An 80s-born young man plants lotus roots in idle farmland, leading villagers out of poverty toward prosperity
"Changxi is where lotus can be picked, how lush the lotus leaves are, fish play among the lotus leaves..." This poem, adapted from the Han Dynasty folk song "Jiangnan," is sung in Changxi Village, Baolun Town, Lizhou District, Guangyuan City. Changxi Village is named after the Changxi River within its territory, and the Changxi River is famous for rural eco-tourism. Now, in this small mountain village, the locals have found yet another path to wealth and prosperity - planting lotus roots with Guo Yankun, a young man born in the 1980s.
"In just over a month, the lotus flowers here will bloom, in vast stretches, so beautiful!" On April 15, pointing to the more than 20 mu of lotus root fields before him, Guo Yankun was full of anticipation.
Guo Yankun, 30 years old this year, not only plants lotus roots to prosper himself but also unreservedly leads everyone to work together. Young in age but "big in heart" - together with village officials, he designed a development plan for Changxi Village's industry. In his own words, with a few more years of hard work, all the idle farmland in the village can be turned into lotus root fields, forming an industrial chain, creating a brand, and ultimately developing into an eco-tourism agricultural belt.
Many years ago, Guo Yankun's parents supported him and his sister through school by growing some grain and vegetables and doing farm work in town. In 2002, Guo Yankun began planting yellow ginger and gastrodia at home, and the hardworking young man carefully tended his "experimental plot." In 2005, the harvest brought Guo Yankun no joy at all - the market was poor that year, the yellow ginger rotted in the ground, and the gastrodia made no money either. With no other choice, Guo Yankun could only work odd jobs at a small restaurant in town, earning 100 yuan a month. In 2006, Guo Yankun went to Shenzhen to work. Through diligent study and hard practice, he grew from a clueless young odd-jobber into a core business member, and his wages increased from a few hundred yuan a month to more than 3,000 yuan a month. In 2008, the devastating Wenchuan earthquake struck, and the filial Guo Yankun quit his job and returned home. With government subsidies plus some family savings, the young man built a new house, obtained an electrician's certificate, found work as an electrician, and in his spare time raised loaches and eels at home.
Considering that aquaculture needs shade, he planted some lotus roots in the pond. Unexpectedly, after a heavy rain, the loaches and eels "fled" along the water surface toward the field ridges in all directions, and the result was predictable. To the young man's slight relief, the lotus roots, originally planted as a secondary crop, actually recovered some of his economic losses. So Guo Yankun decided to focus on planting lotus roots, with loach and eel farming as a supplement. In 2011, he planted more than 2 mu of lotus roots and earned more than 20,000 yuan; in 2012, Guo Yankun kept exploring and innovating in technique and used all 6 mu of his land for lotus roots, earning more than 70,000 yuan; in 2013, full of confidence, he transferred 14 mu of land, which together with his own 6 mu totaled 20 mu, and led the local people to plant lotus roots together, with total income that year of around 100,000 yuan.
Changxi Village has 7 groups in total, among which villagers in Groups One, Two and Six gradually made lotus root planting their family's leading industry. Now, more than 10 households have already tasted the benefits: Deng Chunde of Group One planted 2 mu and earned more than 20,000 yuan; Lei Qifu of Group Two planted only just over 1 mu and earned more than 10,000 yuan...
"Too much fertilizer makes them 'lazy' and grow only leaves, while too little fertilizer keeps yields down." Seeing that the lotus viewing season would arrive in just over two months, Guo Yankun hurried to give lessons to the villagers so they could further increase their income this year through rural tourism and industry development.