Growing wild rice stem brings in twice the income of growing rice
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In the green wild rice stem fields, farmers wield knives and harvest briskly; in a simple wild rice stem processing shed, one worker cuts off the top of the wild rice stem and stacks them neatly; another worker packs them in plastic bags and puts them into cardboard boxes... On June 13, at the hundred-mu wild rice stem planting base in Tangling Village, Panting Township, growers were busy harvesting wild rice stems.
According to Fu Yongsheng, head of the Tongjiaban Wild Rice Stem Planting Professional Cooperative in the village, he did business in Zhejiang in his early years. In 2012, by a chance opportunity, he discovered that growing wild rice stem had huge profit potential, so he went specially to the home of a farmer in Shengzhou, Zhejiang, to learn from a master. Because he was generous and free-spending, he won his master's goodwill, and under his master's guidance he quickly grasped the key points of cultivation. That same year he began growing more than 100 mu of wild rice stem, and he often called his master, asking him to come to his fields back home for technical guidance. Under his careful tending, he earned a considerable income that year.
As the saying goes, "Good news travels a thousand li." After seeing Fu Yongsheng's success in growing wild rice stem, local villagers came one after another to his home to ask for advice. Under Fu Yongsheng's explanation, most villagers felt that this endeavor "had great prospects," so some villagers began to discuss planting matters with him.
"In March 2015, we established the Tongjiaban Wild Rice Stem Planting Professional Cooperative in Panting Township. Now it has grown to 25 members, with a planting area of more than 350 mu," Fu Yongsheng said. The cost of growing wild rice stem is relatively low. When farmers grow it themselves, the cost per mu is about 700 yuan, and it can produce two seasons a year. The first season is in May to June, with a yield of 2000 to 4000 jin per mu, and the second season is in October, with a yield of 2000 to 3000 jin per mu. "Growing wild rice stem can bring a profit of more than 3000 yuan per mu per year, twice the income of growing rice," Fu Yongsheng said. Because wild rice stem is mainly grown in paddy fields and easily becomes tough with age, farmers must also harvest it on rainy days, making the labor intensity relatively high.
"At present, our cooperative carries out unified management and sales. The harvested wild rice stems are transported to a rented cold storage facility to keep them fresh, and once there is enough for a full truckload, they are transported to farmers' markets in Fuzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and other places," Fu Yongsheng said. It is currently the harvest period for wild rice stem, and farmers have to go to the fields every day to cut old roots while also fertilizing and weeding to promote the growth of new roots.
To further expand the planting scale, Fu Yongsheng also guided a farmer in Zhonglong Village, Jiumu, to grow 50 mu of wild rice stem; after the wild rice stems are produced, they are uniformly transported to the cold storage for loading. In addition, in Sandu Village, Guangfeng County, Jiangxi, he established a 180-mu wild rice stem planting base with local farmers and a certain Shanghai businessman. The base has already raised wild rice stem seedlings and plans to transplant them in early July. (Ye Yongshi, Wu Yongjun)