Farmer Ye Qiying grows sweet potatoes with an international flair
On September 3, Ye Qiying, a villager from Letang Village, Zhenyang Town, Zhengyang County, came to his sweet potato field early in the morning to check on the growth of the sweet potatoes. Thinking that the new variety he cultivated this year would be harvested in a few days and would be showcased at this year's "China Agricultural Processing Trade Fair," Ye Qiying could not help but feel a surge of excitement.
"I attend the agricultural trade fair every year, and I have attended 18 editions already. The event made me famous, and orders keep pouring in," Ye Qiying recalled. At the first edition, he signed an order worth 150,000 yuan, and afterward the orders grew year after year. At the 2009 agricultural trade fair, he signed a big order worth 450,000 yuan.
"Only by constantly learning and innovating can one achieve development," Ye Qiying said. He not only attends the annual "China Agricultural Processing Trade Fair" but also frequently participates in science and technology exchange meetings, drawing nourishment from them to keep improving himself. One year, when his sweet potatoes were exhibited at the fair, an African buyer took an interest in them. The buyer then negotiated with Ye Qiying and exported them to Africa at 10 yuan per sweet potato seedling. "The 'Meiying No. 1' sweet potato I cultivated once produced 87.5 kg from a single plant!" Ye Qiying said happily. His sweet potato was rated the national "King of Sweet Potatoes" at the fair, and the experts also called Ye Qiying the "King of Chinese Sweet Potatoes."
Today, Ye Qiying has organized 380 farming households in the village to establish the Zhengyang Meiying Sweet Potato Professional Cooperative, spreading the "Meiying No. 1" sweet potato to more than 200 counties and cities in more than ten provinces across the country as well as to Southeast Asia. On April 28, 2015, this "King of Chinese Sweet Potatoes" walked into the Great Hall of the People to attend the "National Model Agricultural Worker" award ceremony, where he was received by General Secretary Xi Jinping.
"This year I have cultivated a new variety again, and I plan to bring it to the fair for exhibition!" Ye Qiying is full of expectations for the upcoming "China Agricultural Processing Trade Fair."