Fruit tree branches turn into money bags: young man Xie Zhigang from Ji County returns home to start a business
"Thanks to President Xie for arranging two technicians to keep persuading me not to apply chemical fertilizer to the field. After listening to him, I truly benefited this year." Looking at the apple trees full of abundant fruit in the field, Qiang Jianzhong, an orchardist from Anping Village, Zhongduo Township, Ji County, was grinning from ear to ear: "Look, these apples have burst right through their bags! Big size, good color, even better taste. They will definitely fetch a good price this year." Recently, Qiang Jianzhong told reporters about his happy news.
What made Qiang Jianzhong happy was not just this one thing. All things considered, his apples grew better than others', yet his input was lower than others'! Between the two, he saved several thousand yuan per mu. Such benefits came from a choice he made back then.
Qiang Jianzhong is a man who likes to use his head. Last year, he heard that someone in the county had used organic fertilizer and got high apple yields and good taste, so he made a special trip to learn and gain experience. After returning, he also wanted to use organic fertilizer; however, the price of organic fertilizer was very high.
Just as Qiang Jianzhong was hesitating about what choice to make, he discovered that right at his doorstep there happened to be an organic fertilizer factory. Upon learning about it, he found out that this project was introduced from elsewhere by a young man - using discarded fruit tree branches to process organic fertilizer. Hearing this, Qiang Jianzhong was delighted, because for years his family had accumulated fruit tree branches with nowhere to put them.
After further conversation, he learned that this young man was named Xie Zhigang, a native of Ji County, now developing his career in Taiyuan, and general manager of Shanxi Wofei Culture Communication Co., Ltd. He had originally lived a comfortable life in the provincial capital, with a bright future and income. Because his roots are in Ji County, Xie Zhigang always had the development of his hometown on his mind. He learned that the apple industry had already become the leading industry of Ji County, and most farmers had become rich because of it. However, due to the traditional methods of spraying pesticides and applying chemical fertilizers over many years, local soil had become compacted and its fertility had declined, to the point that plants could not grow, soil organic matter was lacking, and soil microbial growth was inhibited. At the same time, in recent years, Ji County had vigorously promoted the upgrading of apple quality and began implementing "thinning and spacing" in densely planted orchards throughout the county. The discarded branches produced by fruit trees over the long term, aside from occasionally being used for cooking fires, were mostly left by orchardists as waste in the fields, at village edges, and around courtyards, becoming a major problem in the current rural environmental improvement effort.
Xie Zhigang was anxious for his hometown. He made special trips out to seek solutions, traveling to Malaysia and Taiwan, China, for more than half a year of investigation. After analysis and comparison, he signed contracts to introduce Taiwan agricultural technology and a team of agricultural experts, returned to Ji County, and began trying to process discarded apple tree branches into organic fertilizer.
"We crush the discarded branches from orchardists, add farmyard manure and Taiwan biological organic bacteria in a certain proportion, pile them up to ferment for about two months, and they decompose into organic fertilizer." Next to the processing machine, Xie Zhigang introduced the advantages of this method: previously, the price of one ton of organic fertilizer used by orchardists was generally around 3,000 yuan, while using one ton of branches can process one ton of apple organic fertilizer, requiring only a 600 yuan processing fee per ton.
In order to spread this new technology of processing apple branches into organic fertilizer, Xie Zhigang registered and established Shanxi Jinfunian Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd. and the Ji County Guangcai Organic Fertilizer Processing Professional Cooperative, built a professional service team, helped orchardists test orchard soil, put forward rational suggestions for formula fertilization, and provided technical guidance in orchards and households.
Seeing useless discarded apple branches magically turn into cash, Ge Jiping, head of Zhongduo Township and himself trained in agriculture, praised this technology highly: organic fertilizer processed from apple branches has high organic matter content, is absorbed quickly by fruit trees, and its application effect is no worse than traditional organic fertilizer. Apple branch organic fertilizer can convert organic matter into nutrient elements necessary for fruit tree growth, inhibit the production of harmful substances, and soften the soil. Applying fertilizer and bagging are currently the main cost investments in apple production. This new technology introduced by Xie Zhigang makes "the best use of everything," which is exactly what orchardists have been hoping for."
In the short term, processing branches into organic fertilizer can save orchardists 2,000 yuan per ton in costs, but by using organic fertilizer to promote soil improvement, raise apple quality, and drive price increases, for Ji County's apples grown on 300,000 mu, this will be another huge benefit. If this technology is further promoted, it will produce immeasurable benefits.
The interview took place in a fine drizzle. This silent, nourishing drizzle came at just the right time and can greatly help promote a bumper apple harvest this autumn. And the new technology introduced by Xie Zhigang is undoubtedly just the timely rain for the further development of Ji County's orchardists.