Small watermelons grow big wealth, Huang Aihua is known as the Melon King
The villagers of Menggongshan Village, Yitang Town, Yongzhou City never imagined that growing watermelons could also make them rich.
Seven years ago, Huang Aihua came here to reclaim wasteland and grow watermelons, and made a big fortune. The local villagers were shaken, and with his help, every household began growing watermelons.
Today, the contiguous planting of Black Beauty watermelons in Yitang Town has become the largest contiguous planting demonstration area in the country, driving and radiating the planting of Black Beauty watermelons in surrounding counties, districts and townships to more than 100,000 mu, with an annual output value of more than 180 million yuan, and the per capita annual income of the cooperative's 3,000 members reaching 20,000 yuan.
"Yitang Black Beauty, poverty alleviation Huang Aihua" has become Yongzhou City's calling card for "targeted poverty alleviation."
"Sell ten mu of melons, drive a car home"
In 1984, after being discharged from the army, Huang Aihua returned to his hometown to go into business, and soon achieved some success. Looking at the desolate scene of his hometown, he kept thinking about how to use this land to help his fellow villagers start businesses and get rich together.
"Only a big industry can drive big development!" Huang Aihua believed that industrial poverty alleviation is the best path out of poverty. Afterwards, he invested a large amount of funds to transfer and revitalize 7,000 mu of wasteland in Menggongshan Village and build greenhouses. In 2009, Huang Aihua initiated the establishment of the "Wuxing Watermelon Professional Cooperative," leading melon farmers to develop as a "group," with unified seedling cultivation, unified technology, unified fertilizer supply, unified branding, and unified sales. These five "unified" measures formed a clustering effect.
In the first year, Guan Jieyuan planted 13 mu and earned more than 60,000 yuan. When the villagers saw that the first batch of members had gotten a "taste of sweetness" from growing watermelons, they followed suit one after another. Soon, watermelons were planted throughout the fields of Menggongshan Village, greenhouses were built, and the planting of Black Beauty watermelons reached more than 10,000 mu.
"Plant one greenhouse, and escape poverty that same year; sell ten mu of melons, and drive a car home!" In today's Menggongshan Village, new homes with white walls and red tiles stand against the hills, and broad, flat roads lead straight to the villagers' doors...
"Yitang Black Beauty, poverty alleviation Huang Aihua"
"The prosperity of one industry can often drive the development of multiple industries." Ai Kexiang, director of the Management Committee of the Yongzhou National Agricultural Science and Technology Park and mayor of Yitang Town, told reporters that the "Wuxing Watermelon Professional Cooperative" is now Yongzhou's first watermelon professional cooperative integrating scientific research, production, and supply and marketing, and has not only driven surrounding townships to grow watermelons, but also driven the joint prosperity of logistics, transportation, rural tourism and other industries.
Near Menggongshan Village is Hunan's largest watermelon trading market, where four to five thousand melon farmers trade every day. At peak times, the parked large trucks stretch as far as the eye can see.
Yitang Town has held a watermelon festival for six consecutive years, changing from the previous "sell out" sales model to the current "bring in" sales model. Tourists come on their own to pick watermelons, which not only promotes the "Yitang" brand Black Beauty watermelons, but also drives the local tourism industry.
Huang Aihua has continuously expanded the planting scale. The company pays nearly 700,000 yuan in rent each year and employs more than 150 local villagers year-round, with per capita monthly income reaching 2,000 yuan. Yitang Town's previous land output was only three to four hundred yuan per mu. Through the industrial drive of Huang Aihua's company, it has increased tenfold, reaching 3,000-4,000 yuan per mu.