollow plums mature later than those in other parts of Shazi, and their taste is even more distinct from other places.
The scientific management approach of the orchard has increased the yield of his family's hollow plums while also greatly ensuring their quality. Every year, many people come to his home to buy plums after hearing of his reputation.
"When the workers are picking, I always remind them to sort and pack the fruit by grade. We cannot pass off inferior goods as superior to deceive customers. Basically, all the hollow plums here are sold out before they even leave the base." Xiao Yongxian said proudly. The reason the hollow plums sell well, besides scientific management, is integrity. Every season when the plums hit the market, his parking lot of more than 1,000 sq m is full of cars coming to buy hollow plums. Every day he sells four to five thousand jin of fresh fruit.
Opening Up Markets Outside the Province, Leading More People to Prosperity
During the interview, the reporter learned that Xiao Yongxian began learning agronomic techniques right after graduation, and after becoming wealthy, he did not forget the Shazi land that had raised him.
In recent years, he has built 5 science popularization publicity columns, carried out 35 technical training sessions, organized 19 science popularization lectures, trained 4,116 person-times, distributed 54 types of technical materials totaling more than 6,200 copies, and trained a total of 429 hollow plum science popularization demonstration households, radiating and driving 2,450 farmer households, greatly boosting the income of 5,058 people around the base.
When asked about Xiao Yongxian's future plans, he proudly and confidently told the reporter that after years of hard work, he already has a certain economic and social network foundation, and plans to use his spare money to once again contract mountain land to plant hollow plums, and use connections outside the province to establish markets for hollow plums outside the province. "I plan to learn more techniques from agricultural technology experts to enhance the scientific and technological content of hollow plums. I want to recommend my brand to more people, enhance its market influence, and better lead more villagers to prosperity." Xiao Yongxian said.