A dirt slope in Ziyun, Guizhou, turns into a mountain of gold, and the barren hills take on a whole new look
Where Huangheying Village in Maoying Town and Dongkou Village in Bandang Town of Ziyun Autonomous County meet, there are many mountains, much soil, and many barren slopes. In recent years, driven by policies such as industrial restructuring and improving land use efficiency, besides reclaiming 10,000 mu of blueberry orchards on the barren slopes in this area, Wengnong Group of Huangheying Village has also turned the barren slopes into "gold" through land transfer, creating a 10,000-mu oil-tea camellia plantation.
Standing at the highest point of Wengnong Mountain, the sea of oil-tea camellia forest is lush and green in every direction, as if the barren slopes have been draped in a beautiful "green garment." Looking closely, a few oil-tea camellia seedlings are already heavy with fruit, and the tender buds on most of the oil-tea camellia trees have already "broken through."
The owner of this stretch of oil-tea camellia forest is Chen Feishu, a native of Songshan Town, Ziyun. After graduating from Guiyang Medical College, he chose to join the military. After being discharged and returning home in 2013, he had the idea of using the barren slopes to develop an industry. On a friend's suggestion, he thought that planting oil-tea camellia was a good path. So Chen Feishu came to the barren mountains of Wengnong Group in Maoying Town to investigate and found that the barren mountains in this area have an elevation of between 1000 and 1200 m, and the soil acidity and alkalinity and climate are all suitable for the growth of oil-tea camellia.
"The oil made from oil-tea camellia is a purely natural food. Oil-tea camellia oil has medicinal effects and can serve as an ingredient in health care and beauty products," Chen Feishu said. As people's living standards rise higher and higher, the demand for green food and health care products is growing. Developing the oil-tea camellia industry can produce benefits in 4 to 5 years. Although the investment is large, the return of funds is not too late either.
From 2013 to 2014, through land transfer, Chen Feishu invested nearly 5 million yuan and planted 994 mu of oil-tea camellia plantation in Wengnong Group. "To make management easier, I built two houses on the mountain and usually take care of the oil-tea camellia plantation up there." Watching the planted oil-tea camellia seedlings change month by month and the originally barren slopes being draped in green, Chen Feishu's heart was full of joy.
Chen Feishu calculated an account for the reporter: the land transfer fee for the barren slopes is only a few dozen yuan per mu per year, but up to 100 oil-tea camellia trees can be planted per mu. During the high-yield period, each oil-tea camellia tree can produce more than 1 kg of oil-tea camellia oil per year, and each mu can produce more than 100 kg of oil-tea camellia oil. At present, the production price of oil-tea camellia oil is no less than 100 yuan per jin, and the price for good quality exceeds 200 yuan per jin. After the oil-tea camellia plantation goes into production, the cost can be recovered in three years, and after that, apart from costs such as labor and fertilizer, it is all profit.
Oil-tea camellia planting is a labor-intensive industry, with a relatively large amount of labor required, including fertilizing, weeding, picking, and processing. "For the 994-mu oil-tea camellia plantation, even before the harvest period, the picking work alone requires more than 2,000 work hours each year, and the wage per work hour is about 70 yuan. This not only solves the problem of nearby employment for villagers but also increases the income of local villagers," Chen Feishu said. His workers are basically all villagers from Wengnong Group, and every year he has to pay 150,000 yuan in labor costs.
Under Chen Feishu's leadership, the number of households in Huangheying Village planting oil-tea camellia has increased to more than 10, and the planting area has now grown to nearly 5,000 mu. In the next step, Maoying Town will vigorously develop the oil-tea camellia industry and plans to build a 10,000-mu oil-tea camellia plantation within three years.