Three-dimensional cultivation of honeysuckle paves an ecological road to prosperity
Zhou Qinghua of Shuiping Town, Zhuxi County, Hubei Province, gave up his career as a doctor and resolutely returned to his hometown to engage in the cultivation of honeysuckle medicinal herbs, online sales, scientific and technological research and development, and other work. Relying on honeysuckle, he has embarked on an ecological road to prosperity that combines planting with breeding and pursues three-dimensional development.
In 2012, Zhou Qinghua invested more than 2 million yuan and registered and established the Zhuxi County Huayu Honeysuckle Professional Cooperative. In Daxianyu Village, Shuiping Town, he transferred more than 500 mu of land, innovated the planting model, and pursued three-dimensional development. He carried out localized cultivation and planting of introduced varieties. Taking advantage of the honeysuckle's well-developed and juicy root system, he raised the medicinal insect golden cicada in the base, collected cicada sloughs, and processed cicada pupae, increasing economic income by more than 6,000 yuan per mu per year. Making full use of the notable characteristics of honeysuckle's large flower volume and multiple flowering times, he carried out bee breeding in the base to obtain natural honeysuckle honey, adding 2,000 yuan in income per mu per year. Adding the income from picking honeysuckle, the total annual income per mu of honeysuckle under the three-dimensional cultivation model reached more than 20,000 yuan.
After years of research and development, the processed honeysuckle tea has a sweet and cool taste, a fragrant aroma, and a jade-green, transparent liquor color. Zhou Qinghua opened an online store and signed long-term honeysuckle supply contracts with raw material purchasers from the Wanglaoji beverage enterprise, Jiuzhoutong Traditional Chinese Medicine Company, and the Hebei Honeysuckle Trading Center, ensuring sales channels for honeysuckle tea. At present, the cooperative has absorbed 106 member households and has driven more than 3,000 farmers in surrounding townships, villages, and groups to plant more than 15,000 mu of honeysuckle.