Planting "golden fruits" turns Lanniwan into Nanniwan

In Group 3 of Zixing Village, Longdong Town, Baoxing County, there is a small place known as Lanniwan. According to the village elders, the name comes from a patch of muddy field there that is soaked in water year-round, so the villagers of this group can only grow traditional crops with low economic value, such as corn and beans.

Dong Zhiqing lives in this group. As early as 2012, unwilling to live in poverty, he began working with some villagers to develop a poverty-alleviation industry - growing walnuts.

But reality did not go as smoothly as imagined. From initial full confidence, to falling into a trough midway, to regrouping in the fight against poverty, Dong Zhiqing not only set an example as a Party member, but also led more impoverished people onto a new path out of poverty.

On June 20, in Zixing Village, Longdong Town, Baoxing County, Dong Zhiqing inspects the growth of walnuts in the field.

Stumbling along, never giving up hope

Dong Zhiqing's choice to grow walnuts was inspired by a mountain walnut tree in front of his home that stands more than ten meters tall, with a trunk thicker than the waist of an average adult.

"Every June, this walnut tree that grew up with me is always covered with walnuts wrapped in green husks," Dong Zhiqing said. After these native wild walnuts mature, although they taste crisp and fragrant, they are somewhat small and not visually appealing for sale.

In early 2012, Dong Zhiqing learned from villagers who had returned home to visit relatives that in recent years, more and more people had been paying attention to health preservation, and walnuts were an important health food among them. Ordinary walnuts could sell for 30 yuan per kilogram, and premium walnuts in supermarkets could even sell for 40 to 60 yuan per kilogram.

Greatly encouraged, Dong Zhiqing immediately invited several farmers in the same village who shared the same idea and established the Baoxing County Xianrenping Walnut Planting Professional Cooperative, initially planting 50 mu of walnuts, ready to go all out.

But developments surprised everyone. Although the walnut trees grew well, they never bore fruit. Disappointed and without capital, more villagers chose to go out to work, placing the hope of developing the walnut industry on Dong Zhiqing, who was unwilling to give up.

The turning point came in 2015, when Dong Zhiqing met a person while attending a "nine bowls" banquet in Tuanjie Village, Wulong Township, Baoxing County.

This person was Yan Weigang, a young man from Qionglai. In 2010, he rented 200 mu of sloping land from local villagers in Tuanjie Village and developed walnuts, which local villagers had believed could not be grown successfully there, and achieved his first bumper harvest in 2013.

That day, the two found common ground on the topic of the walnut industry. Dong Zhiqing spoke of his confusion over the setbacks in developing the walnut industry, while Yan Weigang identified the cause - the walnut variety was not suited to the local climate and soil, and only grafting with varieties suitable for local planting could turn the situation around.

That same year, with Yan Weigang's help, Dong Zhiqing first grafted 25 mu of his walnuts. Afterward, as the battle against poverty began, with the help and coordination of the village and the town, Dong Zhiqing and Yan Weigang established a formal cooperative relationship, with Yan Weigang providing Dong Zhiqing with technical support for walnut cultivation.

Successful fruiting drives villagers to prosperity

"The grafted walnuts not only grew to more than 1 meter tall that same year, but also bore fruit again this June." On the afternoon of the 20th, looking at the promising walnuts, Dong Zhiqing's face was full of smiles.

The success of the walnut grafting gave Dong Zhiqing confidence. At the villager representative meeting held in the village early this year, he issued an invitation to all the villagers.

In April this year, more villagers of Zixing Village joined the ranks of developing the walnut planting industry, planting more than 160 mu of walnuts in total. Among them, in Group 3 of Zixing Village, where Dong Zhiqing lives, all 14 households participated, newly planting more than 40 mu of walnuts. In the whole village, the total number of farming households participating in walnut planting also reached 80.

At almost the same time, Yan Weigang brought technicians and grafted seedlings suited to local walnut growth, grafted the 25 mu of walnuts Dong Zhiqing had planted earlier, and during grafting gave on-site demonstrations to farmers planting walnuts for the first time, explaining the corresponding technical management experience.

At the demonstration site, there were both ordinary villagers and registered impoverished households. Ren Shikang, who lives in Group 1 of Zixing Village, planted a total of 2 mu of walnuts, making him one of the impoverished households in the village that planted a relatively large area of walnuts this time.

"With a poverty-alleviation industry and technical services, all this is thanks to the thoughtfulness of the village and Old Dong." Just as Ren Shikang said, from the time the seedlings were bought and planted to now, Dong Zhiqing has treated every impoverished household developing the walnut industry equally. Whenever anyone encounters difficulties in planting, a single phone call is enough for him to find time to visit and inspect as promptly as possible.

It is precisely because of these thoughtful and meticulous services that Dong Zhiqing was selected as a Party member demonstration household in March this year during the "Party Building and Poverty Alleviation Dual Demonstration Project" carried out in Baoxing.

Now, along with the implementation of the Party member demonstration household, a portion of poverty-alleviation funds has also followed. At present, 40,000 yuan of this funding has been secured, all held in a dedicated account in the town, mainly used for grafting newly planted walnuts and follow-up industry development.

As the walnut industry has begun to show progress, Dong Zhiqing, aiming for long-term development and the goal of escaping poverty and becoming prosperous, has also gained more new ideas. He believes that whether it is the walnuts of Tuanjie Village in Wulong Township, or the walnuts of Zixing Village and Xinghuo Village in Longdong Town, in the final analysis, they are all Baoxing walnuts. "While ensuring the same quality, supplemented by corresponding packaging design, Baoxing's organic walnuts will certainly quickly become competitive in the market," Dong Zhiqing said.