Heyuan Zijin couple returns home to grow passion fruit and leads villagers to prosperity

At the Fuyou Breeding and Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative, located in Songzizhai Xia Natural Village, Zhongba Town, Zijin County, Heyuan, the contiguous orchard sends out wave after wave of the fresh fragrance of passion fruit on the breeze. Here, there is passion fruit ready to be picked by hand, South African leaf tea for health and wellness, and sweet rice shoots, field snails, pond catfish, poultry and other delicious dishes, all available. After more than a year of hard work, the couple Huang Erjun and Li Xiumei have brought infinite vitality and vigor to what was once idle mountain land.

Husband and wife of one mind return home to take up farming and breeding

In early 2015, Huang Erjun and Li Xiumei, a couple who had run a booming trading business in Guangzhou for 23 years, saw that many of the hills and fields in their hometown were gradually falling into neglect. Thinking of the country's continuously deepening benefit-farming policies, and seeing the growing demand from city residents for green food, they resolutely handed their Guangzhou trading company over to their son to manage and returned to Songzi Village Xia Natural Village, Zhongba Town, to devote themselves wholeheartedly to farming and breeding. After thorough research, taking into account the local soil, climate, water quality and geographical environment, and inviting experts to verify matters from many angles, they joined with nearby villagers to establish the Zijin County Fuyou Breeding and Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative. In the first phase they planted nearly 30 mu of passion fruit seedlings. Fruit was planted that year and harvested that year, with monthly income of more than 100,000 yuan. At present, the passion fruit from this base has already received enthusiastic orders from merchants in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places, and the product is in short supply.

Leading villagers to prosperity

"Leading the villagers to prosperity was the original intention of our couple in setting up the cooperative. We plan to plant a thousand mu passion fruit orchard. Now the country is supporting farmers in getting rich and carrying out targeted poverty alleviation. We also very much welcome villagers to join our cooperative and walk a broad road to prosperity together." Huang Erjun said that their cooperative is preparing to adopt various forms such as renting nearby land, farmers contributing land as shares, and outside development and planting. This year they plan to expand the planting by more than 100 mu, vigorously develop the passion fruit planting industry, and buy back at a guaranteed price the fruit grown by farmers driven by this base, so as to solve the problem of selling passion fruit. Now many villagers, seeing the encouraging scene and considerable income of the cooperative, have come from nearby towns and villages, and even from Longchuan, to visit and learn, and have strongly requested to join the ranks of fruit growing. He has now reached agreements with more than 100 farming households, and since the Spring Festival he has cultivated several thousand passion fruit seedlings for the villagers.

The valuable spirit of Huang Erjun and Li Xiumei in scientific farming and breeding and in driving farmers to prosperity has also won praise from leaders at all levels and from the public. Cooperative president Li Xiumei pointed out that passion fruit is very easy to grow. Villagers can make full use of the space in front of and behind their houses and nearby idle mountain land, and plant one or two mu of passion fruit close to home. With no need for pesticides or much labor, one person can easily earn 60,000 to 70,000 yuan a year, making it a path to rapid prosperity.