Yan Yiding cultivates a money tree for his fellow villagers
He refused to take it easy in retirement, and threw himself body and soul into a battle with the thorny, unwanted wild Chinese honey locust trees... In Xiyao Village, Nancheng Subdistrict, Yanhu District, when people talk about Yan Yiding, he is truly a "good man of our village" in the eyes of his fellow villagers.
Yan Yiding was originally an ordinary worker at the Yuncheng City Electric Power Bureau. After retiring in 2005, he often wondered: "I am still strong and able-bodied, what else can I do?" After returning to his hometown of Xiyao Village, he saw the wide road beside the village and the neat houses within it, which were quite "pleasing to the eye," yet the South Mountain behind the village was overgrown with scrub and utterly chaotic... The incongruity between the two suddenly planted an idea in him: could he carry out a transformation of South Mountain? To beautify the village through concrete action.
In the spring of 2006, Yan Yiding conducted a carpet-style survey of South Mountain. During the survey, he found that wild Chinese honey locust accounted for more than 60% of the natural vegetation, wild jujube 30%, and other shrubs and grasses 10%. Although the green coverage rate of the scrub across the mountain exceeded 80%, its ecological benefits fell far short of those of arbor forests, and its economic benefits were almost zero.
As the saying goes: live off the mountain. After much pondering, he settled on the development of wild Chinese honey locust as his breakthrough: first, in the past women used crushed Chinese honey locust pods to wash their hair, and after washing, their hair was oily, smooth and black and shiny. Second, the Chinese honey locust tree is drought-tolerant, salt-alkali tolerant and pollution resistant, can live 600 to 700 years, and can be used for shelterbelts and soil-and-water conservation forest belts. Third, the thorns of Chinese honey locust have been a precious Chinese medicinal material since ancient times and can be used to increase the villagers' income.
From this, a breakthrough idea emerged in Yan Yiding's mind - that is, to do everything possible to convert the wild Chinese honey locust on the mountain into Chinese honey locust trees through grafting. No sooner said than done. Starting in 2007, Yan Yiding successively established Shanxi Lvyuanchun Ecological Forestry Co., Ltd. and the Yuncheng City Yanhu District Sanyuan Gleditsia Planting Professional Cooperative, contracted 3000 mu of wasteland on South Mountain in Xiyao Village, and comprehensively began tackling the grafting of Chinese honey locust shrubs and the selection and breeding of improved varieties.
Under the guidance of the Provincial Academy of Forestry Sciences, Beijing Forestry University and other institutions, after 7 years of unremitting exploration and effort, his research team achieved a breakthrough in the technical challenge of grafting wild shrub Chinese honey locust onto high-quality arbor Chinese honey locust, and bred a new dual-purpose Chinese honey locust variety for both pods and thorns - Shuaiding, which passed provincial-level improved forest variety appraisal, and summarized and formed a series of propagation techniques for wild Chinese honey locust including scion collection, grafting and management. In 2014, he invested 3 million yuan and transformed more than 1000 mu of wild Chinese honey locust in one go, earning more than 400,000 yuan that year, with Chinese honey locust thorns selling for about 150 yuan per kilogram.
A single scientific research achievement can revitalize an industry and improve the ecology of a region; an industry can invigorate a local economy and enrich local farmers.
Walking into South Mountain of Xiyao Village today, it has bid farewell to yesterday's bleakness and is now presenting a scene of "shrubs changed to arbors, barren hills turned into gardens."
Recently, in an interview with reporters, Yan Yiding recounted that nowadays in the village, everyone is willing to work with him. Under intensive cultivation and management conditions, when wild Chinese honey locust is grafted with Shuaiding, it begins bearing fruit in the 3rd year, and after entering full fruiting period in the 5th year, under normal circumstances, with pods and thorns combined, the annual income per mu can reach more than 5000 yuan. In order to dispel everyone's worries, the cooperative has provided free training to more than 300 local farmers and distributed 250,000 Shuaiding scions free of charge. At the same time, it has signed agreements with farmers: it is clearly stipulated that for any farmer who introduces Shuaiding seedlings, if the annual income per mu after entering full fruiting period is less than 5000 yuan, the cooperative will make up the difference to 5000 yuan; for the portion of income exceeding 5000 yuan, the cooperative and the farmer split it equally.
"Now the fellow villagers have all been mobilized, and the next step must be industrial development." The high-spirited Yan Yiding revealed to reporters that his company has now cooperated with the Beijing Academy of Forestry Sciences to build a factory and has begun producing Chinese honey locust powder. At the same time, the company has planned 30 mu of land, is applying to establish a Gleditsia research institute, and is negotiating cooperation with relevant units on deep processing of Chinese honey locust, trying to develop Chinese honey locust products such as shampoo, baby-specific soap and dishwashing liquid.
"Cooperation is not about how much money I make; it is enough for me to hold a little equity. I just want to get this done, do it well and make it big, for the benefit of the farmers in the village and surrounding areas." When saying this, Yan Yiding's gaze was firm and he was full of confidence.
Some economists say that village worthies often bring a new economic model - the return economy. Yan Yiding, now in his sixties, is using his actions to add a footnote to this statement.