Behind the pomegranate dream, Wu Zhi's story of pursuing his dream
He came from a poor farming family, but after years of hard work he carved out a place for himself in his career; his heart is tied to his native land, and he has donated money several times to build village roads and repair schools; in order to change the poor and backward face of his hometown, he took the lead and, for the first time ever, planted pomegranate trees in the village. After the attempt succeeded, he now leads the whole village in growing pomegranates together, aiming to build Huashu Village into a veritable "pomegranate village." He is Wu Zhi, a villager of Huashu Village, Dongsheng Town, Yingshan County, Sichuan Province.
To get rich, you still have to rely on developing industries
On July 15, following a concrete village road, the reporter entered Huashu Village and from afar saw rows of pomegranate trees standing neatly on the hillside. Walking into the pomegranate orchard, the reporter met village Party branch secretary Liu Jiming. "This is the 450-mu premium pomegranate orchard developed by Wu Zhi," Liu Jiming told the reporter.
In 1976, Wu Zhi was born into a poor farming family in Huashu Village. After graduating from junior high school, he went south with a dream to make his way. After more than 10 years of effort, he achieved some success in the construction industry. However, he never forgot the native land that raised him.
During the 2011 Spring Festival, Wu Zhi returned to his hometown after many years away. Seeing the muddy dirt roads whenever it rained, he donated 400,000 yuan to build roads. Inspired by him, fellow villagers working away from home donated more than 160,000 yuan in total, and villagers also spontaneously raised part of the funds. In 2012, a 4.5-kilometer village road was completed and opened to traffic.
Not only that, Wu Zhi also donated 100,000 yuan to his alma mater, Yanjing Pujiang Hope Primary School, to improve school conditions. "Doing something for my fellow villagers makes me very happy. I hope tomorrow will be better for my hometown," said Wu Zhi, who received the honor of a third Public Virtue Figure of Yingshan County in 2013 at the county's third Public Virtue Figure award ceremony.
Wu Zhi believes that if villagers want to live prosperous lives, building roads alone is not enough; they must develop promising industries.
With perseverance, soft-seed pomegranates were planted successfully
"When bagging, be sure not to put leaves into the bag, otherwise it will cause disease," said Wu Zhi. Although he came from the construction industry, he seemed quite familiar with planting techniques. Under the pomegranate trees, Wu Zhi and his fellow villagers talked while working.
"Not only in Yingshan, but currently within 800 kilometers around Yingshan, no one is growing pomegranates," Wu Zhi said. A few years ago, to change the backward face of Huashu Village, Wu Zhi first thought of bringing entrepreneurs back to his hometown to start businesses, but after on-site inspections, several friends backed out for various reasons. "It seems I have to do it myself." So Wu Zhi led village and group officials and representatives of the villagers to inspect many agriculturally developed areas across the country. After multiple verifications, they finally decided to develop a pomegranate planting industry in Huashu Village. In the second half of 2014, Wu Zhi set aside most of his time to return to his hometown to reclaim barren hills and wasteland and build a 450-mu pomegranate plantation.
"Whether Huashu Village could actually produce pomegranates, Wu Zhi himself was not sure," Liu Jiming said. Wu Zhi led everyone to visit and study in the country's six major pomegranate-producing areas and bought back more than 10 kinds of pomegranate trees of different ages. At the end of 2014, more than 40,000 pomegranate trees, mainly Tunisian soft-seed pomegranates, "settled" in Huashu Village for the first time.
After a patient wait, in May 2015, pomegranate trees across the hills bloomed with bright red flowers. One or two months later, the pomegranate flowers turned into smooth little pomegranates and slowly grew larger.
Broadening ideas to build a beautiful "pomegranate village"
"Pomegranates are tasty, but the seeds are hard to spit out!" But the soft-seed pomegranates Wu Zhi planted do not need to have their seeds spit out, which opened the villagers' eyes.
It is understood that when Tunisia established diplomatic relations with China in 1986, it presented 6 soft-seed pomegranate saplings. After decades of cultivation, these soft-seed pomegranates from Tunisia have become a well-known pomegranate variety in our country.
"Pomegranates have one or two times more vitamin C than apples and pears, while their fat and protein content is relatively low," Wu Zhi introduced. "Soft-seed pomegranates have higher market value, selling for more than 30 yuan per kilogram."
"In the first year, 2015, we harvested more than 5 tons of pomegranates. This year's output is expected to be more than 20 tons," said manager He Xianyun, pointing to pomegranate trees covered with fruit. The reporter counted on the spot: one tree had more than 100 fruits. "Generally one fruit weighs eight or nine liang, so the output of one such tree is more than 50 kilograms," He Xianyun said.
Under Wu Zhi's demonstration and leadership, many villagers were eager to try. Liu Yongjun of Group 6 and Liu Yonghui of Group 9, who had originally started businesses away from home with some success, also resolutely returned home to develop, each transferring more than 70 mu of land to work alongside Wu Zhi.
"In May this year, we applied to establish the Zhouyuan Fruit Industry Professional Cooperative, including large growers, land-transfer households and targeted poverty-alleviation households, 79 households in total," Wu Zhi said. "Using the structure of 'cooperative + base + branch + members' and the operation model of 'six unifications and one division,' namely unified management, seedling introduction, fertilizer supply, technical training, pest and disease control, packaging and recycling, and household-based planting, we have resolved farmers' worries about growing pomegranates."
Liu Jiming introduced that villagers are highly motivated to plant pomegranate trees. By the end of this year, the village's pomegranate planting area will reach more than 2,000 mu.
"When the pomegranates bloomed this year, they attracted many outsiders to come and admire them. We are currently preparing for next year's first Pomegranate Flower Festival and Pomegranate Picking Festival, and will also carry out pomegranate adoption activities to drive the development of rural tourism," Wu Zhi said with full confidence when talking about the future. "In three to five years, Huashu Village will become a veritable pomegranate village."
Xianrun, our reporter Li Chuanjun