Dedicating 40 years to chestnut technology, An Lichun selflessly shares his knowledge and helps fellow villagers prosper

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????An Lichun teaching chestnut tree pruning techniques

In Qianxi County, the "hometown of chestnuts," there is a "chestnut god of prosperity": 40 years of chestnut technology research and development, earning 6 national invention patents; he did not treat the techniques he mastered as a secret skill, but instead compiled them into a chestnut management "Three-Character Classic," printed them into practical booklets and distributed them free of charge to chestnut farmers; to date, he has cumulatively trained 100,000 chestnut farmers from various places, generating annual income of over 100 million yuan for the tens of thousands of local chestnut farmers, with his techniques radiating to surrounding chestnut-producing areas. He is An Lichun.

In 1975, at the age of 20, An Lichun became an agricultural technician in Luanyang Town, Qianxi County, his hometown. From then on, he began his devoted pursuit of chestnut technology. Hearing that an expert had come to the county, he rode his bicycle dozens of li along mountain roads to consult him.

To solve the problems of early fruiting and early high yield in chestnuts, An Lichun creatively drew on apple branch-spreading and bud-notching methods for his experiments, guarding the fruit trees day and night like a baby in swaddling clothes, and created the early high-yield technique for young chestnut trees involving open-center training, branch pulling and bud notching. After years of exploration and practice, 6 new chestnut planting and management techniques obtained national invention patents, including the "three promotions and two controls management method" for chestnut trees in full fruit period and the water-soaked chestnut woven bag preservation technique.

From the very beginning, An Lichun was determined to let his newly invented techniques benefit more chestnut farmers. In 1986, An Lichun joined forces with 4 chestnut farming households to contract 200 mu of barren hills in their village and established a high-yield demonstration orchard for new chestnut techniques. Five years later, the annual chestnut yield reached 5,000 kg, which caused a sensation throughout the county. One should know that with traditional techniques, benefits only come after 15 years, and the yield is only about 70-plus kg.

After this news spread, chestnut farmers from inside and outside the county came in an endless stream to visit and learn. An Lichun answered every question and taught everyone who wanted to learn. By holding training classes and on-site meetings, he used various methods to pass on new techniques to fellow villagers. Not only that, he also brought in his wife, son and daughter, making them all "local experts" in spreading chestnut technology.

In 2007, An Lichun left his post, but his pace in spreading new techniques did not stop. He traveled to all 37 key assistance villages in the county's old revolutionary base areas: establishing 10 science and technology demonstration orchards, cultivating 100 demonstration households, and training nearly 1,000 chestnut technology backbone workers, increasing the per capita chestnut yield in the assisted villages to 600 jin and per capita income by 2,400 yuan. An Lichun is also called the "chestnut god of wealth" by the local people.

Now already 61 years old, An Lichun still stands on the front line of spreading chestnut technology. In the chestnut groves, holding a loudspeaker in one hand and fruit tree shears in the other, pruning branches while explaining to the chestnut farmers around him, such a scene has become a sight in Qianxi. (Wei Huibo)