Chen Kaiyan: Sowing New Hope for Selenium-Enriched Rice in the Green Fields
At the famous rice high-yield base for the arena competition in Pingfu Village, Nameng Town, Qinbei District, a news story recently broke about a "selenium-enriched woman powerhouse." Who is this woman powerhouse? She is Chen Kaiyan, the leader of the Suifu Rice Professional Cooperative in Nameng Town.
The Dream of Selenium-Enriched Rice
Chen Kaiyan, a native of Nameng, Qinbei District, is 37 years old this year and once worked at the Nameng Traditional Chinese Medicine Store in Qinbei District. One day in 2014, Chen Kaiyan went traveling to Beihai with friends and saw many people rushing to buy bag after bag of selenium-enriched rice on the street. She walked closer and saw that the packaging of the selenium-enriched rice listed many functions of selenium, saying that selenium is one of the essential trace elements for the human body, the "spark of life," the "king of anti-cancer," and so on. She took out 120 yuan and bought a 5 kg bag of selenium-enriched rice. After cooking several meals at home, the whole family found it fragrant and good-tasting and praised it endlessly. After her little baby Hu Hai tasted this selenium-enriched rice, he said, "Mom, wouldn't it be great if we could eat this fragrant rice every day?"
The child's words were spoken without intent, but for Chen Kaiyan, who heard them, wave after wave of emotion surged in her heart. That very day, she turned on the computer and used the mouse to search online again and again for the functions and cultivation methods of selenium-enriched rice. Chen Kaiyan had worked at a traditional Chinese medicine store for many years and knew that many Chinese and Western medicines cure diseases and save people, but every medicine is three parts toxic. Rice that meets the national selenium-enriched standard has many health benefits for humans. Growing selenium-enriched rice would be a small contribution to humanity. After learning about the enormous role of selenium-enriched agriculture, she planned to rent fields in Nachun Natural Village, Pingfu Village Committee, Nameng, to grow it. Her idea received strong support from her husband Hu Chengwu, the head of the Nameng Agricultural Station.
Choosing a Sacred Place to Plant
Nachun Village, Pingfu Village Committee, Nameng Town, is a demonstration base for the grain high-yield arena competition created by the Municipal Agriculture Bureau and the Qinbei District Agriculture Bureau. Chen Kaiyan's husband Hu Chengwu and an agronomist from the Qinzhou Municipal Agriculture Bureau jointly guided farmer Su Guifen here to achieve a yield of 861.1 kg per mu in the 2015 early season, breaking the record of 770.8 kg per mu set in 2014.
For convenience of work, Chen Kaiyan conducted surveys throughout the hills and ridges of Nachun Village and discovered that between two mountains on the back ridge of Nachun Village there was a stretch of field with clear mountains and waters, murmuring spring water, and no pollution at all. She rented more than 200 mu of mountain fields in Nachun Village at the price of 600 yuan per mu. In the 2015 early season, under the guidance of a senior agronomist from the Municipal Agriculture Bureau, Chen Kaiyan took over the farmers' mountain fields and carried out mechanized farming, hiring local farmers to drive cultivators to prepare the fields, selecting excellent varieties such as Yexiangyou 703 and Longfengyou No. 1 for planting, carrying out sparse sowing to cultivate strong seedlings, applying sufficient organic farmyard manure, using line-marked transplanting and seedling throwing, implementing balanced planting, not applying chemical fertilizers, not spraying pesticides, and hanging 8 vibration-frequency insect-killing lamps for prevention and control, with very good results. In the early and late seasons of 2015, the selenium-enriched rice area was 560 mu, with a total output of 220 tons for the two seasons.
Registering a Trademark to Seek a Market
The Suifu Rice Cooperative grew a considerable amount of selenium-enriched fragrant rice, but not many people showed interest, sales were limited, and a large batch of selenium-enriched grain was still stored at home.
How to open up sales channels? Chen Kaiyan, the leader of the cooperative, was extremely anxious. One day, Yang Wanqing, deputy director of the Qinbei District Agriculture Bureau, and Station Chief Xian of the bureau's Soil and Fertilizer Station came to the Nameng Agricultural Station for research. When Chen Kaiyan saw them, she went forward to ask for advice and request help. With the help of the Qinbei District Agriculture Bureau, Chen Kaiyan overcame one difficulty after another and passed through one hurdle after another. It took her several months to design and register the Qinbei selenium-enriched fragrant rice trademark "Bazhai Suifu Hong," and she spent more than 4,000 yuan to buy a vacuum packaging machine. With the selenium-enriched wild fragrant rice trademark and the vacuum packaging machine, Chen Kaiyan was like a tiger with wings. Seeing the picture on the trademark of clear mountains and waters with selenium-enriched rice growing below the mountains, she was full of energy, packaging by herself and selling by herself. As her reputation grew, the selenium-enriched wild fragrant rice produced by Chen Kaiyan quickly became a popular gift in Nameng Town, and more and more people came to buy in person, purchase online, and order by phone.
After tasting the sweetness of selenium-enriched rice, in the 2016 early season, Chen Kaiyan led the members of the Suifu Rice Cooperative to expand planting to 300 mu, with careful management and balanced planting. Although they encountered several consecutive days of heavy rain, under Chen Kaiyan's leadership, they seized the opportunity when the rain stopped to rush the harvest, drying, and planting, ensuring every grain was brought in. The early season again achieved a bumper harvest, with a total output of 120,000 kg and an average yield of 400 kg per mu. After finishing the early-season rice harvest, Chen Kaiyan also planted more than 300 mu of selenium-enriched wild fragrant rice in the late season. At present, it is growing very well. The earlier-planted seedlings have already closed rows, a lush scene full of vitality, and a bumper harvest is in sight.