Jianning, Fujian: Planting snake gourds yields an output value of 40 million yuan
The snake gourd has unique medicinal functions and edible qualities. Today, in Junkou Town, Jianning County, a snake gourd planting base of more than 6,000 mu has become the cradle for villagers to get rich.
“Snake gourds are hard to grow and are easily affected by pests and diseases.” Li Tengming said, “New technology can keep the ‘old snake gourd’ forever young.” Li Tengming is the general manager of Fujian Guanrui Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and also a snake gourd planting expert. This year he became a municipal model worker.
Studying in Anhui, becoming a snake gourd expert
“The bright lights and bustling life outside are not as good as the mountains of gold and silver at home!” When Li Tengming was just starting out, he believed that as long as he worked hard, the “one mu and three fen of land” at home would surely bring wealth.
His hometown, Junkou Town in Jianning County, has suitable temperatures year-round, good air humidity, and mostly sandy soil, and the test data closely match the growing environment for snake gourds. So Li Tengming relied on the planting techniques he had learned elsewhere to start working at it and established Fujian Guanrui Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
After that, his biological clock changed: he got up at 5 a.m. every day to work, “working earlier is not so hot”; at noon he also stayed in the field, “it is cool under the trees, and I can rest when tired”; when leaving the gourd field in the evening with muddy legs, he would still look back a few times, “I found the feeling of being in love again!” In this way, clearing mountains and reclaiming wasteland, after a hard year, the planting of more than 100 mu of snake gourd seedlings was completed.
However, after two years of hard work, the snake gourd yield could not increase, and he could only break even, with no profit.
“Can we ask for help online?” The words of his neighbor Xiao Wu let Li Tengming see a glimmer of light. He compared the conditions photographed in the gourd field one by one with pictures of pests and diseases online and treated them according to the symptoms. After persisting for 10 months, his techniques improved noticeably, but the yield still did not increase significantly.
“It seems we have to rely on new technology.” Li Tengming found online that the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences had mature snake gourd planting technology. He spent half a year studying hard in Anhui, learned modern agricultural production techniques such as three-dimensional ecological cultivation, water and fertilizer regulated healthy plant cultivation, and plastic film mulching cultivation of Trichosanthes kirilowii, and established an industry-university-research cooperation relationship with the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
In 2012, Li Tengming returned after completing his studies and proposed a new idea for snake gourd planting: “expand the planting area and select high-quality varieties.” This triggered a qualitative breakthrough in the snake gourd planting industry in Jianning County. His Trichosanthes kirilowii planting experimental base expanded to more than 600 mu, he introduced more than 30 high-yield and high-quality Trichosanthes kirilowii varieties, participated in the breeding of new Trichosanthes kirilowii varieties at the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and built a seed processing factory…
At present, Guanrui Company has achieved high and excellent yields of Trichosanthes kirilowii, with a yield of more than 150 kg per mu and an output value of 8,000-9,000 yuan per mu; the processing output of snake gourd seeds can reach 800 tons of finished seeds, with an output value of 70-80 million yuan.
Enriching farmers through science and technology, building the snake gourd industry
At that time, Jianning County was strongly promoting the “company + farmers” industrial model in rural areas. Li Tengming proposed extending it into a new idea of “company + farmers + science and technology.”
Guanrui Company's planting base became a big classroom for publicizing and improving technology.
“This is a male snake gourd. Male flowers are 5 days earlier than female flowers. Manual pollination is best at 8-9 a.m. every day.” At the base, Li Tengming guided gourd farmers hand by hand in arranging vines and clearing weeds.
With support from the county, Li Tengming established snake gourd planting bases of more than 3,000 mu in all townships across the county, providing free seedlings, full-process technical guidance, and signed sales contracts, so gourd farmers do not worry about sales. Growing snake gourds has become a magic weapon for Jianning farmers to get rich. This year, planting reached more than 6,000 mu, doubling the area, and can achieve an output value of more than 40 million yuan.