A small guava orchard carries the dream of prosperity: a middle-aged couple quit their jobs and returned to their village to start a business

In Hongwowo Village, Hongmei Town, there is a couple who have already passed the age of 40. They gave up stable and leisurely jobs and returned to the village, where the husband leads and the wife follows, working side by side to run a guava orchard. The small orchard is filled with the couple's passion, and at the same time carries their dream of starting a business and becoming prosperous.

Today, walking into Aunt Chen's guava orchard at Fanwujiao, Hongwowo Village, Hongmei Town, the reporter saw that guavas such as New Century Crystal and Taiwan Pearl No. 1 have grown vigorously, with branches weighed down by abundant fruit, a scene of bountiful harvest. Aunt Chen and her husband were busy picking guavas and packing the fresh fruit for customers. Seeing the guava harvest, Aunt Chen and her husband were quietly overjoyed; they had never expected that a small orchard could bring in such a big income.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "Our scale is not very large right now, about 8 mu. We grow them ourselves, and now we have figured out how to control them in stages, so they can bear fruit all year round. With fruit all year round, we can supply the market without interruption. I think there is a market for this."

Mo Weifeng, Aunt Chen's husband, has many years of experience growing crops, and he had his heart set on starting a business. They believed that to start a business, they had to take relatively high-value cash crops as their development goal. In the end, they decided to grow a fruit that yields relatively quickly, has the effect of lowering blood pressure, blood lipids and blood sugar, and has relatively high nutritional value - guava. The couple acted as soon as they decided. In early 2011, Aunt Chen and her husband rented 8.5 mu of farmland from farmers in the village at 1000 yuan/mu, and through a relative's introduction bought high-quality guava seedlings from Panyu, officially setting up their husband-and-wife orchard.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "Because after our research, we felt that this guava has a medicinal effect and is relatively healthy, so I thought this guava should have very good prospects, so we decided to grow this guava."

Aunt Chen, 41 this year, told the reporter that she married into Hongwowo Village from Caojiao Village, Wangniudun. She used to be a packer at an enterprise, earning a monthly salary of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan. The work was very easy, but later, in order to support her husband's business venture, and as large quantities of fruit from the orchard came onto the market, she quit the easy job and devoted herself wholeheartedly to managing the orchard.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "I used to work in a factory. I was a packer in the factory, and it was relatively easy, but my husband likes starting businesses. He likes this area of growing things. Since he made up his mind to do it, I certainly had to help him. He couldn't do so much by himself."

When they first started growing, they encountered quite a few difficulties, such as pests and diseases and rotten fruit. To solve these problems, the couple paid broad attention to information on agricultural science and technology, actively sought advice from some experienced fruit growers, and attended training classes and technical guidance seminars. After several years of exploration and learning from many sources, they overcame various difficulties and became proficient in guava growing techniques.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "He (my husband) did not understand much about growing things at first, but now after going to study, his understanding in this area has deepened, and it has been a great help to our growing. (Agricultural technicians) have also helped us a lot. First, they sometimes provide technical guidance. Whenever we have difficulties, they come to help us understand and solve them, and they send people to help us promote our products. We are very grateful to the agricultural technicians."

From 2011 to now, the orchard has been in operation for 5 years, with 3 years of harvests. The average yield is more than 4000 jin per mu. After deducting losses, sold at an average price of 4 yuan per jin, the output value per mu can reach 10,000 to 15,000 yuan. At first, their main channel for selling fruit was direct sales. Now they have also kept up with the pace of e-commerce, having relatives post the fruit to WeChat Moments and mobilizing more relatives and friends to come pick it or order online. Through promotion on WeChat Moments, the farthest buyer has been in Shanghai.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "The biggest difficulty is, first of all, maintaining quality. Then, in the early stage of exploration, we felt it was relatively difficult. Now we have figured out that using farmyard manure can maintain the quality of the fruit, making it crisp and crunchy. Second, as for our sales volume, relying only on selling in the market is relatively limited. We want to use online and e-commerce channels, and do some promotion, so that more people know they can come here to pick fruit."

To ensure the quality of the fruit, they insist on applying farmyard manure that they compost themselves, insist on bagging the fruit from the young fruit stage, and reduce the amount of pesticides, ensuring the fruit is safe, healthy and non-toxic. Next, they will also use soil testing and formulated fertilization to achieve scientific fertilization, soil improvement and integrated water and fertilizer management, integrated irrigation and other methods, to solve the problems of spring fruit feeling spongy, black spots on the fruit skin, and a sugary core inside, so as to improve quality.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "I hope our guavas will be of better quality and have broader sales channels, so we don't have to worry about selling them."

Heaven rewards the diligent. Over the past few years, Aunt Chen and her husband have exchanged their hard-earned sweat for the takeoff of their dream, and have also won the abundant fruit and boundless vitality of the guava orchard. It is hoped that they can continuously improve their growing techniques, better open up sales channels, expand the planting area, develop and strengthen the orchard, and realize their dream of starting a business and becoming prosperous.

Orchard manager Aunt Chen: "Once you make up your mind to do something, you must be determined to do it. Whether you succeed or not in the end depends on your own efforts. I think that with persistence, it should be possible. I think everyone is unsure and afraid at the beginning, but after deciding, if you throw yourself into it like burning your boats and make up your mind, it should also be very successful."

It is reported that in recent years, Hongmei Town has attached great importance to the development of high-efficiency agriculture, actively strengthened policy publicity, technical support and guidance for growers, encouraged and guided them to transform and upgrade, and guided them to open up sales channels, so that growers have more confidence in growing, expand the planting area, advance agricultural development, drive more people to become prosperous through entrepreneurship, and promote local economic development.