Growing a Sweet Business from Seven-Color Peanuts: Specialty Farming Helps Farmers Increase Income

Walking into Nanmayu Village, Hezhuang Town, in the north of Laicheng District, Laiwu City, a different kind of scenery comes into view: endless rolling mountains, murmuring mountain springs, and all kinds of thriving crops on the yellow earth all make visitors linger. In Nanmayu Village there is a well-known "number one figure" - Song Zuoping - not only because of his position as village Party secretary, but more because his "seven-color peanuts" have already made a name for themselves. Recently, our reporter interviewed Song Zuoping exclusively to uncover the story behind this "number one figure."

Village Party Secretary Transforms into a Business Mentoring Instructor

As a native of Hezhuang Town, Song Zuoping has a distinctive "earthy air" and "fighting spirit." "Secretary Song" is what the villagers of Nanmayu Village have always called Song Zuoping. In the village, Song Zuoping has two identities: village Party secretary and head of the cooperative. Walking into the Nanmayu Village committee office, a small courtyard of a few dozen sq m holds several single-story rooms including an archive room and a study room, and one of these rooms is Song Zuoping's office.

As a Communist Party member and village Party secretary, whenever something comes up in the village, Song Zuoping always shows up at the first moment. In 2009, an idea burst into Song Zuoping's mind: if he turned his agricultural products into packaged products for sale, he could both build a brand and lead the villagers to start businesses and become prosperous.

Once there is an idea, it must be put into practice. After more than a year of preparation, in 2010 Song Zuoping joined with more than 100 member households from nearby villages and towns to establish the Jinlai Grain and Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative. After 6 years of development, the cooperative now has more than 400 registered member households and a fixed production base of 15,000 mu. In 2011, Song Zuoping was hired by the Laiwu office of Youth Business China as a youth entrepreneurship mentor.

Hybridization Technology Gives Birth to "Seven-Color Peanuts"

In the cooperative's warehouse, rows of packaging boxes printed with "seven-color peanuts" caught the reporter's attention, and this is also the cooperative's flagship product. During the conversation, Song Zuoping casually grabbed a handful of peanuts, and after shelling them, the reporter found peanuts in colors such as purple, black, white and yellow, but the reporter noticed that on the surface, these peanut skins did not look very different. When it comes to distinguishing different varieties of peanuts, Song Zuoping has his own "secret manual": first, look at the outward shape; some are relatively slender, while others are smaller - this mainly comes from his many years of planting experience.

Speaking of the cultivation and planting of seven-color peanuts, Song Zuoping told the reporter that the soil at the foot of the mountains in Hezhuang Town is suitable for peanut growth, and at the beginning of the cooperative's establishment he introduced seven-color peanut technology from Shandong Agricultural University and the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. "In fact, the reason these peanuts can grow in all kinds of colors is that they are produced through hybridization," Song Zuoping said.

"Pollution-Free + Highly Nutritious" Is the Biggest Selling Point

Speaking of the product's biggest selling point, Song Zuoping confidently told the reporter that seven-color peanuts are deeply loved by people locally and in surrounding cities because of their high nutritional value. "The black peanuts, which have the highest yield, are rich in more than ten trace elements essential to the human body; white peanuts have a high protein content; yellow peanuts have effects such as strengthening the spleen and stomach and benefiting the kidneys by removing water; purple peanuts have the effects of moistening the lungs and resolving phlegm, and clearing the throat and stopping cough. The health benefits of each kind of peanut are its selling point."

At the planting base at the foot of the mountains, the reporter saw patches of green peanut seedlings swaying gracefully in the sandy soil. "The planting base was certified in 2014 by the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture as a pollution-free agricultural product production area, and the peanuts and other crops grown there have also been certified by the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China as pollution-free agricultural products," Song Zuoping told the reporter.

As the cooperative's scale continues to expand, Song Zuoping feels deeply the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. In his plan, he wants to make the seven-color peanut brand widely known. "At present, I have contacted relevant personnel at Rural Taobao and am preparing to launch the products on an e-commerce platform, which can also be counted as adding another sales channel," Song Zuoping said.