Professional walnut tree management services are charged at 300 yuan per mu

Original title: "Walnut Nannies" Ease Farmers' Worries

-- Shanxi Jincheng Lvzhimeng Agricultural Technology Company Explores Agricultural Supply-Side Reform

The photo shows technicians from Lvzhimeng company pruning walnut trees for fruit farmers in Zhangsigou Village, Chuandi Township, Zezhou County. (Online illustration: Taihang Daily)

Watching clusters of walnut flowers blooming on the branches, Cui Hailong, owner of a walnut orchard in Zhangsigou Village, Chuandi Township, Zezhou County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, wore a satisfied smile: a professional walnut pruning team of 30 people was spread across the 350-mu orchard skillfully pruning the walnut trees; a fruit tree fertilizer applicator roared as it shuttled back and forth under the trees to top-dress the walnuts.

Cui Hailong explained that this "nanny-like" walnut management and care team is the professional walnut management team of Shanxi Jincheng Lvzhimeng Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. By entrusting his own walnut trees to the "walnut nannies," Cui Hailong's walnut income last year grew from just over 1,000 yuan per mu to nearly 6,000 yuan. And the annual management and care cost was only 300 yuan per mu.

In recent years, as walnut market prices have steadily risen, people across Shanxi have shown unprecedented enthusiasm for planting walnuts. Coupled with the government providing free walnut saplings, the walnut planting area has continued to increase. Jincheng City alone has as much as 270,000 mu. However, due to factors such as farmers' lack of professional skills and insufficient investment, walnut yields are low and quality is poor, making it impossible to form market competitiveness, which has led to situations in some places where "trees are planted but no one manages them."

"The fragmented farming model of individual households makes it very difficult to produce reliable agricultural products in large quantities and with high quality, and it is impossible to achieve economies of scale and income growth." Jiao Nan's research focus in university was agricultural supply-side reform. Inspired by the more than 400 mu of walnut forest planted by his father, he decided to reform the agricultural supply structure and help farmers turn walnut trees into "money trees" for escaping poverty and becoming prosperous. With his father's help, Jiao Nan established Lvzhimeng Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd. and formed a 30-person walnut management and care team with rich experience to manage walnut trees on behalf of farmers who had planted trees but did not know how to care for them. Based on labor cost calculations, the service fee was determined: for one mu of walnut orchard, from grafting, pruning, fertilizing, cultivating, weeding, pest and disease control to harvesting and sales, a full-chain service, only 297.4 yuan per mu was charged as a technical contracting service fee.

Yan Runbing, Party branch secretary of Xingwang Village, Beiliu Township, Yangcheng County, told reporters: "Lvzhimeng is truly a timely rain, helping the village while also bringing real benefits to the people." Xingwang Village is a specialized walnut planting village, with all 1,053 mu of land planted with walnut trees, but management has consistently lagged behind, and the people's income could not rise. Last September, Lvzhimeng signed management contracts with all 256 households in the village and was also responsible for guaranteed sales, with fees settled when the walnuts were sold. Jiao Nan plans to spend 3 years transforming Xingwang Village's thousand-mu walnut orchard into a quality-enhancing and efficiency-improving demonstration orchard.

Li Longdan is a large-scale walnut grower in Yangquan Village, Qinchí Township, Yangcheng County. His more than 60 mu of walnut trees had been planted for 5 years, and the trees grew vigorously, but yields were very low. Last winter, he invited Lvzhimeng company's professional technical team to carry out a comprehensive pruning, and the walnut trees have now put out clusters of flower catkins. Zhang Yonghong of Guohe Village, Xihe Township, also had his 120 mu of walnut trees treated by Lvzhimeng technicians with targeted top-dressing and weed clearing, and the trees are now lush and growing impressively.

As the saying goes, the flowers bloom inside the wall but the fragrance spreads outside. Lvzhimeng company's excellent supply quickly gained fame. Currently, more than 1,300 walnut growers from over 50 villages in 25 townships across Yangcheng County, Zezhou County, Gaoping City, and Qinshui County have signed agreements with it for more than 5,000 mu of standardized dried fruit economic forest demonstration orchards. Jiao Nan's father, Jiao Xiangming, said happily: "The phone rings nonstop every day, and more and more people are asking for 'nannies' to manage and care for their walnut trees. We don't even have enough hands."

While promoting the "walnut nanny" service, Lvzhimeng also focuses on talent development. Through methods such as "going out to learn and inviting experts in to teach," four young farmers including Jiao Dianmin and Zheng Shuqing obtained the "National Professional and Technical Talent Knowledge Renewal Project Training Certificate" issued by the Management Cadre College of the State Forestry Administration, becoming technical experts among the "walnut nannies." (Jincheng, Shanxi, May 2 dispatch, our reporter Li Jianbin, our correspondent Liu Gaochao)