Raspberry planting helps Gexuanhe Village in Qian'an embark on the path to prosperity
Digging trenches, hauling seedlings, planting, watering... A few days ago, our reporter saw a busy scene in the open fields south of Gexuanhe Village, Yanjiadian Township, Qian'an City, where more than 30 villagers were planting a new fruit they had never seen before - red raspberries.
"Around Frost's Descent is the golden time for planting red raspberries. After a winter of dormancy, the survival rate is above 90 percent." Zhou Xiaomeng, the owner of the land, said happily to our reporter while helping unload raspberry seedlings from a truck.
From the chat, our reporter learned that Zhou Xiaomeng, 35, is a native farmer of Qian'an. After graduating from high school, he began to venture into the market. He had dealt in building materials and opened an iron mine. A chance encounter made him especially fond of red raspberries: "Red raspberry, also known as raspberry, has tender, juicy fruit, an attractive color and rich nutrition. It is the 'third-generation fruit' popular around the world and is known on the international market as the golden fruit. It is a tree species for multiple uses, including fruit, medicine and ecological use, rich in many nutrients necessary for the human body. Apart from being eaten fresh, the fruit can also be deeply processed into drinks, juice, fruit wine, jam, preserved fruit, jelly and so on. Quick-frozen fruit is also very popular on domestic and international markets." Talking about raspberries, Zhou Xiaomeng spoke at length. From the moment he came into contact with this "sprite," he secretly made up his mind: to let red raspberries take root at the foot of the Yanshan Mountains and by the banks of the Luan River.
No sooner said than done. Starting in March this year, Zhou Xiaomeng began a journey of investigation. He successively visited Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shijiazhuang and other places. "Plant once, and the growth period can reach 20 to 30 years; compared with grapes, raspberry cultivation is relatively extensive, saves labor and water, has strong resistance to pests and diseases, and has low production and management costs; it bears fruit in the same year of planting, with a yield of up to 500 kg per mu. At 2.5 yuan per kg, the income per mu is 4,000 to 5,000 yuan." As a pioneer tree species in China's emerging fruit industry, domestic raspberry planting has just started, international market demand is large, and the industrial collaboration system has not yet taken shape. The broad market prospects further strengthened Zhou Xiaomeng's confidence.
"Plant raspberries and use industrialization to lead farmers to common prosperity." As soon as Zhou Xiaomeng put forward this idea, it immediately won the support of his friend Li Jing and others. In May this year, with registered capital of 1 million yuan, they established Qian'an Ruitai Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., and decided to build, beside the scenic greenway of Qian'an's Shanshui Rongcheng, an agricultural sightseeing park with a total planned investment of 80 million yuan, covering 500 mu and integrating fruit freezing, import and export sales, and fruit picking.
"This year, we introduced 100,000 high-quality red raspberry plants from the Shenyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences and began planting them in the sightseeing park. In another two days, planting will be completely finished." Being busy planting in late autumn has become a unique sight along the banks of the Luan River. Zhou Xiaomeng introduced that the sightseeing park is being built in two phases. Phase I covers 200 mu and promotes the planting of 195 mu of red raspberries, totaling 200,000 plants. Phase II covers 300 mu and promotes the planting of 293 mu of red raspberries, totaling 300,000 plants. After the project reaches full production, it can produce 976,000 kg of red raspberries annually and achieve sales revenue of 19.52 million yuan.
"Quick-frozen raspberry single fruits and processed products such as jam, fruit wine and beverages have become indispensable non-staple foods in the lives of people in Western countries. At present, annual world market demand is 2 million tons, with a gap of about 1 million tons. As domestic living standards improve and consumption concepts change, people pay more attention to the nutritional and health benefits of food. Juice-type soft drinks are replacing carbonated drinks. Raspberries are precisely meeting this demand of people, and domestic demand for raspberries will also surge." Zhou Xiaomeng said with full confidence that he will also establish a farmers' cooperative to lead surrounding villagers in making a "raspberry fortune" together.