How does a small blueberry lift up a big industry in Ziyun, Guizhou?
Small blueberries lift up a big industry
- A brief account of Chen Peng, former deputy director of the Ziyun Autonomous County Forestry Bureau, leading an industry
The photo shows Chen Peng inspecting the growth of blueberries.
The photo shows a contiguously planted blueberry base.
In Dongkou Village, Bandang Town, Ziyun Autonomous County, a legendary "civil servant farmer" has led local farmers in planting the "king of fruits" - blueberries - and his story of helping villagers escape poverty and become prosperous is widely celebrated.
This "civil servant farmer" is named Chen Peng, now 41 years old. Two months ago, he resigned from his positions as a member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Ziyun Autonomous County Forestry Bureau as well as from public office, to devote himself to growing blueberries. Chen Peng came from a farming family. After graduating from Guizhou Provincial Forestry School in 1997, he stayed rooted at the front line of forestry work, and because of his diligence and hard work, he advanced step by step to a leadership position. What was the reason that made him give up the "golden rice bowl" at the best age of his career and firmly resolve to become a farmer in Dongkou Village, Bandang Town? Curious and puzzled, a group of reporters recently went to Dongkou Village for an interview.
The car drove along the whole way, turning from the broad provincial highway onto a country road. On both sides of the mountain hollow, dense shrub-like plants were covered with fruit, and each blue-purple berry looked crystal-clear and tempting. These were blueberries.
The newly cut mountain road wound steeply, and as far as the eye could see, the surroundings were all newly reclaimed terraced fields, all planted with blueberries. The scale was astonishing to the reporters. It is understood that this place was originally a deserted barren mountain. Guizhou Plateau Blue Agricultural Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., founded by Chen Peng, led local farmers to brave hardships, reclaim wasteland and level the ground, and actually turned this steep barren mountain into a blueberry planting base. This blueberry planting base also became the "treasure bowl" through which Chen Peng devoted all his strength to leading more than 400 poor people in Dongkou Village, Bandang Town, out of poverty toward prosperity.
Finding a path out of poverty and toward prosperity for poor farmers
After graduating from Guizhou Provincial Forestry School and entering the Ziyun Autonomous County Forestry Bureau, Chen Peng had always been engaged in technical work. In 2010, he had an idea: Ziyun's crisp plums, red-core sweet potatoes and walnuts were all quite good, but the planting industry was not large. Could the mountainous resources of Ziyun be used to create a planting industry with relatively high economic returns and bring greater benefits to poor farmers? Chen Peng kept turning this over in his mind. Blueberries, with relatively high economic returns, caught Chen Peng's attention, and this deputy director of the forestry bureau decided to investigate and learn about blueberry cultivation.
After visiting major blueberry-producing areas such as the three northeastern provinces, Shandong and Nanjing, the Ziyun Autonomous County Forestry Bureau invited experts to evaluate Ziyun's climate, soil and so on. The results showed that the climate and soil in most areas of Ziyun were very suitable for growing blueberries. At this point, the issue before Chen Peng was the selection of blueberry varieties. After careful selection, six varieties including "southern highbush" and "northern highbush" were designated as the main varieties for developing blueberry cultivation in Ziyun.
In September 2013, Ziyun Autonomous County issued a policy encouraging cadres and workers to lead industries while retaining their salaries. Many people signed up at the time, and Chen Peng boldly signed up as well. After signing up, before the contract for leading the industry had even been signed, Chen Peng used his weekends to conduct trial plantings of blueberries.
"After further understanding the climate and soil of various places in Ziyun, I chose Dongkou Village in Bandang Town as the base for leading the industry and planting blueberries," Chen Peng said. Dongkou Village had a large impoverished population, and blueberry cultivation is a labor-intensive industry. He hoped that planting blueberries could find a path out of poverty and toward prosperity for local poor farmers.
In February 2014, with the support of the government and relevant departments, the 300-mu blueberry cultivation demonstration garden in Dongkou Village, Bandang Town, began planting, and all the blueberry plants planted were large seedlings that could bear fruit that same year.
In October 2014, Chen Peng formally signed a contract with the Ziyun Autonomous County Industry Office for cadres and workers to lead an industry while retaining their salaries.
