To grow dragon fruit, a post-80s generation from Dongguan quit his job and returned to his hometown, raising 400,000 yuan to become a farmer
Starting in 2014, He Jinhui of Shatian Town, Dongguan City, raised 400,000 yuan to plant dragon fruit seedlings. Now the dragon fruit has entered the harvest period, and he is applying to be a Dongguan Demonstration Family Farm, becoming a skilled grower praised by everyone. For this reason, the reporter specially came to He Jinhui's dragon fruit orchard. Wearing rubber boots, He Jinhui was pruning the dragon fruit plants in the field, his honest face beaming with a simple smile.
Raising 400,000 yuan to plant dragon fruit
In 2005, He Jinhui, then a 24-year-old farmer's son, entered the Shatian Police Station of the Shatian Public Security Sub-bureau to work as an auxiliary police officer. He did this for 10 years, but he was not content with the status quo.
In mid-2014, a friend told He Jinhui that he had a classmate who grew dragon fruit in Machong Town and could introduce him to learn. He Jinhui, who had dealt with the land since childhood, was no stranger to farming and was also very interested. So he used his holidays to go to the dragon fruit orchard in Machong to learn techniques such as fertilizing, pollinating, applying pesticides, and dealing with pests and diseases.
After mastering the techniques, He Jinhui planned to resign and specialize in growing dragon fruit, but his idea was opposed by his parents. Because Shatian's traditional fruit planting was mainly bananas, sugarcane, and longan. Although it is also a tropical fruit, dragon fruit planting had no precedent in Shatian. However, He Jinhui's idea was supported by his wife: "I work at a company, and my salary can support the family. Even if we lose money, just treat it as spending money to buy experience."
In the autumn of 2014, He Jinhui raised more than 400,000 yuan in funds and rented a 30-mu vegetable plot near the Mingzhu intersection of Shatian Avenue, using an excavator to re-level it, fertilize the soil, dig drainage ditches, drive cement piles, and pull steel bars, completing the basic work. In October of that year, under the guidance of experts, he planted 18,000 red-fleshed dragon fruit seedlings.
Whether after work or during holidays, He Jinhui stayed in the field, carefully tending these fruit seedlings. Under his meticulous care, in July 2015, he harvested his first batch of dragon fruit, weighing more than 500 jin. He gave this entire batch of dragon fruit to relatives, friends, and colleagues to taste. When relatives and friends learned that this was dragon fruit grown by He Jinhui himself, everyone was amazed.
Has applied to be a Dongguan Demonstration Family Farm
In order to grow dragon fruit well, He Jinhui keeps more than a hundred chickens free-range in his dragon fruit orchard. He Jinhui told reporters that the chickens can catch insects and loosen the soil, and the chicken manure can also provide organic fertilizer for the dragon fruit. This agricultural production method, similar to the traditional "mulberry dike fish pond" style of the Pearl River Delta, well achieves ecological planting and breeding. In terms of sales, on the one hand he attracts customers through word of mouth, and on the other hand he uses advanced communication methods such as WeChat and Weibo to attract new customers. Because of the good quality, He Jinhui generally does not worry about sales of his dragon fruit, and by joining a planting cooperative, he can also balance supply and demand when there are unsold goods or supply falls short of demand.
He Jinhui told reporters that dragon fruit, originally from Central America and introduced to the mainland via Taiwan, China, is very suitable for the warm and humid climate of the Pearl River Delta. Today, dragon fruit has become the "new favorite" in Dongguan's local fruit-growing circles, with a selling price of up to 8 yuan per jin. Compared with traditionally grown fruits such as sugarcane and bananas, dragon fruit is not difficult to manage and has better returns. As long as it is managed properly and there is no extreme weather, dragon fruit can be harvested 10 times a year. Over the past six months or so, he has harvested nearly 10,000 jin. Last year's Mid-Autumn Festival was a great harvest, with more than 1,000 jin harvested. Although he has not yet recovered his costs, He Jinhui is full of confidence.
He Jinhui is applying to be a Dongguan Demonstration Family Farm, hoping that more people will come to his dragon fruit orchard to taste locally produced dragon fruit, and also to lead more people onto the road of starting ecological agriculture businesses and becoming rich. He also plans to plant some varieties not found in Shatian in the future, such as wax apple, sugar apple, and grapes, so that Shatian people can eat these fruits at their doorstep.
Now, the muddy path on the north side of He Jinhui's dragon fruit orchard is being rebuilt into a wide, flat, high-standard farmland tractor road. It will be more convenient to get to the dragon fruit orchard from Shatian Avenue and Yanhe Road, and his path of ecological agriculture planting is also growing wider and wider.