Golden camellia cultivation sets Zheng Tongyun of Qinbei District, Qinzhou City on the road to prosperity
"A single large plant produces 40 kg of fresh flowers a year, which when dried can earn more than 70,000 yuan. The returns are truly remarkable." Zheng Tongyun, a villager of Tunmeng Village, Dazhi Town, Qinbei District, beamed with joy as he looked at the golden camellia plants around his home. In recent years, Zheng Tongyun has not only fattened his own wallet by growing golden camellia, but has also actively helped his fellow villagers escape poverty and prosper.
A blade that cut out a "treasure"
On November 22, the reporter saw in Tunmeng Village, Dazhi Town, Qinbei District, that golden camellia grew all around one villager's home, with luxuriant branches and leaves and flower buds ready to open, making a beautiful sight in the village. The owner of this patch of golden camellia is Zheng Tongyun, who is 60 years old this year.
Zheng Tongyun told the reporter that he is a farmer through and through. In the past he planted lychee, bayberry, mandarin orange, cassava and so on, but the economic returns were not promising. When he planted several hundred lychee and bayberry trees on his "private plot," he noticed wild golden camellia growing on the mountain, and the flowers were very beautiful, but at the time he did not know their value. He thought wild golden camellia was only for ornament, and to clear space for his fruit trees he cut down a large number of wild golden camellia plants without a second thought.
In 2010, by a chance opportunity, a company came to the area to buy golden camellia. He noticed that the product the company was buying resembled the wild golden camellia at his home, so he asked them to take a look and see whether the wild golden camellia had economic value. Unexpectedly, the company spoke highly of it after seeing it and bought a batch of fresh wild golden camellia flowers. Only then did he recognize the true value of golden camellia and preserve the wild plants.
He consulted experts and learned that the location of their Tunmeng Village belongs to a wetland mountain range, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with abundant rainfall and a warm climate, very suitable for golden camellia to grow. This strengthened his determination to grow golden camellia even more, and he introduced golden camellia from the wild. At present, he has planted about 100 mu of golden camellia, including about 200 large plants.
Science and technology help boost income
During the trial planting process, Zheng Tongyun came to understand the growth characteristics of golden camellia through continuous learning. Zheng Tongyun told the reporter that all the golden camellia they grow is fertilized and managed with farmyard manure, with no chemical fertilizer applied in the fields. The golden camellia produced this way is more ecological, free of toxins and chemical residues, and the product has a pure, sweet fragrance.
"The 'Queen of the Tea Family' that I introduced has relatively high economic returns." Zheng Tongyun said with full confidence that the purchasing company currently pays him 325 yuan/kg for fresh flowers and 2,250 yuan/kg for dried flowers, very attractive prices.
In addition, through the internet and by consulting experts, he spent nearly 1 million yuan to buy advanced dryers and cold storage, and to build workshops and so on, with a full set of production equipment. He not only sells fresh flowers but also sells dried flowers to the market, striving for the greatest economic returns.
Prospering without forgetting his neighbors
To outsiders, Zheng Tongyun may earn several million yuan a year from growing golden camellia, but he humbly says, "A year's income is enough to eat and enough to use." Today, Zheng Tongyun's family lives in a "small western-style building" and has also bought a car, living a happy and fulfilling life.
At present, 16 households in Tunmeng Village are growing golden camellia together with Zheng Tongyun, two of which are poor households. Zheng Tongyun not only gives them seedlings but also uses his spare time to provide on-site guidance and teach villagers the techniques of planting and management. Villager Zheng Jinggui told the reporter that he began growing golden camellia in 2014, and currently the planting area is about 8 mu. He also said that Zheng Tongyun not only provides them with seedlings but also technical services, and he wants to continue expanding the planting area.
Through Zheng Tongyun's assistance efforts and the pull of golden camellia's market price, and with the help of government departments, the whole village of Tunmeng now has a planting area of more than 300 mu, forming a village with integrated agricultural production. Zheng Tongyun said that next he also plans to establish a cooperative to lead more villagers to prosperity.