The "Mango King" of Baise, Guangxi leads impoverished households in exploring a path to prosperity

"The areas beyond 5 km along the outer edge of the expressways in Baise city are all rocky mountain regions. Such karst areas have harsh natural conditions and stand out for their poverty." Nai Shangquan, director of the Baise Poverty Alleviation Office in Guangxi, said in an interview with reporters.

Baise is the place where Deng Xiaoping, a leader of China's older generation, launched the "Baise Uprising," and is also a typical economically underdeveloped area in China, combining "old, minority, border and poor" characteristics.

According to the official plan of Guangxi, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Guangxi will relocate 1 million registered impoverished people; among them, the relocated population in Baise city accounts for nearly one quarter.

"There is no way to survive by stubbornly staying in the rocky mountain areas." Mo Wenzhen, 66 this year, said that he was born in Gulong Tun, Shangxing Village, Napo Town, Tianyang County, Baise City, a typical karst rocky mountain area where arable land per capita is less than 0.4 mu. Before 1987, the annual per capita income of Gulong Tun was less than 100 yuan. The harsh environment with scarce water and soil plunged local people into poverty.

He recalled, "At that time, everyone lived in simple thatched houses. There was almost no infrastructure in the village, no electricity, no running water, and the village roads were muddy, making travel difficult on rainy days."

In 1987, 36-year-old Mo Wenzhen led 16 households of villagers to move out of the mountains first, settling in Nongjiao Tun, Shangxing Village, and leased 450 mu of barren slopes to grow crops such as sugarcane and cassava. Using this as a "model," the local government designated 13 resettlement sites and mobilized 1,348 villagers to relocate out of the rocky mountain areas.

After people living in the rocky mountain areas moved out, they faced issues such as land for follow-up industries in relocation-based poverty alleviation, as well as production, living and education support facilities. The Guangxi authorities allocated 1.55 million yuan in land requisition fees to help impoverished migrants lease and obtain long-term use rights to 3,200 mu of land in Shangxing Village; they also issued support funds to build roads connecting villages, install running water, set up electrical wires, and establish schools and other infrastructure.

Focusing on its own resource characteristics, Baise authorities made the mango industry one of the pillar industries for local poverty alleviation and prosperity, and through various means established cooperative relations with scientific research and teaching institutions, inviting experts to teach farmers how to grow mangoes in the fields.

"I believe the mango industry will enable us to escape poverty and become prosperous." Mo Wenzhen said that he spent 4 years following an agricultural expert to learn mango cultivation techniques, and through repeated planting experiments, he himself also became a mango expert. In recent years, Mo Wenzhen has offered free training classes for local farmers to explain mango cultivation knowledge, becoming a widely known "Mango King."

At present, the Chengbi Lake Mango Industry Poverty Alleviation Comprehensive (Core) Demonstration Zone in Youjiang District, Baise City, with a planned total area of 52,000 mu, is under construction. The park will provide free mango cultivation technical training for nearly 27,000 registered impoverished households in Youjiang District; the mangoes grown by impoverished households can be purchased or sold on their behalf through enterprises, cooperatives, economically capable individuals and others in the park, solving their worries.

"Now the annual per capita income of villagers in Shangxing Tun can reach 8,500 yuan. This was unimaginable in the past." Mo Wenzhen said that in the future he hopes to learn internet knowledge and lead villagers to put mangoes on online sales platforms, selling mangoes to a larger market.