The deputy director turns "farmer"
"Starting the business was very difficult. At the time I had only more than 100,000 yuan. I relied on my credibility to borrow some money and brought in partners to invest, so the initial 300-mu blueberry cultivation demonstration garden in Dongkou Village could be planted on schedule," Chen Peng said. After careful cultivation and planning and operation, on the basis of sightseeing and picking, he took the initiative to contact fruit wholesalers in Beijing and elsewhere for sales. In just over a year, the blueberry cultivation demonstration garden, which had an investment of more than 2 million yuan, recovered its investment cost.
At that moment, the blueberry cultivation demonstration garden in Dongkou Village, Bandang Town, attracted the attention of Guizhou Bailing Group. After inspection, the group's relevant person in charge decided to help this blueberry cultivation demonstration garden develop. At the end of 2015, with strong support from the county, through land transfer and using the sloping land around the demonstration garden, the blueberry cultivation demonstration garden in Dongkou Village, Bandang Town, expanded by another 3,000 mu. In January 2016, Guizhou Bailing Group acquired 60% of the equity of the cultivation demonstration garden and renamed it Ziyun Bailing Ecological Blueberry Garden.
Starting in March this year, most of the newly added 3,000 mu of land was planted with new seedlings. In April, Chen Peng formally resigned from public office and became a genuine "farmer," dealing with the land and farmers all day long.
Extending the blueberry industry chain
"Blueberries have a very high market acceptance rate. Blueberry fruit contains rich nutritional components and has good nutritional and health-care effects," Chen Peng said. Because blueberries contain rich nutritional components and special bioactive substances, they have been listed by the International Food and Agriculture Organization as one of the five major health foods. Market demand is increasing year by year, and they have broad development prospects. At present, the blueberry industry has strong development momentum and remarkable benefits, and is of great significance for cultivating new economic growth points, developing the fruit industry, increasing the income of people in producing areas, and promoting the economic transformation of forest areas.
Chen Peng introduced that at present, China's commercial blueberry cultivation areas stretch from Heilongjiang Province in the northeast to Yunnan and Guizhou in the southwest, covering more than 10 provinces, making blueberries a new type of nationwide fruit tree. At present, with the injection of funds from Guizhou Bailing Group and its broad market resources, he is full of confidence in the Ziyun blueberry industry.
"Ziyun Bailing Ecological Blueberry Garden is currently the largest contiguously developed blueberry base in Guizhou," Chen Peng said. The newly added 3,000-mu blueberry base is expected to generate benefits in 2019, by which time fresh fruit output will reach 3 million jin and output value will reach 80 to 90 million yuan. Ziyun Bailing Ecological Blueberry Garden is applying to become a provincial-level agricultural industrial park, and Ziyun blueberries will also actively apply to become a geographical indication product.
Chen Peng introduced that in order to extend the industry chain, avoid the market risk of selling only fresh fruit, and improve efficiency, financing has now been secured and a site selected for building a blueberry food processing base to carry out the production and development of dried blueberries, blueberry wine, blueberry juice, blueberry jam, blueberry capsules and so on. "The processing base is not far from the expressway and is expected to go into production in the second half of next year."
Helping more poor farmers escape poverty and become prosperous
Chen Peng introduced that at present, 30 to 40 local farmers work in the blueberry garden every day, and at most more than 100. Dongkou Village currently has 153 poor farmer households and more than 400 poor people. Next, he plans to contract the newly added 3,000-mu blueberry base to 100 poor farmer households. A three-year contract period will enable the contracted farmer households to escape poverty and become prosperous. "After the poor farmer households escape poverty, we will turn them into industrial workers, then turn them into shareholders, and finally make them owners holding 70% of the shares of the blueberry garden. By then, we will shift our focus to the market and invest in the deep-processing industry of blueberries. By reasonably determining the proportion of benefit distribution, we will achieve a win-win situation for multiple parties and the goal of driving farmers to common prosperity."
"Next, we will also provide blueberry seedlings to the remaining poor households. Through the poor households planting and managing them themselves, the blueberry base will expand by another 2,000 mu, so as to ultimately solve the food and clothing problem of all poor households," Chen Peng said. Developing the blueberry cultivation industry in Dongkou Village, while driving local farmers to prosperity, can also consolidate the results of returning farmland to forest.